ChatGPT Exact Online guide: what do you need?
More and more business owners are discovering that you can connect ChatGPT to Exact Online. But how does it actually work? In this guide, we walk you through the entire process step by step - from prerequisites to your first query against your accounting data.
To connect ChatGPT to Exact Online, you need three things:
- ChatGPT Plus or Team - the free version of ChatGPT does not support MCP connections. You need at least a Plus subscription.
- An Exact Online account - you must have login credentials for the Exact Online administration you want to query.
- A Ledger Botje account - Ledger Botje acts as the bridge (MCP server) between ChatGPT and Exact Online.
Step 1: create a Ledger Botje account and connect Exact Online
Go to the pricing page and choose the plan that suits you. After creating your account, you connect your Exact Online administration via OAuth. This means you log in to Exact Online and grant permission - Ledger Botje never stores your password.
The entire process takes less than two minutes. After connecting, Ledger Botje has access to your administration via the official Exact Online API.
Step 2: add the MCP server to ChatGPT
Follow the step-by-step setup guide to add the Ledger Botje MCP server to ChatGPT. You copy the MCP server URL into ChatGPT's settings and authenticate with your Ledger Botje account. ChatGPT automatically recognises all available tools such as financial_outstanding_get, items_stock and sales_orders_search.
Step 3: ask your first query
Now comes the fun part. Open a new conversation in ChatGPT and ask a question about your administration. Try for example:
- "Which invoices are outstanding?" - ChatGPT uses the
financial_outstanding_gettool. - "How much of item A1001 do we have in stock?" - the
items_stocktool provides an instant answer. - "Show all sales orders for customer Jansen BV" - via the
sales_orders_searchtool.
ChatGPT understands natural language, so you do not need to know any technical commands. Ask your question just as you would ask a colleague.
Common use cases for ChatGPT with Exact Online
Once connected, you can use ChatGPT for dozens of tasks:
- Financial reporting - query revenue figures, outstanding items and debtor overviews.
- Inventory management - check stock levels, search batch numbers and view warehouse locations.
- Order management - search sales and purchase orders, view order statuses and create new orders (Advanced).
- Customer information - look up customer details, view contacts and order history.
Browse the prompt library for dozens of ready-to-use example questions you can try straight away.
Get started with ChatGPT and Exact Online today
You now have all the information to connect ChatGPT to Exact Online. The entire process takes less than five minutes. Want to learn more about how the MCP protocol works first? Or visit the ChatGPT integration page for more details on the capabilities.
Ready to start? Follow the setup guide and view the plans to start querying your administration via ChatGPT today.
What goes wrong when connecting, and what to do
The installation itself usually goes smoothly. The questions we get are almost always about the same four things.
"ChatGPT does not see the tools." Usually a free account. MCP connections only work on Plus, Team or Enterprise. Restarting the conversation after adding the connector sometimes helps.
"It keeps asking me to log in." That points to a blocked cookie or a browser extension interrupting the authorisation window. Try it in a window without extensions.
"The answer comes from the wrong administration." With several administrations you have to name the right one or switch explicitly. This is the error you notice least quickly, because the answer looks correct.
"It says it is not allowed." Then you are attempting a write action on a read-only connection. That is intended: write access is off by default.
From first question to daily use
Most people ask three questions after installing, note that it works, and then do not use it for a week. That is because there is no trigger: you still have to learn when it is faster than looking yourself.
An approach that sticks: take one recurring task from your week - the debtor overview on Monday, the stock check before purchasing - and do it through ChatGPT for a month. After that you know whether it suits you, and you have a few questions committed to memory.
More worked examples are in the prompt library.