If you use Exact Online and have heard about AI assistants like ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot, you might wonder: how can those tools actually access my business data? The answer is MCP — the Model Context Protocol. This article explains what MCP is, how it works under the hood, which AI assistants support it, and why it is the best way to connect Exact Online to AI.
What is MCP?
MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. It is an open standard, originally developed by Anthropic (the company behind Claude), that lets AI assistants communicate securely with external systems. Since its introduction in 2024 it has been adopted by virtually every large AI company, including OpenAI, Google and Microsoft.
Think of MCP as a universal plug: any AI assistant that supports MCP can connect to any MCP server, with no custom development per combination. Just as USB made it possible to attach any device to any computer, MCP makes it possible to connect any AI assistant to any business system.
What makes MCP particularly useful is that it is an open protocol. Anyone can use, implement and improve it. That drives fast adoption and prevents vendor lock-in: if you decide tomorrow to move from ChatGPT to Claude or Gemini, the same MCP server keeps working.
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, for example: "Which sales orders are open for customer Bakkerij de Groot?"
- The AI recognises that Exact Online data is needed and picks the MCP tool that fits your question best, choosing from more than 298 available tools.
- Ledger Botje translates the request into the right Exact Online API calls, retrieves the data from the cached database and returns the result over the MCP protocol.
- The AI presents the result in a readable format — as text, a table, a summary or an analysis, depending on what you asked for.
The point of all this is that you never need to know anything about APIs, endpoints or data structures. The assistant understands your question and selects the right tool itself. Want a list of outstanding invoices? Just ask. Want to create a sales order? Describe what you need and the AI handles the rest.
How MCP works under the hood
You do not need any of these details to use MCP, but they explain why it is both safe and reliable.
Transport
MCP supports several transport methods for moving messages between the AI assistant and the MCP server:
- Streamable HTTP — the most common method for web-based AI assistants. Messages travel over HTTPS, just like an ordinary website.
- Server-Sent Events (SSE) — for real-time updates from server to client, useful during longer operations.
- stdio — for local AI tools such as Cursor that run MCP servers directly on your own machine.
Ledger Botje uses Streamable HTTP. All communication runs over encrypted HTTPS connections, so your data is never readable in transit.
Protocol: JSON-RPC 2.0
MCP uses JSON-RPC 2.0 as its message format — a lightweight, standardised format that has been proven in software for years. Every request from the assistant and every response from the server follows the same predictable shape, which is what makes the integration reliable and compatible across tools.
Three core concepts
The MCP protocol defines three building blocks:
- Tools — actions the assistant can perform, such as "find an item" or "create a sales order". Ledger Botje offers 298 tools covering stock, orders, manufacturing, finance and more.
- Resources — data the assistant can consult, such as configuration settings or the warehouses available to you.
- Prompts — predefined templates that help the assistant carry out common tasks correctly.
Authentication: OAuth 2.1 with PKCE
MCP security is built on OAuth 2.1 with PKCE (Proof Key for Code Exchange), the same standard banks and government services use. The first time you connect, you sign in with your Ledger Botje account and grant permission. Your assistant then receives a scoped token that every later request runs on.
MCP compared with traditional integrations
There is more than one way to connect Exact Online to another system. Here is how MCP compares with the usual alternatives.
| Method | Technical knowledge | AI-compatible | Universal | Real-time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MCP | None | Yes, native | Every AI assistant | Yes |
| REST API | High (programming) | No | Custom per tool | Yes |
| Webhooks | Medium | No | Limited | Yes (push) |
| Zapier / Make | Low | Limited | Platform only | Delayed |
| CSV import/export | Low | No | No | No (manual) |
A REST API gives you full control but requires programming: you need to know the endpoints, implement authentication and handle JSON responses, and you write that code again for every assistant. For a closer look, read our comparison of MCP and the Exact Online API.
Webhooks are useful for notifications when something changes, but you cannot actively query data with them. They complement MCP rather than replace it.
Zapier and Make are no-code platforms that work well for simple automations, but they do not support natural-language interaction and they struggle with complex business logic. You also pay per action, which adds up quickly at volume.
CSV import and export is the oldest method: export by hand, import by hand. Slow, error-prone and entirely unsuited to real-time interaction.
MCP combines what matters from each: no technical knowledge, any AI assistant, real-time data and a natural-language interface.
Which AI assistants support MCP?
MCP is supported by virtually every major AI assistant. These are the platforms you can connect to Exact Online through Ledger Botje:
- ChatGPT (OpenAI) — the most widely used assistant in the world. MCP is available on the Plus, Pro and Team plans. A good default for everyday questions about your business data.
- Microsoft Copilot — built into Microsoft 365. The obvious choice if you already work in Teams, Outlook and Excel and want your Exact Online data in the same place.
- Claude (Anthropic) — from the company that created MCP. Known for careful, nuanced answers and strong analytical work, which suits financial questions well.
- Google Gemini — strong multimodal capabilities and a natural fit with Google Workspace.
- Mistral AI — a European assistant that stands out on speed and privacy, and runs on European infrastructure.
- Perplexity — combines AI with real-time search, useful when you want market context alongside your own figures.
- Grok (xAI) — direct, no-nonsense answers, available through the X platform.
- Cursor — an AI-driven code editor popular with developers. With MCP you can consult Exact Online data while you write code or automate a process.
- OpenClaw — an open-source assistant you host yourself, for maximum control over your data.
Whichever you choose, the Ledger Botje MCP server works with all of them — and you can use several at once, each for what it does best.
What can you do with MCP and Exact Online?
With 298 tools available, Ledger Botje covers nearly every part of your Exact Online administration. The main areas:
Stock and items
Query stock levels, search items, inspect batch and serial numbers, check storage locations and move stock between warehouses. Our guide to inventory management with AI has practical examples.
Managing orders
Find sales orders, create new ones, add order lines, book goods receipts and process deliveries — all in natural language. See creating orders via ChatGPT and Exact Online for a step-by-step walkthrough.
Manufacturing
Find shop orders, inspect bills of material, issue materials, report production complete and record time per operation. Our guide to managing production orders with AI shows how this works in practice.
Financial data
Consult invoice information, review debtors and creditors, search entries and get a picture of your financial position. The assistant can summarise and analyse that data as well as retrieve it.
Customers and suppliers
Search customers and suppliers, look up contact details, review order history per account and create new relations.
Browse the prompt library for dozens of ready-made example questions.
Security of MCP
Security is a fair concern when you give an AI assistant access to business data. These are the main measures:
- OAuth 2.1 with PKCE — you grant permission explicitly before any assistant reaches your data. Tokens expire automatically and can be revoked at any moment.
- Read-only by default — on the Basic plan the assistant can only query data, not change it. Creating orders and moving stock requires the Advanced plan, so the decision to allow writes is always yours.
- Choose your AI provider deliberately — what your assistant does with the conversation falls under that provider terms, so check that policy separately. Ledger Botje itself does not use your data to train models.
- Servers in the EU — all Ledger Botje servers are in the Netherlands, so our own processing does not leave the EEA. The AI assistant is a separate link in the chain: if it processes outside the EU, that provider policy applies to that part.
- HTTPS encryption — all traffic between your assistant, Ledger Botje and Exact Online runs over encrypted connections.
- Audit logging — every action performed over MCP is logged, so you can always see which questions were asked and which actions followed.
For the full picture, read our article on MCP security and Exact Online.
The future of MCP
MCP is still early, but adoption is moving fast. OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, Anthropic and Mistral all support the protocol, which means it is becoming the de facto standard for AI integrations.
What to expect next:
- More tools and endpoints — Ledger Botje keeps extending its coverage from the current 298 tools towards the full Exact Online feature set.
- AI agents — the step after assistants. Where an assistant waits for your question, an AI agent can carry out tasks on its own: reordering when stock runs low, checking invoices for anomalies, or raising production orders from a sales forecast.
- Better context — assistants keep getting better at understanding a specific business: your preferences, your processes, and where a suggestion is actually useful.
- Industry-specific workflows — specialised flows built on MCP for sectors such as manufacturing, wholesale and logistics.
Starting now means you learn where the time actually goes, and build experience before this becomes table stakes.
Getting started with MCP and Exact Online
Setting up MCP takes less than five minutes. Three steps:
- Create an account — sign up at ledgerbotje.nl and start on the Basic plan.
- Connect Exact Online — click "Connect" and sign in with your Exact Online account. Ledger Botje synchronises your data automatically.
- Add the MCP server — follow our step-by-step guide to add the server to your assistant. This is a one-time, two-minute job.
Once connected, ask your first question — something like "How many items are in my administration?" — and see what it does.
Curious what else you can ask? Browse the prompt library. Want write access for creating orders? See the plans and pricing, or check the frequently asked questions.