Automations

Connect your AI

Connect your AI to longbook and it reads the same commitments the apps read, and writes through the same rules. Connect online from any device, or on your own computer for free.

Online, from any device

Needs longbook Cloud, $4 a month with a 3-day trial: what longbook Cloud is. Your AI connects to longbook's address. Opened in a browser, the address explains itself: the tools, and a worked example.

https://longbook.app/mcpCopy

Claude

Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector → paste the address → sign in with your longbook account.

ChatGPT

Settings → Connectors → Add → paste the address → sign in.

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http longbook https://longbook.app/mcpCopy

Then run /mcp to sign in.

Claude plugin

Adds every longbook prompt as a command, such as /longbook:whats-due and /longbook:weekly-page.

/plugin marketplace add MXmaster2s/longbook-claude-pluginCopy

/plugin install longbook@longbookCopy

Sign in with your longbook account when Claude asks, then type /longbook:start. It checks the connection, starts setup when your longbook is empty, and lists every prompt. The email prompts also need Gmail connected.

On your computer, free

No longbook Cloud needed. Your AI reads your longbook folder on your computer directly, with no hosted copy. The longbook npm package runs the server in any app that starts MCP servers, with Node.js 18 or later. On Windows or Linux, add --vault and your longbook folder's path after @longbook/mcp@latest.

Claude Desktop

Set up Claude Desktop in the Mac app connects Claude to your longbook folder directly. Without the app's setup, add the server below as in any other app.

Claude Code on your computer

claude mcp add longbook -- npx -y @longbook/mcp@latestCopy

Cursor

Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{"mcpServers":{"longbook":{"command":"npx","args":["-y","@longbook/mcp@latest"]}}}Copy

VS Code

code --add-mcp '{"name":"longbook","command":"npx","args":["-y","@longbook/mcp@latest"]}'Copy

Any other app

Add a server named longbook that runs this command:

npx -y @longbook/mcp@latestCopy

Prompts for your AI

Paste a prompt into Claude or ChatGPT with the longbook connector on. Each one has written steps your AI reads from longbook, so the same words get the same result, and what it adds or changes in your commitments and charges waits in Changes.

The same list, with every step, is at longbook.app/prompts.json.

Setting up

• Read my 12-month bank statement and help me set up my longbookCopy

  Your longbook filled from your statements: every charge on record, the names you picked in setup filled in where your statements or your answers show them, each account's closing balance set, the charges that clearly repeat planned ahead, and the rest set to repeat once you confirm them. It waits in the Changes screen for you to keep.

• Add my statement in my longbookCopy

  Every charge on the statement recorded as paid, money in kept apart, the account's balance updated, the charges that clearly repeat set to continue, and the rest once you confirm them.

• Categorise my longbookCopy

  Every commitment without a category gets one. Your AI shows you the ones it guessed, so you can correct any.

• Add September month report in my longbookCopy

  The month's statements recorded, the charges they prove confirmed, and each account's balance set. longbook draws that month's report, with "Not yet confirmed" beside the total until every charge in it is confirmed.

Keeping it current

• Add email invoices in my longbookCopy

  This month's bank alerts, receipts, bills and money in from your mail, each recorded once, with nothing doubled.

  Needs a mail connector in your AI.

• Go to longbook.app/mcp and set up a daily email round for my longbook, as longbook recommendsCopy

  Your AI reads your mail every morning at 6 and records the money that moved, so your longbook stays current without you asking.

  Needs a mail connector and scheduled tasks in your AI.

• Add document invoices in my longbookCopy

  The invoices, receipts and bills you attach, or keep in the longbook documents folder, recorded as charges with the file's name in their notes, without doubling what your statements or mail already recorded.

• Add a commitment in my longbookCopy

  A new commitment planned ahead, or a one-time expense recorded, on the account and for the person you name.

Reading it

• What's my next commitment in my longbookCopy

  The next day you owe something, and what is due that day. Nothing in your longbook changes.

• What is coming in my longbook in the next 30 days?Copy

  Everything due in the next 30 days, or the period you name, by day, with the total per currency. Nothing in your longbook changes.

• What did I spend in July in my longbook?Copy

  What you spent in that month, and what is not yet confirmed. Through the Mac connection this comes from longbook's report; otherwise from your charges, including ones nobody has confirmed yet. Nothing in your longbook changes.

• What renews this year in my longbook?Copy

  Your yearly, half-yearly and quarterly payments due in the next 12 months, or before the day you name, in date order. Nothing in your longbook changes.

• Make my weekly longbook pageCopy

  One page for the week: what is due in the next 7 days, what you spent last week, what renews in the next 30 days, and anything waiting for you. Nothing in your longbook changes.

Reports

• Create a report in my longbookCopy

  A report over the days, accounts, people and categories you choose, on the Reports screen the next time the app is open. It counts confirmed charges only.

• Make a report of my Goa trip in my longbookCopy

  A report of your trip's spending on the Reports screen, filling in as the trip's charges are confirmed.

Housekeeping

• Tidy my longbookCopy

  Doubled charges, bank-style names and odd categories found, and fixed once you approve each change.

• Set up a morning brief for my longbookCopy

  A short summary every morning of what is due today and in the next 30 days. Nothing in your longbook changes.

  Needs scheduled tasks in your AI.

From your email

• Find subscriptions from my email and add them in my longbookCopy

  Your subscriptions found in the last 12 months of your mail: each one with its receipts as charges, the ones that clearly repeat planned ahead, and trials and price changes as the mails state them.

  Needs a mail connector in your AI.

• Find expenses from my email and add them in my longbookCopy

  This month's spending from your mail's bank alerts and receipts, each recorded once as a paid charge.

  Needs a mail connector in your AI.

• Find invoices from my email and add them in my longbookCopy

  The invoices and receipts in the last 12 months of your mail, each recorded once as a charge, paid or due.

  Needs a mail connector in your AI.

• Find insurances from my email and add them in my longbookCopy

  Your insurance policies found in your mail: each with its premiums as charges, its next premium planned, and its policy details in its notes.

  Needs a mail connector in your AI.

• Find purchases from my email and add them in my longbookCopy

  Your orders from the last 3 months of your mail, each recorded once as a paid charge named for what you bought.

  Needs a mail connector in your AI.

• Find bills from my email and add them in my longbookCopy

  Your bills from the last 3 months of your mail: what you paid recorded, what is due planned, and each card's monthly bill kept apart from spending.

  Needs a mail connector in your AI.

• Find loans and EMIs from my email and add them in my longbookCopy

  Your loans and EMIs found in your mail: each loan with its EMIs as charges, planned ahead to its end when the mails state it.

  Needs a mail connector in your AI.

• Find travel bookings from my email and add them in my longbookCopy

  Your bookings from the last 12 months of your mail: flights, trains, hotels and cabs, each recorded as a paid charge with where and when.

  Needs a mail connector in your AI.

• Find money in from my email and add them in my longbookCopy

  Your salary, refunds, interest and other money in from the last 12 months of your mail, kept apart from spending.

  Needs a mail connector in your AI.

All of the MCP server's tools

Every write goes through the same validator the apps use and lands in Changes with its writer named. The folder also carries a schema and a guide, longbook.schema.json and llms.txt, so any AI reads and writes it correctly.

Reading

• next_payment
• upcoming
• cashflow
• commitments
• charges
• spending_by_category
• spending_by_account
• spending_by_member
• accounts
• members
• tags
• search
• whoami
• read_guide

On a Mac

• list_documents
• read_document
• reports

The statements in the folder, and the reports longbook drew there with the comments left on them. They read files, so they work only where the folder is in reach.

Writing

• add_commitments
• update_commitment
• mark_paid
• add_charges
• remove_charges
• cancel_commitment
• promote_to_recurring
• leave_insight
• update_account
• update_member
• update_charge
• set_planned_count
• add_member
• add_account
• rename_tag
• delete_tag
• delete_commitment
• create_report

create_report asks longbook to draw a report over the days, accounts, people and categories you name. It appears on the Reports screen the next time the app is open, not in Changes.