Bookkeeping with Perplexity

What works today

Two routes into the books of your GmbH or UG (German limited companies), as of October 2026.

Step 1: create a company key

A key is created in the app, never in the chat.

• In the app open Buchhaltung → Einstellungen → “KI-Agent & API” (Bookkeeping → Settings). Administrators or the person who created the workspace can create keys, confirmed with the second factor.
• Choose the rights: read is always included; write lets the agent book, send lets it email invoices, finalize lets it lock periods.
• Every key expires — after 30, 90 or 365 days. Up to ten keys can be active per company, each with 120 requests per minute.
• One key belongs to exactly one company. The company follows from the key, never from the request, and we store only a hash of the key.
• Start with a read-only key for questions and evaluations; add write once you want Perplexity to book.

Step 2a: Perplexity Mac app with the bridge

For the Mac App Store version with PerplexityXPC installed. Node.js must be installed too, because the bridge starts with npx.

In Perplexity's connector settings, add a local connector (Perplexity calls these local MCPs). The form asks for a command, its arguments and environment variables. Perplexity does not publish the exact field labels, so match the values below to the fields you see — and keep the key in the environment variable, not in the arguments.

mcp-remote is a published npm package. It runs on your Mac, talks to Perplexity locally and forwards each request to our MCP server with your key in the Authorization header. Write Authorization:${JAB_AUTH} without spaces around the colon. Perplexity asks for your confirmation when a local connector is used.

Connector type:  local (Mac app)
Command:         npx
Arguments:       -y mcp-remote https://api.jahresabschluss.io/functions/v1/bookkeeping-mcp --header Authorization:${JAB_AUTH}
Environment:     JAB_AUTH = Bearer jab_live_…

Step 2b: browser or Comet with the “API Key” option

Nothing to install — it works if Perplexity sends the key in a header our server reads.

Open Plugins in the Perplexity sidebar (or Customize → Connectors), choose Add custom → Connector → Add MCP connector and enter the server URL. As transport choose Streamable HTTP, as sign-in choose “API Key”, and paste your key.

Perplexity does not document which header carries that key. Our server accepts all three common forms: Authorization: Bearer jab_live_…, Authorization: jab_live_… without “Bearer”, and X-API-Key: jab_live_…. If the connector still shows no tools, use the Mac app route above.

A remote connector belongs to your Perplexity account. Perplexity says connecting it anywhere connects it for your account everywhere, so the same connector is available in Comet.

Name:            buchhaltung
Server URL:      https://api.jahresabschluss.io/functions/v1/bookkeeping-mcp
Transport:       Streamable HTTP
Authentication:  API Key
API key:         jab_live_…

First sentences in the chat

Plain English is fine. The agent works in your German books and calls the matching tools.

• “Show me the Saldenliste (trial balance) for 2026 and tell me whether debits and credits balance.” → list_fiscal_years, get_saldenliste
• “Which customer invoices are overdue, and by how much?” → list_open_items
• “Go through the unbooked bank lines from September and match customer payments to open invoices.” → list_bank_transactions, list_open_items, match_bank_transaction
• “Book the receipts that are waiting for review — show me each proposal first.” → list_receipts, get_receipt_proposal, confirm_receipt
• “What are the figures for the Umsatzsteuer-Voranmeldung (VAT return) for the third quarter?” → get_vat_return

Your rights, our guardrails

What Perplexity may do is decided by the key and enforced by the server.

• write covers booking and reversing, issuing and booking invoices, payments, receipts, bank lines, cash book, fixed assets, provisions, accruals, master data, opening balances and handing the trial balance to the annual accounts. send emails invoices, but only to addresses stored for the business partner. finalize locks periods.
• Before irreversible steps — issuing or emailing an invoice, cancelling an invoice, deleting a receipt, locking a period — our server instructs the agent to tell you exactly what will happen and to wait for your explicit yes. The period lock only runs with confirm=true.
• GoBD (the German rules for proper digital bookkeeping) apply to every write: nothing booked is deleted or overwritten, corrections are Storno reversals, every entry balances debit and credit, and locked periods stay locked. It is the same booking core as manual entry in the app.
• Text from receipts, bank references or partner names is treated as data, never as an instruction. A retry with the same idempotency_key never books twice.
• If your company prepares a balance sheet, no bank line books to income or expense without a receipt; cash-basis businesses (EÜR) book when the money moves.
• Our recommendation: let Perplexity ask before every write tool, and create a read-only key for pure analysis.

What stays in the app

These steps need your login, your bank's approval or an official filing.

• Connecting your bank via OAuth and linking each bank account to a ledger account.
• Company settings such as the chart of accounts (SKR03 or SKR04, the standard German charts) — the agent can read them, not change them.
• IBAN and BIC of business partners, as protection against payment-redirection fraud.
• The manual opening balance of a first year with no previous year in the system.
• Every ELSTER filing (the tax authorities' electronic channel), including the VAT return.
• Annual accounts and E-Bilanz. At year end the agent hands the trial balance to the annual-accounts module with publish_trial_balance; you finish the rest in the app, on your own or with your Steuerberater (tax adviser).

Frequently asked questions

Can I do my bookkeeping with Perplexity?

Yes, as long as Perplexity can reach our MCP server with your company key. The documented way is a local connector in the Perplexity Mac app that starts the mcp-remote bridge. In the browser and in Comet you can try a remote connector with the “API Key” option.

Which header does Perplexity's “API Key” option use?

Perplexity does not document it. Our server reads the key from Authorization: Bearer, from Authorization without “Bearer”, and from X-API-Key. If no tools appear after connecting, set up the Mac app with the bridge instead.

Do I need a paid Perplexity plan?

Perplexity describes custom remote connectors for Pro and Enterprise accounts, and Enterprise administrators must allow them. Local connectors need the Mac App Store version with the PerplexityXPC helper installed.

Does it work on Windows?

Perplexity documents local connectors only for the Mac app. On Windows, try the remote connector in the browser, or use another program from our comparison, such as Claude Desktop or GitHub Copilot in VS Code.

Can Perplexity submit my VAT return?

No. get_vat_return reads the figures of the Umsatzsteuer-Voranmeldung for a month or quarter, including the Dauerfristverlängerung (permanent filing extension) and Sondervorauszahlung (special advance payment). Submitting to ELSTER stays in the app.

What does the connection cost?

The interface — REST API and MCP server — comes at no extra charge with the bookkeeping subscription (Solo or Gesamtpaket) or the EÜR subscription. Your Perplexity plan is separate.