Connect Xero to AI agents over MCP (with Stepper Skill Sets)

What you can let an agent do in Xero

These are the Xero actions you can add to a Skill Set. They're the same actions Stepper workflows use, listed on Stepper's Xero page. You choose which ones the agent gets.

For example, you could ask

• Create a draft quote for Harbour Pottery for 40 speckled mugs.
• Add a note to invoice INV-0042 saying the customer asked for a payment plan.

• Create Sales Invoice Creates a new sales invoice (Accounts Receivable).
• Create Bill Creates a new bill (Accounts Payable).
• Create/Update Contact Creates a new contact or updates a contact if a contact already exists.
• Create Payment Applies a payment to an invoice.
• Create Bank Transaction Creates a new Spend/Receive Money bank transaction.
• Create Bank Transfer Transfers money between two bank accounts.
• Create Credit Note Creates a new credit note for a contact.
• Create Purchase Order Creates a new purchase order for a contact.
• Create New Quote Draft Creates a new quote draft.
• Create Project Creates a new project for a contact.
• Create Employee Creates an employee in Xero. (Exclusively for Australian Instances)
• Create Inventory Item Creates an inventory item.
• Create Repeating Sales Invoice Creates a template that generates regular invoices.
• Update Sales Invoice Updates existing sales invoice (Accounts Receivable).
• Update Purchase Order Updates an existing Purchase Order.
• Update Employee Updates an existing employee in Xero. (Exclusively for Australian Instances)
• Add Items to Existing Sales Invoice Adds line items to an existing sales invoice.
• Add Note to Invoice Add a note which will appear in the invoice history.
• Add or Update Stock Items Creates or updates one or more stock items.
• Allocate Credit Note to Invoice Allocates a credit note to an invoice.
• Send Sales Invoice by Email Send Sales Invoice by Email
• Upload Attachment Uploads an attachment to a selected Xero resource. Resources can have a maximum of 10 attachments.
• Make HTTP Request Make an HTTP request to any URL with full control over method, headers, and body.

Set it up in 5 steps

You need a Stepper account, a Xero account, and an AI client that supports remote MCP servers, such as ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor or VS Code. Your own agent works too, using a Skill Set token.

1. Connect Xero to Stepper

   In Stepper, connect your Xero account. Use an account that can do what you want the agent to do, and no more.

2. Create a Skill Set

   Go to Skill Sets in Stepper, create a Skill Set for this agent, and use Add Entry to add your Xero connection.

3. Restrict the actions

   Choose only the Xero actions the agent needs. An entry with no actions chosen allows every Xero action, so a short list is safer. To pin a value, such as one channel, table or calendar, hardcode that parameter so the agent can't change it.

4. Add the Skill Sets server to your AI client

   Add this URL as a remote MCP server:

   https://mcp.stepper.io/skill-sets/mcp Copy

   Then sign in to Stepper when your client asks. On the Stepper screen that follows, pick the Skill Set this agent should use. To switch to a different Skill Set later, remove the server and connect again.

   Chat apps (ChatGPT, Claude and others): add it as a custom connector or app, wherever your client lists remote MCP servers.

   Code editors (Cursor, Windsurf and others that use an mcpServers config):

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "stepper": {
         "url": "https://mcp.stepper.io/skill-sets/mcp"
       }
     }
   }

   Your own agent or script: generate a Skill Set token in Stepper and send it as Authorization: Bearer sst_….

5. Test it

   Ask the agent what it can do (it checks the Skill Set's list of skills) and make sure only the Xero actions you chose appear. Then run one request using the lowest-risk action you allowed, such as a lookup or a draft, and check the call in the Skill Set's call log in Stepper.

Xero's own MCP server, and when to use it instead

Guardrails

An agent can misread a request, and some Xero actions change or remove real data. Set these up before you rely on it.

Add with care: Make HTTP Request. Make HTTP Request can call any URL with your connection, so it gives the agent far more reach than the other actions.