AI assistants (MCP)
Connect an assistant to a business's books — with the business's real permissions.
Trabalance runs a Model Context Protocol server at https://api.trabalance.com/mcp. An assistant such as Claude connects with an API key minted with the MCP option and gets tools over the business's data.
Connecting
Settings → API keys & webhooks → New key. Tick the scopes the assistant should reach, and turn on Allow AI assistants (MCP). See Mint an API key.
{
"mcpServers": {
"trabalance": {
"url": "https://api.trabalance.com/mcp",
"headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer tk_live_…" }
}
}
}A key without the MCP option answers 403 insufficient_scope — "This key was not minted for AI assistants." The option cannot be added afterwards; mint a new key.
What the assistant can do
| Kind | What it means |
|---|---|
| Read tools | Customers, vendors, items, documents, statements, accounts, journals, taxes, locations, production, stock movements, employees, currencies — each behind the feature that owns it. |
| Proposal tools | `propose_invoice`, `propose_receipt`, `propose_bill`, `propose_payment`. Each creates a proposal a person approves in the app. Nothing posts here. |
The full list, with the feature each tool requires, is on Assistant tools.
The key's grants narrow the tools; then the rights of the user who minted it are checked now. A Staff user's key never reaches payroll, the ledger, documents or statements, whatever it was minted with. A read-only key cannot reach a proposal tool. An assistant cannot see more than its human can.
To create a document outright — numbered, journalled, settled — use the REST API with an idempotency key. The proposal tools exist so an assistant can prepare work without ever committing money on its own.
Related
- Assistant tools — every tool and the feature it needs
- Mint an API key — the MCP option
- How access is decided
- Permission scopes