If you use Exact Online and have heard about AI assistants like ChatGPT or Copilot, you might wonder: how can those tools actually access my business data? The answer is MCP — the Model Context Protocol.
What is MCP?
MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. It is an open standard, developed by Anthropic, that enables AI assistants to securely communicate with external systems. Think of MCP as a universal plug: any AI assistant that supports MCP can connect to any MCP server, without custom development per combination.
How does MCP work with Exact Online?
Ledger Botje acts as an MCP server between your AI assistant and Exact Online. The process works as follows:
- You ask a question in natural language to your AI assistant, for example: "Which sales orders are open for customer Bakkerij de Groot?"
- The AI recognizes that Exact Online data is needed and calls the right MCP tool at Ledger Botje.
- Ledger Botje translates the request into the correct Exact Online API calls and retrieves the data.
- The AI presents the result in a readable format.
Why MCP and not a regular API?
A traditional API integration requires you to write code, understand endpoints and process JSON responses. With MCP, the AI assistant does all of this for you. You just need to ask a question in plain language.
Moreover, MCP is universal: the same Ledger Botje MCP server works with ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude, Gemini and all other AI tools that support MCP. With a traditional integration, you would have to build separately for each tool.
Security
MCP uses OAuth 2.1 with PKCE for authentication. This means your AI assistant only has access to your Exact Online data after you have explicitly granted permission. All communication runs via HTTPS.
Getting started
Setting up MCP takes less than 5 minutes. Create a free Ledger Botje account, connect Exact Online and add the MCP server to your favorite AI assistant. Check our step-by-step setup guide to get started right away.
Curious what you can ask? Browse the prompt library for ready-to-use examples, or read how to check stock levels with AI.