Commands and Tools Reference

The terminal commands and the MCP tools run the same engine. Every command takes --json for machine-readable output and -c <path> to point at a different business.json. Run prima-bookkeeper help <command> for a command’s options.

Plugin Commands

Command	What it does
/bookkeeper-setup	Runs the setup wizard
/bookkeep	Runs the bookkeeping cycle for a date range or a bank CSV
/invoice-chase	Works the missing invoices and receipts, one supplier at a time
/vat-prep	Prepares the VAT return review pack for a period

Setup and Connections

Terminal command	MCP tool	What it does
packs	bookkeeper_pack	Lists the installed jurisdiction packs, their account codes and VAT treatments
init	none	Creates business.json from a pack and your live ledger
credentials set, list, remove	none	Manages credentials in the operating system’s store, in your own terminal only
auth <provider>	none	Runs the browser approval for a ledger, bank or mailbox
bank list, add, remove, ledger-accounts	none	Manages the business’s bank accounts and lists the ledger’s bank account ids
contact find, add	none	Finds or creates a ledger contact
keepalive	bookkeeper_keepalive	Refreshes every stored connection, and --install schedules it
doctor	bookkeeper_doctor	Checks the pack, ledger, bank, tax-rate map, document sources and lapse dates
status	bookkeeper_status	Shows what is pulled, categorised, batched and posted

Bank Data

Terminal command	MCP tool	What it does
pull	bookkeeper_pull	Fetches bank lines from an API or reads a CSV export
formats	none	Lists the CSV formats that ship with the tool
csv-inspect	bookkeeper_csv_inspect	Shows how a CSV would be read, and --save stores the profile

Documents and Evidence

Terminal command	MCP tool	What it does
documents add-mailbox	none	Adds an IMAP, Gmail or Microsoft mailbox as a source
documents discover-senders	bookkeeper_discover_senders	Finds supplier senders from mail headers only
documents add-sender	bookkeeper_add_sender	Adds a supplier sender that discovery missed
collect	bookkeeper_collect	Collects new documents from every source
documents list	bookkeeper_documents	Lists collected documents
documents show	bookkeeper_document_show	Shows a document’s fields and where each came from, never its text
documents fields	bookkeeper_document_fields	Records figures read from a scan, marked as read by an agent
match-documents	bookkeeper_match_documents	Links payments to documents
evidence	bookkeeper_evidence	Shows each payment’s evidence state
evidence confirm, link, unlink	bookkeeper_evidence_confirm, _link, _unlink	Confirms a probable link, links by hand or removes a link
chase	bookkeeper_chase	Lists missing documents by supplier and VAT at stake
waive	bookkeeper_waive	Records that a payment has no document, with a reason and a name
file	bookkeeper_file	Files linked documents into the archive
documents index	none	Writes the archive index CSV

Categorising, Review and Posting

Terminal command	MCP tool	What it does
categorise	bookkeeper_categorise	Proposes entries and lists the unknown and flagged lines
decide	bookkeeper_decide	Records a decision for one line and learns a rule from it
batch create	bookkeeper_batch_create	Builds a review batch
batch show	bookkeeper_batch_show	Shows a batch as a review table
batch list, batch reject	none	Lists batches, or rejects one, which releases its lines for the next batch
batch approve	bookkeeper_batch_approve	Approves a batch under a named approver
post	bookkeeper_post	Posts an approved batch, and --dry-run writes nothing
adopt	bookkeeper_adopt	Records lines the ledger already holds, as a dry run unless told otherwise
link-posting	none	Records one line as posted against an entry you name, with --allocated and --entry-total when one entry covers several lines

Reconciliation and VAT

Terminal command	MCP tool	What it does
reconcile	bookkeeper_reconcile	Matches the bank against the ledger for each bank account
vat-prep	bookkeeper_vat_prep	Builds the VAT return review pack for a period

Commands With No MCP Tool

The commands that handle credentials, credentials and auth, run only in a real terminal. link-posting also has no MCP tool, so a person runs it under their own name.