Claude Desktop setup guide
Connect Claude Desktop to MatchLedger for bookkeeping
Add MatchLedger to the Claude desktop app with one web address. There is no API key, client ID, or secret to paste: a normal MatchLedger sign-in page handles the secure connection for you.
Before you start
Anthropic currently makes custom connectors available on Free, Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans. Free accounts can add one custom connector. On Team or Enterprise, an owner must add the connector for the organization before members can connect it. Check Anthropic's current availability.
This guide is for Claude Desktop, the chat app. Prefer the terminal? Claude Code is a different product and connects with one command. See the Claude Code quick start.
Anthropic redraws Claude's settings from time to time, so a button may not sit exactly where this guide says. The sequence does not change: open settings, find connectors, add a custom one, paste a URL, sign in. If a label reads a little differently on your version, take the nearest equivalent.
1Open Claude's connector settings.
In Claude Desktop, open Customize from the left sidebar, then choose Connectors. Beside the Connectors heading is a + button; click it and choose Add custom connector.
2Add the MatchLedger address.
Name the connector MatchLedger, then copy and paste this address into the URL field:
https://app.matchledger.ai/mcpThat is the only field you need to fill in. Leave Advanced settings alone: MatchLedger registers itself with Claude during sign-in, so the optional OAuth client ID and client secret stay empty, and the authentication option can stay on whatever Claude detected. Click Add.
3Sign in to MatchLedger.
Click Connect. A MatchLedger sign-in page opens. Sign in with Google or email. If you are new, create your account on that page and accept the terms; there is no separate setup to complete first. Every account runs at Professional capacity while the beta is on, whichever plan you pick later. There is no credit card and no trial clock.
4Choose the books Claude may use.
Pick the MatchLedger organization you want to connect, review the permissions, then click Allow. These are the six permissions shown during consent:
| Permission | What it allows |
|---|---|
| documents:write | Upload bank statements, credit-card statements and ledger reports |
| reconciliations:write | Run reconciliations |
| reconciliations:read | Read reconciliation results, matches and uploaded documents |
| exports:write | Create and download exports |
| usage:read | Read your plan and usage meters |
| webhooks:manage | Manage webhook subscriptions |
The connection is scoped to the one organization you pick. If you keep several sets of books in MatchLedger, connect the one you want Claude working in. You can change it later by reconnecting.
5Turn MatchLedger on in a conversation.
Return to Claude and start a chat. Click the + button beside the message box, choose Connectors, and switch MatchLedger on for that conversation. Claude can now read usage, inspect documents and results, run reconciliations, review matches, and create exports within the permissions you approved.
Reconciliation work runs in the background. Claude can check its progress and tell you when it finishes, so you do not have to watch a spinner.
Try a prompt that works with a new account
Paste this into Claude. It needs no uploaded statements or existing reconciliation:
Ask MatchLedger how much of my monthly plan I've used.
Claude should say it used the MatchLedger integration, then return your plan plus the used, remaining, and limit values for line items and reconciliation jobs, including the reset date. Compare those figures with the Plan & Usage card in MatchLedger. If they agree, the connection is working.
Reconcile a month from the chat
This is the whole job in one prompt. Claude uploads both documents, waits for the extraction, matches the statement against the ledger, and hands back an Excel workbook:
Extract the bank statement and the ledger and reconcile the two. Send me the Excel reconciliation report.
Try it with our sample books
You do not need a client's statement to see what this does. These two PDFs are a fictional business checking account and its ledger for the same month, and they are built to be interesting: most lines match cleanly, and five deliberately do not.
Brightside Interiors LLC, February 2026. Every business, balance and account number in them is invented, so nothing real is exposed while you evaluate the product.
Run the prompt above against that pair and MatchLedger returns:
| 17 of 20 bank transactions matched | 14 straight through, 3 flagged for a look |
| 3 bank lines with nothing in the books | a maintenance fee, a car rental, interest earned |
| 2 ledger entries not on the statement | an uncleared check and a deposit in transit |
| Both documents balance-verified | zero discrepancy against the statement totals |
The five exceptions are the point. A reconciliation that matches everything teaches you nothing; these files leave a fee, a card charge, some interest, an uncleared check and a deposit in transit for you to look at, which is what a real month looks like.
Claude replies with a secure upload link for each file
Attaching a PDF to your Claude message is not how the file reaches MatchLedger, and the connector never accepts file contents through the chat. Instead Claude answers with one pre-signed upload link per document. It will say it cannot push the bytes itself and ask you to drop each file in. The reply looks like this:
Used MatchLedger integration
I've started the upload for both files, but I don't have direct network access to push the bytes myself, so you'll need to drop each file in through these links (they open in any browser, expire in 15 minutes):
1. Bank statement (matchledger-sample-bank-statement.pdf):
https://app.matchledger.ai/upload/MXxhYzQ1NzRhMy00ZTI3LTk2OGY…
2. Ledger report (matchledger-sample-ledger-report.pdf):
https://app.matchledger.ai/upload/MTZkZTRjYTgtMjg2Yy00MmIw…
Once you've uploaded both, let me know and I'll pick up from there: extraction, reconciliation, and the Excel export.
Each link points at app.matchledger.ai/upload/…. From there:
- Open a link in any browser. There is nothing to sign in to: the link itself is the permission, which is why it is private and short-lived.
- Drag the file onto the page, or click to browse. It takes CSV, PDF and Excel (.xlsx or .xls), up to 25 MB.
- Wait for File received, then close the tab. If you picked the wrong file, the same page offers to replace it, and that works right up until Claude collects it.
- Repeat for the second link.
Each link is good for about 15 minutes. If one expires before you get to it, ask Claude for a fresh link.
Want Claude to do the upload itself?
It can, once you allow it. The Claude apps block outbound connections to unknown hosts by default, and file storage is one of them. Add *.linodeobjects.com to Claude's allowed network domains and it uploads directly, with no browser link in the middle. Use the wildcard rather than a single host name, or it will work today and stop working later.
The browser link keeps working either way, so this is a convenience, not a prerequisite.
Tell Claude when the files are in
Claude has no way to know you finished, so say so:
Done uploading.
Choose “Allow always” when Claude asks permission to use MatchLedger.
Extraction and matching run in the background, and Claude checks back repeatedly until they finish (seconds for a short CSV, a few minutes for a long scanned PDF). Every check is another tool call, so Allow once means approving the same thing over and over while you wait. Allow always lets the run finish on its own.
From there Claude works through it and reports back in the chat: how much matched and at what confidence, what is left over on each side, whether each document's balance ties out to its own totals, and a download link for the Excel workbook.
Download the workbook promptly: the link expires after about 15 minutes. Everything is also waiting for you in the MatchLedger web app, where you can confirm or override any match by hand.
Ask about an earlier reconciliation
To revisit a reconciliation from another day, copy its ID from the reconciliation URL in the MatchLedger web app and include it in the question. Claude cannot work out which one you mean on its own:
Summarise MatchLedger reconciliation <id> and list the matches that need review.
Connect your books to Claude without copying an API key.
Create a MatchLedger accountPrefer the terminal?
Claude Code connects over HTTP in one line, with no Node bridge or extra package. The same browser sign-in and consent screen follow, so it is the same MatchLedger connection through a different front door.
claude mcp add --transport http matchledger https://app.matchledger.ai/mcpSee the full Claude Code and Codex MCP guide, or the Gmail and MatchLedger setup guide if you also want the terminal reaching your inbox.
Claude and Claude Code are products of Anthropic. MatchLedger is not affiliated with or endorsed by Anthropic.