MCP Server

Treeline includes a built-in MCP (Model Context Protocol) server. This lets AI agents query your finances, sync accounts, tag transactions, and more — all from your local database.

Setup

Pick the client you’re using. You can use more than one — they all share the same local database.

Claude Desktop

Two ways to connect, depending on whether you use the terminal.

Don’t use the terminal? Download the .mcpb extension from treeline.money/download and open it. Claude Desktop installs it automatically — no configuration needed.

Already have the CLI? Open Settings > Developer > Edit Config in Claude Desktop and add:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "treeline": {
      "command": "tl",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. You should see Treeline listed in the tools menu.

Which should I choose?

The extension bundles its own copy of the CLI, so to get new features you download a new extension. The CLI config uses tl from your PATH — run tl update and Claude Desktop picks up the new version on next restart. If you already have the CLI installed, the CLI config is the better choice.

Both options work in Chat and Cowork mode.

Claude Code

Requires the Treeline CLI.

claude mcp add treeline -- tl mcp

Gemini CLI, Cursor, and others

Requires the Treeline CLI. Any client that supports the MCP STDIO transport can connect — point it at tl mcp as the command.

ChatGPT

ChatGPT only supports remote HTTP MCP servers — not local STDIO. Since Treeline is local-first, it isn’t compatible with ChatGPT’s MCP implementation today.

Available Tools

Once connected, the agent has access to these tools:

Tool	Description	Access
status	Account balances, transaction counts, and connected integrations	Read-only
schema	Get database schema (tables, views, columns) for SQL query planning	Read-only
query	Execute a read-only SQL query against your financial database	Read-only
query_write	Execute a SQL query with write access (INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE)	Read/Write
sync	Pull latest transactions from connected bank integrations	Read/Write
tag	Apply tags to transactions	Read/Write
doctor	Run database health checks	Read-only
demo	Enable, disable, or check demo mode	Read/Write
skills_list	List available user-created financial skills	Read-only
skills_read	Read a file from a skill directory	Read-only
skills_write	Create or update a skill file	Read/Write
encryption_status	Check database encryption and lock status	Read-only
version	Get current CLI version and check for updates	Read-only

Usage

You don’t need to mention Treeline or MCP by name. Just ask questions naturally:

• “What’s my net worth?”
• “How much did I spend on groceries last month?”
• “Show me my largest transactions this week”
• “Tag all Starbucks transactions as coffee”
• “Sync my bank accounts”

The agent will choose the appropriate Treeline tool based on your question.

Privacy

The MCP server runs locally and reads directly from your Treeline database on disk. No financial data is sent to any server by the MCP server itself.

The AI agent you’re using (Claude, etc.) will see query results in order to answer your questions. The LLM provider sees the data you ask about, but not your full database.