Point your AI at your books. Both stay on your machine.

Last updated August 2026 · Every command on this page was run for real before we published it

Why this is different

Every cloud accounting vendor's "AI integration" means a third party touching your books through their partner program: developer registration, OAuth screens, scopes reviews, and your ledger in their cloud the whole time. SlowBooks inverts the entire arrangement. The app already runs a local web server for its own UI — the same server publishes the full API. Your AI talks to 127.0.0.1. The books, the AI session, and the credentials are all on hardware you own.

SlowBooks already ships bring-your-own-key AI analysis (7 providers, self-hosted included) for reading your numbers. This page is the next level: letting an agent operate the software.

The five-minute setup, done by your agent

Install SlowBooks, open it once, and set your operator password — that's the one step a human should always do. Then open your agentic CLI and paste this:

You're helping me set up SlowBooks Pro, a local accounting app at
http://127.0.0.1:3001. The API is self-documenting: GET /openapi.json.
Auth: I'll give you an API token (made in Settings -> API Tokens);
send it as "Authorization: Bearer sbp_..." on every request. (Session
login with the operator password also works, but the token is scoped
and audit-attributed — prefer it.) First-run setup is already done.

1. Discover the API from /openapi.json before calling anything
   (send the token there too — on v2.5.2 and earlier the spec
   itself requires auth; GET /api/auth/status is the only
   unauthenticated probe).
2. I'm migrating from [MYOB / Xero / Sage 50 / Wave / Zoho Books /
   GnuCash]. Tell me exactly what to export from it, then use
   POST /api/migration/{source}/dry-run and only call /import after
   the dry-run returns ok=true with zero errors.
3. Verify the books: GET /api/reports/trial-balance with start_date
   and end_date covering the imported data's dates. Total debits
   must equal total credits — show me both numbers.
4. Configure the basics via PUT /api/settings — company address,
   invoice prefix, default terms. Ask me for real values.
5. Finish with a one-paragraph summary of my profit & loss for the
   imported period (GET /api/reports/profit-loss).

Never delete anything. If an endpoint errors, show me the response
verbatim instead of improvising.

What that actually looks like

We ran exactly that flow against a fresh install, migrating the classic MYOB "Clearwater" sample company. This is the real output:

[ 0.2s] discover   GET  /openapi.json ............ v2.5.2 · 357 operations
[ 1.5s] login      POST /api/auth/login .......... 200
[ 1.6s] dry-run    POST /api/migration/myob/dry-run
                   ok=true · 101 accounts · 328 journals
                   note: TB differs on 3 accounts netting to zero —
                   one balanced opening journal will be posted
[ 1.6s] import     POST /api/migration/myob/import
                   101 accounts · 328 journals written
[ 3.6s] verify     GET  /api/reports/trial-balance
                   51 rows · debits 877,105.88 = credits 877,105.88 ✓
[ 3.6s] report     GET  /api/reports/profit-loss . 200
        settings   PUT  /api/settings ............ 200

3.6 seconds end-to-end. Books migrated, balanced, verified.

Why it's safe to let an agent near your ledger

SlowBooks was hardened against mistakes long before AI agents were the ones making them:

• Dry-run gates. Migrations write nothing until a dry-run passes with zero errors — the import endpoint refuses otherwise.
• The database cannot hold an unbalanced entry. A CHECK constraint rejects any journal line with both a debit and a credit; every posting must balance to the cent.
• The closing date protects history. Posted periods are locked behind a separate password the agent doesn't get.
• Tamper-evident audit trail. Every change is logged in a hash-chained audit table — anything an agent did is inspectable after the fact.

Things you can ask for once you're set up

Honest limits (we'd rather you know)

• Scoped API tokens shipped in v2.5.1 — Settings → API Tokens mints readonly, bookkeeper, or admin credentials for agents (Authorization: Bearer sbp_...). Every token's changes are audit-attributed as token:<label>, and tokens can never manage users or other tokens, whatever their role. Your operator password stays out of agent context entirely. The one-file backup habit is still a good one.
• This is for local agent sessions on the machine (or LAN) where SlowBooks runs. Don't expose the API to the internet to make a cloud agent work — that trades away the entire point.
• An MCP server with curated, scope-limited tools is the natural next step and is under consideration.

For the agents reading this

This site publishes /llms.txt, and there's a ready-made agent instructions template to drop into your data directory as CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, or GEMINI.md depending on your tool — it teaches the agent the auth flow, the dry-run-first rule, and the house conventions so every session starts oriented.