SparkReceipt Help

Connect your AI tools to SparkReceipt with MCP

Connect Claude, Cursor, and other MCP-capable AI tools directly to your SparkReceipt account so they can search, tag, and act on your documents for you.

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Written by Antti LaitinenUpdated Nov 12, 2026

You can connect an outside AI assistant — such as Claude or Cursor — straight to your SparkReceipt account and have it work with your documents for you. Ask it to pull up last month's expenses, tag a batch of receipts, create a new category, or upload a receipt for scanning, all from inside the AI tool you already use.

SparkReceipt has its own MCP server for this (MCP access). It works over MCP (Model Context Protocol), an open standard that lets AI tools talk to services like SparkReceipt. You don't need to know how it works under the hood. You add one address to your AI tool, sign in once, and choose what it's allowed to do.

The assistant acts as you, with your role's permissions. It only ever sees and changes your own data, and it can never do more than your account role allows.

If you'd rather chat with an AI assistant inside SparkReceipt itself, see How to use SparkAgent. MCP shares many of SparkAgent's actions, with the Xero restrictions below.

What you can connect

MCP works with any AI tool that supports remote MCP servers. SparkReceipt gives you setup instructions for these:

  • Claude Code — Anthropic's command-line tool. This is the most straightforward to connect: it's a single terminal command.
  • Cursor — the AI code editor. You add SparkReceipt as an MCP server in Cursor's settings.
  • Claude — Claude on the web, desktop and mobile. SparkReceipt is listed in the Claude connector directory, so you connect it from Browse connectors.
  • Claude Desktop — the Claude desktop app. You can also add SparkReceipt as a custom connector with the Server URL.
  • ChatGPT. You add SparkReceipt as a custom connector with developer mode turned on.

Other MCP-capable tools connect the same way: they all point at the same SparkReceipt address and sign in through your browser. If your tool isn't listed above, use the Cursor or Claude Desktop steps as a template — add the Server URL as a remote MCP server and follow your tool's own prompts.

Where to find it

Open Settings in the SparkReceipt web app and select the MCP tab. Everything you need is here:

  • The Server URL to add to your AI tool.
  • Setup instructions for each supported tool.
  • Connected apps — the tools you've already connected, with an option to disconnect any of them.
  • View activity log — a record of everything your connected tools have done.

Connecting an AI tool is a per-user action. The connection belongs to you personally, not to the whole account, and every action it takes runs with your own role's permissions.

How to connect

Every tool follows the same shape: add the SparkReceipt Server URL, then trigger the first action so your browser opens the sign-in and permissions screen.

The Server URL is shown on your MCP settings page. It looks like:

https://api.app.sparkreceipt.com/mcp

Always copy the exact URL from your own MCP page rather than typing it by hand — the setup snippets below already have it filled in for you.

Claude Code

  1. Run this in your terminal to add the server (copy the exact command from your MCP page, which has your URL filled in):

    claude mcp add --transport http sparkreceipt https://api.app.sparkreceipt.com/mcp

  2. Trigger any SparkReceipt action. Claude Code opens your browser so you can sign in and pick which permissions to allow.

  3. Ask it to list your recent expenses to confirm the connection works.

If you already connected SparkReceipt in Claude from the connector directory, Claude Code signed in with the same Claude account uses that connection too, and you don't need to run the command.

Cursor

  1. Open Cursor settings, go to MCP, and add a new server (or edit your mcp.json) with this entry:

    {
  "mcpServers": {
    "sparkreceipt": {
      "url": "https://api.app.sparkreceipt.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

  2. Cursor opens your browser so you can sign in and choose which permissions to grant.

Claude

SparkReceipt is listed in the Claude connector directory as SparkReceipt, so you don't need the Server URL to add it:

  1. In Claude, open Browse connectors, or open the SparkReceipt listing directly.
  2. Find the listing named SparkReceipt and connect it.
  3. Sign in and choose which permissions to grant in the browser window that opens.

On a Claude Team or Enterprise plan, an admin will need to enable SparkReceipt for the workspace first. After that, each person connects with their own SparkReceipt sign-in.

Claude Desktop

Use these steps if you'd rather add SparkReceipt as a custom connector than from the connector directory.

  1. Open Claude Desktop settings and add a custom connector.
  2. Paste the Server URL from your MCP page as the connector address and confirm.
  3. Sign in and choose which permissions to grant in the browser window that opens.

ChatGPT

The SparkReceipt connector is being submitted to the OpenAI Plugin Directory, and until it is listed the developer mode steps below apply.

  1. In ChatGPT, open Settings, go to Connectors, and turn on developer mode under Advanced. Custom MCP connectors require a paid ChatGPT plan that has developer mode.
  2. Under Connectors, create a new connector, give it a name, and paste the Server URL from your MCP page as the MCP server URL.
  3. Sign in and choose which permissions to grant in the browser window that opens.
  4. Start a chat with developer mode enabled and ask it to search your documents to confirm the connection works.

Signing in and granting permissions

The first time your AI tool contacts SparkReceipt, a browser window opens with a Connect to SparkReceipt screen. This is where you approve the connection.

  • If you're already signed in to SparkReceipt in that browser, you go straight to a single approval screen showing your account and the permissions to grant.
  • If you're not signed in, you'll be asked to sign in first, then brought right back to the same screen.

On the approval screen you choose two things: which accounts to connect and which permissions to grant. Then select Authorize to finish, or Cancel to stop.

Sign-in uses a secure standard (OAuth 2.1). Your AI tool never sees your SparkReceipt password — you enter it in your own browser, on SparkReceipt's own page.

Do I need an OAuth client ID or client secret?

No. SparkReceipt doesn't hand out a client ID or client secret. Your AI tool registers itself with SparkReceipt automatically the first time it connects. If the tool's setup screen has optional OAuth Client ID and OAuth Client Secret fields (Claude's custom connector has them under advanced settings, for example), leave them empty and add only the Server URL.

The three permission levels

Permissions are grouped into three levels. You tick each one independently on the approval screen — granting one does not automatically grant the others. Grant only what you need.

The labels below are exactly what you'll see on the approval screen.

PermissionWhat it allows
Read your dataView your data — receipts, tags, saved searches, and reports.
Create and update dataCreate and edit data — receipts, tags, and saved searches.
Irreversible actionsActions that can't be undone, including permanently deleting your data.

A few things worth knowing:

  • Irreversible actions is never pre-selected, and it carries a warning: these actions cannot be undone, and you're responsible for what your connected AI tool does with this permission. Only grant it if you specifically want the tool to be able to delete data.
  • Permissions are enforced both when the tool lists what it can do and every time it tries to act. If you didn't grant Create and update data, editing tools simply aren't available to the assistant — it can't work around it.
  • To change what a connection can do later, disconnect it and reconnect with the permissions you want.
  • Many actions need only Create and update data but still can't be fully undone. Examples are trashing documents, adding or removing Tags, editing line items, matching and booking bank lines, moving documents or trips to a linked account, deleting a Category and applying Ledger change sets. Your AI tool may ask you before it runs them.

Choosing which accounts to connect

If you belong to more than one account (for example a personal account and a company one, or several linked accounts), the approval screen lets you decide the scope:

  • All my accounts — the connection can reach every account you're a member of.
  • Specific accounts — tick only the ones you want, and the connection is limited to those.

Every action the assistant takes targets one specific account. When a connection spans more than one account, ask your assistant to look up your accounts first (it uses a built-in account_info action for this) and then tell it which account to work in.

What you can do once connected

Once connected, your AI tool can use over 90 actions shared with SparkAgent, plus actions specific to MCP. You don't call these directly. You ask your assistant in plain language and it picks the right ones. Xero actions have the restrictions below.

Some examples of what you can ask:

  • Find and review documents — "List my expenses from July over 100 euros" or "Show me any documents missing a category."
  • Tag and organize — "Tag every Uber receipt this month as Travel."
  • Set up your books — "Create a category called Software subscriptions," "Add a new merchant," or "Add a payment method for my company credit card."
  • Manage automations — "List my automations," "Set up a rule that tags receipts from this sender," or "Make a rule that marks every receipt from my usual café as reviewed and files it under Meals." A rule can set the same fields as in the automations editor, apart from Xero tracking.
  • Check account details — "Which accounts can you access, and what's my role in each?"
  • Reconcile and report — "Match this bank statement against my receipts" or "Build a report of this quarter's expenses."

A document edit through MCP works like the same edit in the app, so it can run your existing automations. Those can publish the document to connected accounting software other than Xero, and the edit can also be sent to the webhooks you've set up.

If your account is connected to Xero

Following Xero's certification review, Xero publishing and tracking are unavailable through SparkReceipt's MCP connection. On an account connected to Xero, your AI tool can't directly publish to Xero, set up an automation that publishes to Xero, or read or set Xero tracking. A direct document edit or upload through MCP also holds back automatic publishing to Xero.

Rescans and email processing have a limitation: when your AI tool requests a rescan, approves an Inbox email or checks a connected mailbox, existing automations can still publish the resulting documents to Xero. Turn off auto-publishing in those automations first if you want to review the documents before they reach Xero.

You can still do all of this in the SparkReceipt web and mobile apps, or by asking SparkAgent. Your AI tool can keep working with your SparkReceipt data, and other accounting software isn't affected.

Uploading a document for scanning

One MCP action has no equivalent inside the app: submit a document. Your assistant can send a receipt, invoice, or bank statement file to SparkReceipt, and it runs through the same OCR and AI extraction pipeline as any upload from the web or mobile app.

Things to know about uploading this way:

  • You can submit 1 to 5 files as a single document (useful for a multi-page invoice), up to 15 MB each.
  • You can tell it the type — expense, income, or bank statement — or leave it out and let the AI classify the document for you.
  • Each submission uses one scan from your account's quota, exactly like a normal upload.
  • Extraction runs in the background. Your assistant gets a task reference it can use to check progress.
  • Trashing the document removes it from your lists. It doesn't give back the scan, and it doesn't undo anything your automations already published to accounting software or sent to webhooks.

Managing and disconnecting

The Connected apps section on the MCP page lists every tool you've connected, along with the permissions it holds, which accounts it can reach, when you connected it, and when it was last used.

Select Disconnect on any connection to revoke its access immediately. Do this for any tool you no longer use — or any you don't recognize. To use a disconnected tool again later, you'll need to sign in and grant permissions afresh.

Keeping an eye on activity

Select View activity log to see every action your connected assistants have taken on your behalf, newest first. Each entry shows the time, the action, whether it succeeded or failed, and the details. It's the place to check what happened and to troubleshoot when something didn't work as expected.

Privacy and security

  • The assistant is you. It's tied to your user and limited to your role's permissions, so it can only see and change data you could see and change yourself.
  • Nothing happens without your consent. You choose the accounts and the permission levels when you connect, and destructive access is always a separate, deliberate opt-in.
  • Your password stays with you. Sign-in happens in your own browser on SparkReceipt's page; the AI tool only receives a limited access token, never your credentials.
  • You're in control at all times. Disconnect a tool whenever you want and its access ends immediately, and the activity log shows you exactly what was done.
  • You're responsible for the tool you connect. SparkReceipt enforces the permissions you grant, but the AI tool decides which actions to take within them — especially if you grant irreversible actions. Only connect tools you trust, and grant the minimum you need.

Troubleshooting

  • Your AI tool asks for an OAuth client ID or secret. Leave those fields empty. See Do I need an OAuth client ID or client secret?
  • Looking for the MCP tab. The MCP tab is under Settings in the SparkReceipt web app for every signed-in user.
  • The assistant can't do something you expected. Check that you granted the matching permission when you connected. Editing needs Create and update data; deleting needs Irreversible actions. If a permission is missing, disconnect and reconnect with it enabled.
  • It doesn't know which account to use. If you connected more than one account, tell your assistant which account to work in, or ask it to list your accounts first.
  • An action failed. Open View activity log to see the error details for that action.
  • You want to cut off access fast. Disconnect the tool from the Connected apps section — access ends right away.