Paymo MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Paymo time tracking and invoicing. Enables Claude Desktop to manage time entries, projects, tasks, and generate invoice timesheets.

Features

• ✅ Time Entry Management: Create and manage time entries via natural language

• ✅ Project & Task Discovery: List and search projects/tasks by name

• ✅ Invoice Timesheet Export: Generate CSV timesheets for specific invoices

• ✅ Unbilled Time Analysis: Track unbilled hours and revenue

• ✅ Batch Operations: Submit multiple entries from YAML format

• ✅ Smart Filtering: Filter entries by project, date range, billing status

• ✅ Chronological Sorting: All exports automatically sorted by date

Installation

Requirements

• Python 3.8+

• Paymo account with API access

• fastmcp for MCP server functionality

Configuration

Configuration is split between non-sensitive settings and auth:

~/.mcp-config/paymo/config.json (non-sensitive, can be in dotfiles):

~/.mcp-auth/paymo/auth.json (sensitive, sync separately):

Getting Your API Key

1. Log into Paymo

2. Go to Settings → API

3. Generate a new API key

4. Copy the key to your config file

Usage

As a CLI Tool

As an MCP Server

1. Start the Server

2. Configure Claude Desktop

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

3. Restart Claude Desktop

The Paymo tools will now be available in Claude Desktop.

MCP Tools Reference

Project & Task Management

list_paymo_projects()

List all active Paymo projects.

Returns: List of projects with IDs, names, and client information.

list_paymo_tasks(project_id: int)

List all tasks for a specific project.

Args:

• project_id: The Paymo project ID

Returns: List of tasks with IDs, names, and billing information.

Time Entry Management

create_paymo_entry(task_id, date, duration_hours, description)

Create a single time entry.

Args:

• task_id (int): Task ID to log time against

• date (str): Date in YYYY-MM-DD format

• duration_hours (float): Hours worked (e.g., 3.5)

• description (str): Description of work performed

Returns: Created entry details.

Example:

submit_paymo_timesheet(yaml_content: str)

Submit multiple entries from YAML format.

Args:

• yaml_content: YAML string with timesheet entries

Returns: Summary of created entries.

Example YAML:

list_paymo_entries(start_date, end_date, project_id=None, billed=None)

List time entries with optional filters.

Args:

• start_date (str): Start date (YYYY-MM-DD)

• end_date (str): End date (YYYY-MM-DD)

• project_id (int, optional): Filter by project

• billed (bool, optional): Filter by billing status (True=billed, False=unbilled, None=all)

Returns: List of entries with task names, durations, descriptions, and billing status.

Invoice Management

list_paymo_invoices(client_id=None, status=None)

List Paymo invoices with optional filters.

Args:

• client_id (int, optional): Filter by client

• status (str, optional): Filter by status ("draft", "sent", "viewed", "paid")

Returns: List of invoices with numbers, amounts, dates, and statuses.

get_outstanding_invoices_last_week()

Get outstanding invoices from the last 7 days.

Returns: List of recent invoices with status "sent" or "viewed".

export_invoice_timesheet(invoice_id: int)

Export detailed timesheet CSV for a specific invoice.

Args:

• invoice_id (int): The invoice ID to export

Returns: Path to generated CSV file.

Features:

• Only includes entries actually billed on that invoice

• Chronologically sorted (earliest first)

• Includes task names, descriptions, hours

• 90-day lookback to capture all entries

export_paymo_timesheet(start_date, end_date, project_id=None, format="csv")

Export timesheet for a date range.

Args:

• start_date (str): Start date (YYYY-MM-DD)

• end_date (str): End date (YYYY-MM-DD)

• project_id (int, optional): Filter by project

• format (str): Export format ("csv" or "xls")

Returns: Path to exported file.

Example Queries (via Claude Desktop)

Time Entry Creation

• "Create a 3.5 hour entry for the Patent Litigation project on Dec 10 for prior art research"

• "Log 6 hours today on expert report drafting for the IP case"

• "Add a 2 hour call entry for yesterday on the litigation support task"

Project & Invoice Discovery

• "List all my active projects"

• "Show me tasks for the Corporate Advisory project"

• "What invoices do I have outstanding from last week?"

• "List all unpaid invoices for Client XYZ"

Analytical Queries

• "How much unbilled time do I have in the last 30 days?"

• "Which projects haven't had an invoice in the last month?"

• "Show me unbilled hours for the Patent Litigation project"

• "What's my total billed revenue for November 2025?"

• "Calculate my unbilled revenue by project for Q4"

Timesheet Export

• "Export the timesheet for invoice #12345"

• "Export timesheets for all outstanding invoices from last week"

• "Generate a CSV of my December time entries"

• "Export the $19,500 invoice timesheet" (matches by amount)

Example Output

Invoice Timesheet Export

Unbilled Time Analysis

When you ask "How much unbilled time do I have?", Claude might respond:

How It Works

Natural Language to API Calls

The MCP server enables Claude to automatically translate natural language to Paymo API calls:

You say: "Create a 6 hour entry for the litigation project on Dec 10"

Claude automatically:

1. Calls list_paymo_projects() to find projects

2. Searches for "litigation" in project names

3. Calls list_paymo_tasks(project_id) to get tasks

4. Creates the entry with create_paymo_entry()

You say: "Which projects have unbilled time?"

Claude automatically:

1. Calls list_paymo_projects() to get all projects

2. For each project, calls list_paymo_entries() with billed=False

3. Aggregates and reports unbilled hours by project

Invoice-Specific Exports

The export_invoice_timesheet() function uses smart filtering:

1. Retrieves invoice and its line items

2. Finds all time entries linked to those invoice items (via invoice_item_id)

3. Looks back 90 days to catch all entries (handles monthly billing cycles)

4. Fetches task names for each entry

5. Sorts chronologically (earliest first)

6. Generates clean CSV output

This ensures you get only the entries actually billed on that specific invoice, properly formatted and sorted.

Rate Limiting

The script automatically handles Paymo's API rate limits:

• Monitors X-Ratelimit-Remaining headers

• Adds 2-second delays between task lookups

• Retries on 429 errors with exponential backoff

• Displays warnings when approaching limits

Troubleshooting

"API key not configured"

Create ~/.mcp-auth/paymo/auth.json with your API key (see Configuration section).

"fastmcp not installed"

Install the MCP server dependency:

"Rate limit exceeded"

The script will automatically wait and retry. If you see this frequently, reduce batch operation sizes.

Empty invoice exports

Some invoices may not have time entries (flat fee or expense-only invoices). Verify the invoice includes time entries in Paymo.

Development

Project Structure

Key Classes

• PaymoClient: API wrapper with rate limiting and retry logic

• TimesheetProcessor: YAML parsing and batch entry creation

Adding New MCP Tools

1. Add the @mcp.tool() decorator

2. Define clear docstrings with arg descriptions

3. Load config and create PaymoClient

4. Return structured data (dicts/lists, not strings)

Example:

License

MIT

Contributing

Issues and pull requests welcome! Please ensure:

• Code follows existing style

• New features include documentation

• MCP tools have clear docstrings

• Rate limiting is respected

Acknowledgments

Built with FastMCP for Model Context Protocol support.