Expense Tracker MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server built with Python and FastMCP that allows LLM assistants (like Claude Desktop) to track, query, summarize, and delete personal expenses using a local SQLite database.

📌 Project Summary

This project provides an intelligent financial tracker backend accessible via MCP tools. With this MCP server, an AI assistant can manage your personal expenses directly through conversational prompts.

Available Tools:

• add_expense: Add a new expense with amount, category, optional description, and optional date.

• get_expenses: List and filter expenses by category, month, or year.

• get_summary: Generate a monthly summary grouped by spending categories.

• delete_expense: Remove an expense record by its unique ID.

Related MCP server: Expense Tracker MCP Server

🚀 Step-by-Step Setup & Implementation Guide

Prerequisites

• Python 3.10+

• uv (Fast Python package installer and runner)

• Claude Desktop (or any MCP-compliant client)

Step 1: Set Up the Project

Navigate to the project root directory:

cd C:\Users\arjun\Desktop\papi\expense-tracker-mcp

Install the required dependencies using uv:

uv pip install fastmcp

Step 2: Project Architecture (main.py)

The application defines an MCP server using FastMCP and initializes an SQLite database (expenses.db) automatically upon execution:

import datetime
from fastmcp import FastMCP
import os
import sqlite3

DB_PATH = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "expenses.db")
mcp = FastMCP(name="Expense Tracker")

# Database Initialization
def init_db():
    with sqlite3.connect(DB_PATH) as c:
        c.execute('''
            CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS expenses (
                id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
                amount REAL NOT NULL,
                category TEXT NOT NULL,
                description TEXT,
                date DATE NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_DATE
            )
        ''')

init_db()

Step 3: Test Running the MCP Server

You can run the server locally to ensure there are no syntax errors:

uv run python main.py

Step 4: Integrate with Claude Desktop

Option A: Automatic Installation (Standard Claude Desktop)

If using standard Claude Desktop:

uv run fastmcp install claude-desktop main.py

Option B: Manual Configuration (Windows Store Claude Desktop)

If using the Microsoft Store version of Claude Desktop, open your claude_desktop_config.json:

• Path: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Claude_pzs8sxrjxfjjc\LocalCache\Roaming\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Add the server entry under mcpServers:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "expense-tracker": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "python",
        "C:\\Users\\arjun\\Desktop\\papi\\expense-tracker-mcp\\main.py"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Step 5: Restart Claude Desktop

1. Close and fully quit Claude Desktop.

2. Relaunch Claude Desktop.

3. Look for the 🔌 icon to verify that the Expense Tracker tools are active.

💬 Example Conversational Prompts

Once configured in Claude Desktop, you can interact with your tracker using natural prompts:

• "Add an expense of $15.50 for lunch under Food category today."

• "Show all my Food expenses for this month."

• "Give me a spending summary for August 2026."

• "Delete expense ID 3."