Productivity & Project Management · Clientary + Claude
Clientary MCP with Claude: Faster Invoicing, Clients and Project Admin
The short answer
Claude works with Clientary through the Model Context Protocol (MCP), an open standard that acts as a secure adapter between the two. Once connected with an API key, Claude can read client and project records and carry out agreed tasks such as creating invoices, updating clients, logging project hours and drafting or sending proposals, all from natural language requests.
What is Clientary?
Clientary is a platform for managing clients, invoices, projects, proposals and related client work. It is used by freelancers, consultants, agencies and small professional firms who want to handle client relationships and billing in one place. Its main purpose is to reduce the administrative time that follows each client engagement, from proposal through to payment.
How Claude connects to Clientary through MCP
MCP, the Model Context Protocol, is an open standard that lets Claude use other software securely. Think of it as a universal adapter between Claude and a tool like Clientary. Your organisation controls what Claude can see and do, and the connection is set up once rather than rebuilt for each task.
Once connected, Claude can read your client records, project details and invoice history, and carry out actions you have allowed. Typical examples include creating an invoice from a set of logged hours, adding a new client contact, recording time against a project or preparing a proposal from a brief. You describe what you need in ordinary language and Claude translates it into the right steps in Clientary.
Permissions and approvals keep people in charge. Access is granted with an API key and limited to the actions your team needs. Consequential steps, such as sending an invoice or a proposal to a client, can be set to require a person's sign-off before they happen, and every action leaves a record you can review.
What you can automate
Invoice from logged hours
At the end of each month, a project manager asks Claude to total the logged hours for each client and draft the matching invoices. Claude prepares the drafts in Clientary, flags any missing time entries, and waits for approval before anything is sent. This turns a half-day of billing admin into a short review.
Proposals from a brief
A sales lead pastes a discovery call summary into Claude and asks for a proposal in the company's standard format. Claude drafts the proposal inside Clientary, populates the client details and proposed fees, and leaves it ready for the lead to edit and send. Proposals go out faster and follow a consistent structure.
Client record upkeep
Client details change often, with new contacts, addresses and billing preferences. An operations assistant can ask Claude to update a client record from an e-mail thread or a note, and Claude makes the change in Clientary and lists what was updated. This keeps records accurate without manual data entry.
Project hour tracking
Team members can tell Claude how long they spent on a task in plain words, such as two hours on the website redesign for a named client. Claude records the time against the correct project and flags entries that do not match an active project. Managers see accurate figures for budgets and billing.
Overdue payment follow-up
A finance lead asks Claude to list invoices that are past due and summarise them by client. Claude produces the list from Clientary, and the team decides which reminders to send. The team keeps control of tone and timing while the search and sorting happen quickly.
An end-to-end workflow: Monthly billing from project time to client payment
TriggerThe first working day of each month, when the operations lead asks Claude to prepare billing.
Claude reads the logged project hours for the previous month in Clientary.
Claude checks each entry against an active project and lists any gaps for review.
Claude drafts an invoice per client using the agreed rates and writes them into Clientary.
The operations lead reviews the drafts, and Claude posts a summary to the team's shared channel in Microsoft 365.
Once approved, the invoices are sent to clients and Claude adds the payment due dates to the finance calendar.
OutcomeBilling is prepared in a fraction of the usual time, invoices go out on schedule, and the finance team has a clear record of what was billed and when payment is due.
How we set it up
Free automation audit
We review how your team uses Clientary and related systems, and identify the workflows worth automating first, such as invoicing, proposals or time tracking.
Secure connection
We connect Claude to your Clientary account using an API key, creating a dedicated key with only the permissions the agreed workflows require. The key is stored securely and can be revoked at any time.
Workflow design
We design the end-to-end process across Clientary and your other systems, deciding which actions run automatically and which need a person's approval before they happen.
Testing and launch
We test the workflows against real past cases, such as previous invoices and proposals, and then launch with monitoring and audit logs so every action can be reviewed.
Team training
We train your staff on how to make requests, check Claude's work and handle exceptions, and we agree on how the workflows will be reviewed as your business changes.
Who benefits
- Finance and billing manager
- Faster monthly invoicing with fewer errors, and a clear view of what is overdue.
- Freelancer or consultant
- Less time spent on admin, so more hours go to paid client work.
- Sales lead
- Proposals drafted quickly from briefs, in a consistent format.
- Operations or department head
- Accurate project hours and client records, with a visible audit trail.
Security and control
- Use a dedicated API key with only the permissions each workflow needs, and revoke it if it is no longer required.
- Require a person's approval before invoices or proposals are sent to clients.
- Keep audit logs of every action Claude takes in Clientary so changes can be traced.
- Test workflows on past cases before they go live, and monitor them after launch.
- Review access regularly as team members join, change roles or leave.
For teams in the US, UK, India and the Middle East
Organisations in the United States and the United Kingdom can have Claude hosted in their chosen region, and we align data handling with the relevant privacy rules. In India, we follow the requirements of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023. For organisations in the Middle East, including the UAE and Saudi Arabia, we design workflows to meet local data protection laws. Hosting location is selected to meet your specific legal and contractual requirements.
Learn more about Claude and MCP
Anthropic's AI model and assistant.
Secure links between Claude and business tools.
How engineers build and change software with Claude.
Hosted agents that run multi-step work.
The open standard Claude uses to connect to tools.
Frequently asked questions
What does the Clientary MCP server do?
The Clientary MCP server acts as a secure bridge between Claude and your Clientary account. It lets Claude read and act on clients, invoices, projects and proposals using the permissions you set. You do not need to change how Clientary itself works, and the connection can be adjusted or removed at any time.
Is connecting Claude to Clientary secure?
The connection uses an API key with limited permissions, and you control what it can access. Consequential actions can require human approval, and audit logs record activity. We also test workflows before launch. No setup can guarantee security on its own, so we review access and settings with your team.
What can Claude do with Clientary once connected?
Typically Claude can look up clients and projects, create and draft invoices, record project hours, update client details and prepare proposals. Requests are made in plain language. The exact actions available depend on the permissions you grant and the workflows we agree on.
How long does setup take?
Setup time depends on how many workflows you want to automate and how many systems they touch. A focused project with one or two workflows is often completed within a few weeks, including testing and team training. We confirm a realistic timeline during the free automation audit.
Which plan or permissions do I need?
Connecting through an API key requires that your Clientary account can generate one, and the key should have only the permissions your workflows need. Requirements can vary, so we check your account setup during the audit and recommend the minimum access needed.