Claude + Xero guides
The written version of our videos, as checklists you can work through at your own pace. Every guide is here in full.
Kept up to date as Claude and Xero change. Facts checked 19 September 2026.
Blake HarknessFounder, Harkness AIGuide 1 · The setup I use for my own invoices
There are two ways to connect Claude to Xero, and Xero makes both. The one in Claude’s connector directory, part of the Claude for Small Business plugin since 15 September 2026, can only read. It answers questions, but it can’t draft a single invoice. Xero’s open-source MCP server can.
Reads only
Made by Xero, added from Claude’s connector directory
Reads and drafts
Made by Xero, open source on GitHub
My pick: if you only want answers, the connector in Claude is the easy start. If you want Claude to do the admin, set up Xero’s MCP server. It’s what I use to draft my own invoices. It takes more setup, so here’s how to do it safely.
You, or whoever looks after your IT, creates a Custom Connection in Xero’s developer portal and names the business owner as the authorising user. The owner gets an email and approves it. That gives you a client ID and secret, and anyone holding them can draft in your books. So they live in Claude Desktop on one person’s computer, never in an email or a shared folder.
A Custom Connection to Xero’s Demo Company is free. It’s full of fake invoices, resets every 28 days and can be switched to the New Zealand version. Draft a week of invoices there before the owner buys the real connection, NZD $10 a month + GST.
To draft invoices and bills, Claude needs three scopes: accounting.invoices, accounting.contacts and accounting.settings.read (to look up your accounts and tax rates). Leave payments, bank transactions, journals and payroll off: the server’s payment and bank transaction tools write live records, not drafts. Put the same three in the XERO_SCOPES setting, or the server asks for its full default list.
Your Xero contacts are personal information under the Privacy Act 2020. On a personal Pro or Max plan, check the model-training setting under Settings > Privacy. Team and Enterprise plans run on commercial terms, where that setting doesn’t apply.
Every invoice, bill, quote and credit note the server creates is a draft, and it has no tool to approve or email one. Claude Desktop also asks before it uses a tool, so you see each request first. Then someone opens the draft in Xero, checks it and approves it. That person is your safety net, so keep it that way.
Each line on a draft needs a tax rate from your Xero list, and Claude picks it, so check the GST on every draft. Check the due date too: the server’s create tool has no due date field, so drafts take your default payment terms. Neither connector does your GST return, and the one in Claude even has a US 1099 report tool. Your GST return and anything you file with IRD stays with you and your accountant.
On the Demo Company, have Claude draft one invoice, then open it in Xero and check the contact, every line, the GST and the due date. Ask a question you already know the answer to, like “Who owes me money more than 60 days overdue?”, and check it against the Aged Receivables report. Once both match a few times in a row, connect your real books.
Guide 2 · The approach I use on my own books
Xero only sees the accounts in its bank feeds. Anything paid from a personal account, or a card that isn’t in Xero, is invisible unless someone types it in. That’s where deductible costs hide: phone, fuel, software, a share of home power.
Claude reads your bank transactions alongside the bills and bank transactions already in Xero. It matches them by supplier, amount and date, and flags anything with no match. You check the gaps before anything goes in.
Every account and card. Tick the ones already in Xero’s bank feeds. The rest are where the gaps are.
From internet banking, export three months of transactions as a CSV file for each account that isn’t in Xero.
Either connector from Guide 1 can read your bills and bank transactions. The one in Claude is read-only. With Xero’s MCP server, the prompt below still tells Claude not to change anything. The Demo Company is there for a practice run.
Attach the CSV files, fill in the brackets and paste this in.
I've attached bank exports for [accounts] from [start] to [end]. You're connected to my Xero organisation. 1. List every debit that looks like a business cost, grouped by supplier. Mark anything monthly. 2. From Xero, pull my bills AND my bank transactions for the same period. 3. Match on supplier, amount and date, allowing a few days either way. 4. Table everything with no match: date, supplier, amount, likely GST treatment, suggested expense account. Don't guess business-use percentages - ask me. Don't create or change anything in Xero.
Do one, check its total matches the receipt, then the rest. With Xero’s MCP server, Claude can draft each missing bill for you. It goes in as a draft, and you approve it in Xero. The connector in Claude can’t draft, so there you type them in.
Bank statements are about the most sensitive data you’ve got. Use a paid Claude plan, check its model-training setting, and delete the CSV files when you’re done.
Guide 3 · Video
Recorded in April 2026 on the same route as Guide 1: Xero’s MCP server and a custom connection. Since then, new custom connections use Xero’s granular scopes, so tick the three in step 3 rather than the ones on screen. Prefer reading? The written guide covers the same setup.
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We connect Claude to Xero for NZ businesses, safely, and show your team how to use it.
Talk to us about a setupLast updated 19 September 2026