Finance & Accounting · Recurly + Claude
Recurly MCP with Claude: Automate Subscription Billing and Revenue Operations
The short answer
Claude works with Recurly 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 customers, subscriptions, invoices and transactions, and carry out approved actions such as updating plans or processing refunds, all from natural language requests.
What is Recurly?
Recurly is a subscription management and recurring billing platform. It keeps track of customers, the plans they buy, their subscriptions, the invoices issued and the payments collected. Subscription businesses such as software companies, media publishers, membership organisations and online services use it to automate billing and manage the full customer subscription lifecycle, from sign-up through renewal, change and cancellation.
How Claude connects to Recurly through MCP
The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard that lets Claude securely use other software. Think of it as a universal adapter between Claude and a business tool. Recurly can be reached through its MCP server or a direct API connection, depending on what suits your setup.
Once connected, Claude can look up customers, review subscriptions, list invoices and transactions, and answer questions about billing history. For actions, it can create or update subscriptions, manage customer billing details, and prepare refunds or payments when asked, using only the permissions you grant.
Permissions and approvals keep your finance team in charge. We set up access with least-privilege rules, so Claude only sees and changes what it needs. Consequential actions such as refunds and payment changes can require a named person to approve them before they take effect, and every action is written to an audit log.
What you can automate
Billing and invoice enquiries
Customer support staff often need to check whether an invoice was paid, when a renewal is due or why a charge appeared. Claude can look up the relevant customer and invoice in Recurly and give a clear answer in seconds, so support agents spend less time switching between screens and more time resolving the issue.
Subscription changes on request
When a customer asks to upgrade, downgrade or change their plan, the request can be turned into a Recurly update. Claude prepares the change from the customer's message, checks it against the plan rules, and routes it for approval where your policy requires one before the subscription is changed.
Refund and payment handling
Refund requests follow a set policy in most finance teams. Claude can gather the transaction details, check eligibility against your rules and prepare the refund for a manager to approve. This keeps decisions with people while removing the manual lookup work.
Revenue operations reporting
Finance and revenue teams often need a quick view of renewals due, failed payments or recent cancellations. Claude can pull this information from Recurly and summarise it in plain language, so leaders get a weekly picture without someone exporting and formatting spreadsheets by hand.
Customer account management
Keeping customer billing details current is routine but easy to neglect. Claude can help update contact and billing information on request, flag records that look incomplete, and log each change, which supports cleaner data across your billing and customer systems.
An end-to-end workflow: Failed payment recovery with CRM follow-up
TriggerRecurly records a failed payment on a subscription renewal
Claude reads the failed transaction and the related subscription and invoice in Recurly
Claude checks the customer record in the CRM to confirm the account owner and recent contact history
Claude drafts a polite payment reminder and a suggested retry date for the account manager
The account manager reviews and approves the reminder and retry
Claude logs the outcome back to the CRM and the approved retry is recorded in Recurly for audit
OutcomeFailed payments are followed up within the same working day rather than waiting for a manual check, which typically helps reduce involuntary churn and keeps the finance team's records complete.
How we set it up
Free automation audit
We review how subscriptions, billing and refunds are handled today and identify the workflows worth automating. You leave with a clear list of priorities and an estimate of effort.
Secure connection
We connect Claude to Recurly using an API key, stored securely with access limited to the permissions the workflow needs. Where a direct API is more suitable than the MCP server, we use that instead.
Workflow design
We design the end-to-end process across Recurly and your other systems such as Microsoft 365, CRM or ERP, deciding which steps Claude handles and which need a person's approval.
Testing with real cases
We test the workflow against past billing cases, such as earlier refunds and failed payments, to confirm the outputs are accurate before anything goes live.
Launch and training
We launch with monitoring and audit logs turned on, then train your finance, support and operations teams on how to use and oversee the workflow.
Who benefits
- Finance director
- Clearer control over refunds and payment changes, with approvals and audit logs for every consequential action.
- Billing and revenue operations manager
- Faster answers about subscriptions, renewals and invoices without manual exports and spreadsheet work.
- Customer support lead
- Agents can answer billing questions on the spot, which typically shortens resolution times.
- Chief operating officer
- Better visibility of renewals, failed payments and cancellations across the business each week.
Security and control
- Least-privilege API access so Claude only reads and changes what the workflow requires
- Human approval for refunds, payment changes and other consequential actions
- Full audit logs of every action Claude takes or proposes in Recurly
- Regular review of permissions and the API key, with prompt rotation if a key is exposed
- Testing against real past cases before launch and monitoring after go-live
For teams in the US, UK, India and the Middle East
Organisations in the United States and the United Kingdom are typically subject to state privacy laws and the UK GDPR respectively, and we design access and logging to support those obligations. Indian businesses must meet the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, and companies in the UAE and Saudi Arabia must follow their own national data protection laws. We choose the hosting region for any custom application to meet these requirements, whether India, the United States, the United Kingdom or the European Union.
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 Recurly MCP server do?
The Recurly MCP server acts as a secure bridge between AI tools like Claude and your Recurly account. It lets Claude read customer, subscription and invoice information and carry out approved actions such as updating subscriptions or preparing refunds, using natural language instead of manual screen navigation.
Is it secure to connect Claude to Recurly?
It can be, when set up correctly. We use an API key with least-privilege access, restrict Claude to the actions the workflow needs, require approval for refunds and payment changes, and keep full audit logs. Permissions are reviewed regularly, and keys are rotated if there is any concern.
What can Claude actually do with Recurly?
Once connected, Claude can look up customers, subscriptions, invoices and transactions, answer billing questions, create or update subscriptions, manage customer billing details, and process refunds or payments when a person has approved the action. The exact scope is agreed during the audit.
How long does setup take?
Timelines depend on how many workflows are in scope and how your systems are arranged. A focused first workflow is often ready within a few weeks, including testing against real cases and team training. We confirm the timeline during the free automation audit.
Which plan or permissions do I need?
You need an account in Recurly that can generate an API key with the permissions required for the workflow. The exact access depends on your Recurly setup and your internal policies, so we confirm the requirements during the audit rather than assume them.