Switchbooks

What Switchbooks MCP server does

The Switchbooks MCP server gives an MCP-compatible client access to accounting information in Switchbooks. It is intended for users who need an assistant to inspect company books, answer reporting questions, or search financial records without exporting data manually.

The connector can work with reports, transactions, accounts, categories, payees, and rules. It also provides two explicit connection-management tools: list_companies shows the companies available to the authenticated account, and set_company chooses the active company for later requests. If the account can access only one company, that company is selected automatically. Accounts with multiple companies must select one.

How it works

The hosted endpoint is https://app.switchbooks.ai/api/mcp. It uses Streamable HTTP, OAuth, dynamic client registration, and PKCE. No local process, API key, or shared secret is required for the hosted connection.

During authorization, the consent screen lets the user choose between read-only access and access that can change the books. Read-only access uses the switchbooks.read scope. Allowing changes also grants switchbooks.write. The active company is a property of the connection; changing it does not alter the company’s accounting data.

Every tool call checks access. With write permission, the connector may perform undoable operations such as posting or splitting transactions, matching transfers, creating or editing journal entries, changing categories, payees, or rules, and completing a previewed reconciliation. These operations require explicit authorization and are not available through a read-only connection.

Setup and configuration

You need a Switchbooks account with access to at least one company. That company must have an active trial or subscription for its accounting tools; connecting or disconnecting an app does not itself require one.

Install or enable the connection in the supported client, then complete the browser sign-in. Review the consent screen each time. Clear the option to let the connector make changes if the connection should remain read-only. Existing read-only connections do not gain write access until they are reconnected and authorized again.

Cursor can also test the hosted connector locally through its MCP configuration. Merge the mcpServers.switchbooks entry from the package’s mcp.json into either the project .cursor/mcp.json or the user-level ~/.cursor/mcp.json, preserving existing entries. Grok Build uses the marketplace command grok plugin install switchbooks; its .mcp.json points to the same hosted endpoint.

Tools and capabilities

The Switchbooks MCP server supports workflows such as:

• Listing accessible Switchbooks companies.
• Selecting the company used by subsequent requests.
• Asking for profit and loss, balance sheet, and cash flow information.
• Searching transactions by criteria such as payee and time period.
• Inspecting accounts, categories, payees, and bookkeeping rules.
• Making authorized, undoable bookkeeping changes when write access is enabled.

Limitations and notes

The connector cannot connect or synchronize banks, send email or invitations, share reports, import files, merge bank accounts, delete files, or remove teammates. Disconnecting it from Settings → MCP → Connected apps immediately revokes access and refresh tokens; access can be granted again later.

The Switchbooks MCP server is best suited to clients that support the documented OAuth-based Streamable HTTP connection. Company selection is required before company-specific requests when multiple companies are available, and permissions are evaluated for every tool call.