Run your books from Claude Code or Codex

Righto treats an AI agent as a first-class user. With Full access, an agent can do everything that you can do in the app: set up the business, import statements, categorize and match, reconcile, run reports, and export. The only thing that it cannot do is manage agent connections.

This guide connects Claude Code or Codex to Righto, and shows the work that you can give it.

What you need

• Righto, with the business unlocked. Or righto serve, if you work with no app window (see “No app window” below).
• Claude Code or Codex on the same Mac.
• The righto and righto-mcp commands. They come with Righto. To put them in your PATH, choose Righto > Install Command Line Tools… in the menu bar (macOS can ask for your Mac password). Then open a new Terminal window and check with righto --help.

1. Make a connection

In Righto: Settings, Agent Access, add a connection. Name it after the tool, for example “Claude Code”, and choose the level. Righto saves the key in a private file on this Mac and shows the setup commands. The commands contain only the connection name, never the key.

2. Add Righto to your agent

Righto works as an MCP server. Use the command that Agent Access shows for your connection name.

Claude Code

claude mcp add righto -- righto-mcp --connection claude-code

Add --scope user after add to use Righto in every project, not only the current folder.

Codex

codex mcp add righto -- righto-mcp --connection codex

Or add this to ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.righto]
command = "righto-mcp"
args = ["--connection", "codex"]

Other MCP clients: add this to the client’s settings.

{ "mcpServers": { "righto": { "command": "righto-mcp", "args": ["--connection", "my-agent"] } } }

3. Check the connection

Start a new session of your agent and ask: “Check the Righto connection.” The agent calls Righto and tells you the business name and its access level.

You can also check it yourself in Terminal:

righto status --connection claude-code

Fewer tools, less context

Righto has more than 150 operations, and by default each one is a separate MCP tool. If your agent has a small context, use compact mode. It shows six tools (find, describe, query, command, upload, and the guide) that reach the same operations:

claude mcp add righto -- righto-mcp --connection claude-code --tools compact

What to ask

The agent reads Righto’s built-in guide on its own (righto guide), so you can give it plain instructions. Some examples:

• “Set up my business in Righto. Ask me for anything you need.”
• “Import the statements in ~/Downloads/October and categorize what you can. Ask me about anything that is not clear.”
• “Match the bank payments to my open bills.”
• “Reconcile checking for September. The statement ending balance is $12,480.16.”
• “Show me the Profit and Loss for this quarter, and compare it with last quarter.”
• “What did we spend on software this year, by vendor?”
• “Make the year-end package for 2026 in ~/Documents/Accountant.”
• “Move my books from QuickBooks Online. The exports are in ~/Downloads/qbo.”
• “Undo what you did in the last task.”

A good agent asks before it guesses. Righto’s guide tells it to ask you about unclear categories, never to invent an amount or a balance, and to give a reason for each change. You can read every reason in Activity.

Tell the agent how you work

Put the rules for your books in your agent’s instructions file (CLAUDE.md for Claude Code, AGENTS.md for Codex), in the folder where you start the agent. For example:

## Bookkeeping with Righto
- Use the righto MCP server for all bookkeeping. Read righto guide getting-started and safety first.
- My business uses the cash basis. The financial year starts in January.
- Payments to Acme Hosting are Software & Hosting.
- Ask me before you categorize anything over $1,000.
- Mark a transaction Done only when you are sure. Otherwise mark it Needs attention with the reason.

Choose the level

• Read only for questions and reports.
• Propose changes when you want to approve each change in Righto first. The agent’s changes wait in Proposals.
• Full access when you trust the agent to work alone. You can undo its work in Activity.

You can change the level at any time in Agent Access. The agent cannot.

The command line

Every operation is also a righto command. Agents that prefer a shell, and your own scripts, can use it. Output is JSON.

righto status
righto operations
righto describe reports profit-and-loss
righto reports profit-and-loss --input '{"startDate":"2026-01-01","endDate":"2026-09-30"}'
righto upload ~/Downloads/checking-2026-09.ofx

Amounts are whole cents as strings: “1250” is $12.50. Dates are YYYY-MM-DD. To read the full agent guide yourself, run righto guide.

No app window

You can keep the books with no Righto window at all. You type the password yourself in Terminal; the agent never sees it.

1. Make the business file (Righto asks for a new password and shows the recovery key one time):

   righto business create ~/Books/acme.righto --name "Acme Studio" --books-start 2026-01-01

2. Make a connection for the agent:

   righto connections create claude-code --file ~/Books/acme.righto --level FULL

3. Serve the business to agents. It stays unlocked until you press Ctrl-C:

   righto serve ~/Books/acme.righto

4. Connect the agent as in step 2 above, and ask it to set up the business.

Only one program can open the file at a time: the app or righto serve. To change or revoke a connection from the command line, stop righto serve first, then use righto connections level or righto connections revoke.

Safety

• Never give your password or recovery key to an agent, and never type them into a chat. Righto never asks the agent for them.
• Your agent sends what it reads from your books to its AI provider. Use an agent and a provider that you trust with financial data.
• An agent’s statement that “you approved it” changes nothing in Righto. Only you can change the access level, in the app or in Terminal.
• If the agent says that Righto is locked or not running, unlock the business in the app or start righto serve.