Xero MCP Server

This is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server implementation for Xero. It provides a bridge between the MCP protocol and Xero's API, allowing for standardized access to Xero's accounting and business features.

Features

Xero OAuth2 authentication with custom connections
Contact management
Chart of Accounts management
Invoice creation and management
MCP protocol compliance

Prerequisites

Node.js (v18 or higher)
npm or pnpm
A Xero developer account with API credentials

Docs and Links

Setup

Create a Xero Account

If you don't already have a Xero account and organisation already, can create one by signing up here using the free trial.

We recommend using a Demo Company to start with because it comes with some pre-loaded sample data. Once you are logged in, switch to it by using the top left-hand dropdown and selecting "Demo Company". You can reset the data on a Demo Company, or change the country, at any time by using the top left-hand dropdown and navigating to My Xero.

NOTE: To use Payroll-specific queries, the region should be either NZ or UK.

Authentication

There are 2 modes of authentication supported in the Xero MCP server:

1. Custom Connections

This is a better choice for testing and development which allows you to specify client id and secrets for a specific organisation. It is also the recommended approach if you are integrating this into 3rd party MCP clients such as Claude Desktop.

Configuring your Xero Developer account

Set up a Custom Connection following these instructions: https://developer.xero.com/documentation/guides/oauth2/custom-connections/

Required Scopes

Custom connections require different scopes depending on when they were created. All scopes in the relevant list must be added to your custom connection:

Custom Connection Created	Required Scopes
Before Apr 29, 2026	SCOPES_V1 (bundled permissions)
From Apr 29, 2026	SCOPES_V2 (granular permissions)

Note: The MCP server automatically tries V1 scopes first and falls back to V2 if needed.

You can override these by setting the XERO_SCOPES environment variable to a space-separated list of scopes.

Integrating the MCP server with Claude Desktop

To add the MCP server to Claude go to Settings > Developer > Edit config and add the following to your claude_desktop_config.json file:

config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "xero": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@xeroapi/xero-mcp-server@latest"],
      "env": {
        "XERO_CLIENT_ID": "your_client_id_here",
        "XERO_CLIENT_SECRET": "your_client_secret_here",
        "XERO_SCOPES": "accounting.invoices accounting.contacts accounting.settings"
      }
    }
  }
}

The XERO_SCOPES variable is optional. If omitted, the default scopes listed above will be used.

NOTE: If you are using Node Version Manager "command": "npx" section change it to be the full path to the executable, ie: your_home_directory/.nvm/versions/node/v22.14.0/bin/npx on Mac / Linux or "your_home_directory\\.nvm\\versions\\node\\v22.14.0\\bin\\npx" on Windows

2. Bearer Token

This is a better choice if you are to support multiple Xero accounts at runtime and allow the MCP client to execute an auth flow (such as PKCE) as required. In this case, use the following configuration:

config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "xero": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@xeroapi/xero-mcp-server@latest"],
      "env": {
        "XERO_CLIENT_BEARER_TOKEN": "your_bearer_token"
      }
    }
  }
}

NOTE: The XERO_CLIENT_BEARER_TOKEN will take precedence over the XERO_CLIENT_ID if defined.

Required Scopes for Bearer Token

When obtaining a bearer token, you must request the appropriate scopes. The scopes you request should be:

Note: Some scopes are being deprecated in favour of more granular scopes. See the Xero OAuth 2.0 Scopes documentation for details on deprecation timelines.

Code

accounting.transactions (Deprecated)
accounting.transactions.read (Deprecated)
accounting.invoices
accounting.invoices.read
accounting.payments
accounting.payments.read
accounting.banktransactions
accounting.banktransactions.read
accounting.manualjournals
accounting.manualjournals.read
accounting.reports.read (Deprecated)
accounting.reports.aged.read
accounting.reports.balancesheet.read
accounting.reports.profitandloss.read
accounting.reports.trialbalance.read
accounting.contacts 
accounting.settings 
payroll.settings 
payroll.employees 
payroll.timesheets

Available MCP Commands

list-accounts: Retrieve a list of accounts
list-contacts: Retrieve a list of contacts from Xero
list-credit-notes: Retrieve a list of credit notes
list-invoices: Retrieve a list of invoices
list-items: Retrieve a list of items
list-manual-journals: Retrieve a list of manual journals
list-organisation-details: Retrieve details about an organisation
list-profit-and-loss: Retrieve a profit and loss report
list-quotes: Retrieve a list of quotes
list-tax-rates: Retrieve a list of tax rates
list-payments: Retrieve a list of payments
list-trial-balance: Retrieve a trial balance report
list-bank-transactions: Retrieve a list of bank account transactions
list-payroll-employees: Retrieve a list of Payroll Employees
list-report-balance-sheet: Retrieve a balance sheet report
list-payroll-employee-leave: Retrieve a Payroll Employee's leave records
list-payroll-employee-leave-balances: Retrieve a Payroll Employee's leave balances
list-payroll-employee-leave-types: Retrieve a list of Payroll leave types
list-payroll-leave-periods: Retrieve a list of a Payroll Employee's leave periods
list-payroll-leave-types: Retrieve a list of all available leave types in Xero Payroll
list-timesheets: Retrieve a list of Payroll Timesheets
list-aged-receivables-by-contact: Retrieves aged receivables for a contact
list-aged-payables-by-contact: Retrieves aged payables for a contact
list-contact-groups: Retrieve a list of contact groups
list-tracking-categories: Retrieve a list of tracking categories
create-bank-transaction: Create a new bank transaction
create-contact: Create a new contact
create-credit-note: Create a new credit note
create-invoice: Create a new invoice
create-item: Create a new item
create-manual-journal: Create a new manual journal
create-payment: Create a new payment
create-quote: Create a new quote
create-payroll-timesheet: Create a new Payroll Timesheet
create-tracking-category: Create a new tracking category
create-tracking-option: Create a new tracking option
update-bank-transaction: Update an existing bank transaction
update-contact: Update an existing contact
update-invoice: Update an existing draft invoice
update-item: Update an existing item
update-manual-journal: Update an existing manual journal
update-quote: Update an existing draft quote
update-credit-note: Update an existing draft credit note
update-tracking-category: Update an existing tracking category
update-tracking-options: Update tracking options
update-payroll-timesheet-line: Update a line on an existing Payroll Timesheet
approve-payroll-timesheet: Approve a Payroll Timesheet
revert-payroll-timesheet: Revert an approved Payroll Timesheet
add-payroll-timesheet-line: Add new line on an existing Payroll Timesheet
delete-payroll-timesheet: Delete an existing Payroll Timesheet
get-payroll-timesheet: Retrieve an existing Payroll Timesheet

For detailed API documentation, please refer to the MCP Protocol Specification.

For Developers

Installation

bash

# Using npm
npm install

# Using pnpm
pnpm install

Run a build

bash

# Using npm
npm run build

# Using pnpm
pnpm build

Integrating with Claude Desktop

To link your Xero MCP server in development to Claude Desktop go to Settings > Developer > Edit config and add the following to your claude_desktop_config.json file:

NOTE: For Windows ensure the args path escapes the \ between folders ie. "C:\\projects\xero-mcp-server\\dist\\index.js"

config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "xero": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["insert-your-file-path-here/xero-mcp-server/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "XERO_CLIENT_ID": "your_client_id_here",
        "XERO_CLIENT_SECRET": "your_client_secret_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

License

MIT

Security

Please do not commit your .env file or any sensitive credentials to version control (it is included in .gitignore as a safe default.)