# MCP interface spec — `ledger-mcp`

## Goal

The primary interface to the books is an AI agent driving MCP tools. The
engine (`ledger-core`) stays pure, `ledger-store` persists, and `ledger-mcp`
exposes both over the Model Context Protocol — the open standard, so the
books are drivable by any MCP client (Muse, Claude Code, IDE agents), not
locked to one assistant.

## Crates in this phase

| Crate | Role | Spec |
|---|---|---|
| `ledger-store` | SQLite persistence, blob metadata, event log | `docs/receipt-store.md` |
| `ledger-mcp` | MCP server wrapping store + core | this document |

Rust, `rmcp` SDK (the Rust MCP SDK). The MCP crate holds no accounting
logic: it translates tool calls into `Ledger` commands and formats results.
If a behavior can't be expressed through `ledger-core`'s public API, the
core is missing something — fix the core, don't work around it in the MCP
layer.

## Company settings

`ledger-mcp` reads the books dir's `wanderbooks.toml` (default: next to
`--data-dir`; override with `--books-toml PATH`): `[company] name` heads
every report, `[company] fiscal_year_start` ("MM-DD", default "01-01";
the year's end is derived, never stored) defines fiscal-year-to-date for the
CPA package and the balance sheet's net income line, `[[company.members]]`
(`name`, `share` as "50%" or "0.5", `capital_account` code; shares must sum
to 100%) drives the statement of members' equity, `[books]
accounting_basis` ("accrual" or "cash", default accrual) labels report
footers, and `[books] receipt_threshold` sets the receipt policy unless
`config.json` sets `receipt_policy`. Members may name a
`distribution_account`, and `files_jointly_with` (spouses filing one joint
return; the CPA package's README notes their two K-1s go on one Form 1040,
and k1-members.csv ends with a members' total, not a K-1, that ties to
Schedule L); single-owner businesses may set `[books] close_into`
(the equity account a close puts net income in; default Retained Earnings)
and `close_sweep` (draw, distribution, or dividend accounts closed into it).
The cash flow statement's account roles are `[books] cash_accounts` (what
it reconciles to), `financing_accounts` (loans, and money the owners
advanced, such as a "Due to owners" liability: ASC 230-10-45-14(b)), and
`investing_accounts` (loans the company makes, investments it buys: ASC
230-10-20); the tools and the viewer both read them, and a call may pass
its own (docs/spec/rules.md B-14).

The server reloads `wanderbooks.toml` (and `config.json`'s receipt policy)
whenever either changes, compared by content at the start of each request,
so an edit takes effect on the next call with no restart. A broken edit
keeps the last good settings in force and is reported until fixed; the
data dir and base currency are fixed at startup (`ledger-mcp/src/settings.rs`).

- `books.settings {}` → `{ books_toml, books_toml_exists, config_json_present,
  reload_error, loads, company, fiscal_year_start, tax_form, basis,
  receipt_rule, members, cash_accounts, financing_accounts,
  investing_accounts, close_into, close_sweep, problems }`: the settings in
  force and where they come from. `problems` lists settings that disagree
  with the chart (a code not in it, or of the wrong kind), each saying what
  to change; `books.digest` repeats them, with a failed reload, as
  `settings_problems`. The agent edits the file when the human gives a
  company fact, a refusal names a setting, or a problem is listed, then
  checks `books.settings`.

The accounts invoices, bills, payroll, and closes post to are not settings:
they are control roles in the journal (rules.md B-23).

- `books.roles {}` → `{ roles: [{ role, purpose, account_type,
  default_code, assigned, account_code?, account_name? }] }`: every control
  role and the account filling it.
- `books.assign_role { role, account? }` → `{ roles }`: assign a role one
  of the chart's accounts (`account` null: back to the default code).
  Refuses the wrong type, a placeholder, an account already filling
  another role, and moving a balance sheet role while its account holds a
  balance. Journaled as `role.assigned`.

## Transports

- **stdio** (default): `ledger-mcp --data-dir PATH`. For Claude Code,
  Claude Desktop and other local agents. No auth: the OS user boundary is
  the only boundary.
- **Streamable HTTP**: `ledger-mcp --data-dir PATH --http 127.0.0.1:8080`.
  Serves MCP at `http://127.0.0.1:8080/mcp` via rmcp's tower integration.
  **There is no authentication on this transport today**: no token and
  no Origin check. The only guard is rmcp's default `Host` check, which
  accepts `localhost`, `127.0.0.1` and `::1`. Any local process that can
  reach the port can read and change the books. Bind it to loopback only;
  binding a LAN, tailnet or public interface is an explicit human
  decision, never a default. Auth, scopes and Origin validation arrive
  with the served books (`plan/served.md`, P2).

## Server instructions

The MCP `initialize` response carries an `instructions` string, the
**connect text** (`ledger-mcp/src/handbook.rs`), composed in `get_info`
from the settings in force when the client connects (the settings are
re-read first, so a client connecting after an edit is told the new rule).
It is short on purpose: clients cut long instructions (one cut the old
text at 4,096 characters), so it is at most **1,400 characters**, and its
first paragraph, at most **512**, stands alone: the entry point
(`books.handbook`), the rule that these tools are the only way to the books
(never local files), decimal-string amounts, and the
draft → lines → preview → confirmed post flow. The second paragraph adds
that every entry balances and uses real accounts from `books.chart`; the
parties rule in force (`[books] parties`: under "require" every entry
the agent posts names its party or a no-party reason, since closes,
depreciation and amortization post with none; under "suggest" name it
where there is one; under "off" nothing); corrections by reversal; the receipt rule in force
(`ReceiptPolicy::rule`: the exact threshold in the books' base currency,
never rounded, the accounts that always need a receipt and those exempt,
and that reversals need none); the exemptions (depreciation and
amortization, whose schedules are the evidence, and closes, derived from
the books); that `books.create_invoice`, `books.create_bill`,
`books.receive_payment`, `books.pay_bill`, `books.run_payroll` and
`books.remit_payroll_taxes` post at once without a receipt check; TINs
only into the vault; show the numbers, and after posting check
`books.digest` and offer it to the human; and the
one local file the agent may edit, the settings file `books.settings`
names (until settings move into the journal, P1). When a long rule (many
accounts, a huge threshold, a long name) would push it past 1,400
characters, it drops the tracing hint first (the handbook's
tracing-figures section has it), then the reasons in parentheses, then the
tracing hint for good and lists fewer account codes (at last only how many
there are; `books.settings` lists every one, uncut, in
`receipt_required_accounts` and `receipt_exempt_accounts`), then words
that only help; never the rule itself. A company with no name yet (the
settings' default) is "a new company". The company name in it is one line of plain text (control characters and
line breaks become spaces, Unicode format characters such as bidi
overrides and zero-width spaces are dropped), cut to 56 characters.
`instructions_budget` (the longest rule, every parties setting) and
`the_company_name_is_one_plain_line` check it.

The long guidance is the **handbook**, compiled in from
`ledger-mcp/handbook/*.md`, with the receipt rule in force rendered in:

- `books.handbook { section? }` (read-only) → `{ read_first, sections:
  [{ id, title, uri, chars }], section: { id, title, text } | null }`.
  Without `section`, the index (`read_first` says to read `contract`
  first); with a section id, that section's Markdown; with `"all"`, the
  whole handbook in reading order. The input schema lists the ids:
  contract, entries, drafts-and-reversals, evidence-and-receipts,
  attachments, files-in-out, reconciliation, fixed-assets,
  prepaid-and-recurring, revenue-and-payouts, parties-and-tins, 1099,
  cpa-handoff, settings-and-conventions, viewer, rules-that-change,
  control-roles, tracing-figures.
- The same as resources: `books://handbook` (the index, JSON) and
  `books://handbook/{section}` (Markdown, `text/markdown`), one listed per
  section.

No text the agent is given (tool JSON with its schemas, resources, connect
text, handbook, and every refusal fixed in code: each error variant's
template in the crates under the server, scanned from source, built error
texts, and the server's refusal constants) names a helper command, a home
path, the data dir or its flag, the import-root flag, a file of the books
(`.jsonl`, the database, `vault.key`, `.gitignore`), git, GitHub, a pull
request, a repo doc (`docs/`, `.md`), or tells the agent to read the
books' files; no tool title or description, connect text or handbook
section names `wanderbooks.toml` (the input and output schemas name it by
design, for `books.settings`' `books_toml`) (`tool_text_lint`). A rule set by law that the books
don't know for a year names its official source (the statute or
publication, with its address) and says to tell the human.
Tool descriptions are at most 700 characters; eight longer ones are listed
in `tool_descriptions_fit_700_characters`, to be shortened in P5.

**Annotations.** Every tool has a `title` and a `readOnlyHint`; every tool
that changes anything also has a `destructiveHint`, true for these 25:
`books.post_entry`, `books.reverse_entry`, `books.unlink_receipt`,
`books.unlink_attachment`, `books.withdraw_attachment`,
`books.correct_asset`, `books.dispose_asset`, `books.run_depreciation`,
`books.run_schedules`, `books.run_recurring`, `books.renumber_account`,
`books.assign_role`, `books.close_period`, `books.reconcile`,
`books.void_statement`, `books.void_reconciliation`, `books.set_w9`,
`books.set_tin` (both overwrite a vault record), `books.purge_tin`,
`books.create_invoice`, `books.create_bill`, `books.receive_payment`,
`books.pay_bill`, `books.run_payroll`, `books.remit_payroll_taxes`; and an
`idempotentHint` on the five that a repeat with the same arguments leaves
the journal and the vault as they were: `books.verify`,
`books.run_depreciation`, `books.run_schedules`, `books.run_recurring` and
`books.set_party_roles` (a setter such as `books.update_party`,
`books.set_fx_rate` or `books.set_tin` journals a line, and `books.set_tin`
seals a new vault record, every time, so none carries it;
`idempotent_tools_change_nothing_when_repeated` calls each candidate twice
to check). Every tool's
`openWorldHint` is false: the books are a closed world, and no tool
reaches beyond them. `books.export_cpa_package` writes a file, so it is
not read-only. No tool carries `requiresUserInteraction` (owner decision
2026-10-16: no added prompts). `annotations_complete` pins all of this.
The read-only hint is true in behaviour: `spec_mcp` checks, on every call,
that a read-only tool leaves the journal, the contents of every file under
the data dir (the database by every row of every table; SQLite's -wal and
-shm files, which move pages and hold read marks on their own, aside),
the vault and the settings file as they were
(`read_only_tools_change_nothing`).

**Failing closed.** Tool bodies run on blocking threads, one at a time on
the store. If a request panics (an internal error), the journal may hold a
line the memory doesn't, so the server stops taking requests: every later
call, on every session sharing the store, is refused with "the books
server stopped taking requests after an internal error, to protect the
books: ask the human to restart the books server", never the panic's own
text. A restart re-verifies the journal
(`a_request_that_panics_stops_the_server`). So a panic an input can reach
would be a denial of service, and none can be: the dates a tool takes
are four-digit years and real days, its amounts at most a journal
line's, and a recurring run bounded; books an earlier version wrote past
those bounds still open (replay accepts what that version accepted), so
every figure the server derives from them (a draft's total, a schedule's
plan, aging, a party's totals, the asset register) is computed or
refused ("too large to compute exactly", or a date outside the calendar
the books keep), never a panic (rules.md B-28). `tests/hostile_args.rs`
drives every tool with generated hostile arguments and every resource
with generated URIs, checks after each call that the server still
serves, restarts it after them to check the books reopen, and drives
every tool over every book in ledger-store's `tests/fixtures/old-books`.

## Tool design principles

- **Narrow tools, explicit arguments.** No "do what I mean" tools. The agent
  supplies dates, accounts, sides, amounts; the server validates.
- **Amounts are decimal strings** in requests and responses. Never floats,
  never locale-formatted numbers.
- **Every mutating tool echoes the exact resulting state.** The "show the
  numbers" rule from AGENTS.md applies over the wire too.
- **Preview-before-post.** `post_entry` and `reverse_entry` take
  `confirmed: bool`. Without confirmation they return a preview (full lines
  + resulting account balances) and post nothing. The agent must present the
  preview to the human before confirming. This encodes the standing
  fact-check rule in the protocol itself.
- **Errors are typed strings** mirroring `LedgerError` variants, with the
  offending values included (e.g. unbalanced totals).

## Tools — books

- `books.handbook { section? }`: the guide (see "Server instructions").
- `books.chart` → `{ accounts: [{ id, code, name, type, parent, placeholder,
  balance }] }`. Balances included: one call answers "what do we have."
- `books.draft_entry { date: "2026-10-10", description: "...", vendor?,
  party?, parties?, no_party_reason? }` → `{ entry_id, status: "draft" }`.
  `party` tags the counterparty (see "Tools — parties"); given with
  `vendor`, both must name the same vendor record, else nothing is
  drafted. `parties` names several, each with a share (as
  `books.set_entry_party`), in place of `party` and `vendor`.
- `books.add_line { entry_id, account: "1000" | <id>, side: "debit" | "credit",
  amount: "123.45" }` → `{ ok: true }`. A refused line (unknown account or
  class, bad amount) adds nothing.
- `books.post_entry { entry_id, confirmed }` → `{ status, entry_id, date,
  description, total, lines (with resulting balances), receipts,
  receipt_required, receipt_missing, split_detected, party_policy,
  party_id?, party?, parties, parties_error?, no_party_reason?,
  party_missing, party_suggestions }`. Without `confirmed: true`, `status`
  is `"preview"` and nothing changes; with it, the receipt policy is
  enforced and `status` is `"posted"`. `parties` lists every party the
  entry names with its share resolved to the cent (`{ party_id, party,
  share: "amount" | "percent" | "derived", amount?, percent?, resolved }`);
  when the shares don't add up to what the entry moved, `parties_error`
  says why and confirming fails with code `party_shares`.
- `books.reverse_entry { entry_id, date, description, confirmed }` → same
  preview/confirm pattern as post.
- `books.get_entry { entry_id }` → full entry with lines, receipts, and
  its `vendor`, `party_id`, and `party` (the party's label, when it names
  exactly one) tags, `parties` / `parties_error` as in the `post_entry`
  preview, and `no_party_reason` when it is marked as having no
  counterparty. `total` (its debits) is null, with `total_error` saying
  why, for a draft an earlier version journaled whose lines exact
  arithmetic can't sum; a draft line on an account the chart doesn't have
  (older books hold such drafts) shows an empty code and "(no account N)".
- `books.search_entries { account?, date_from?, date_to?, text?, limit?, offset? }`
  → entries with lines, newest first. `limit` caps at 100.
- `books.trial_balance { as_of? }` → `as_of`, lines, totals, `balanced`
  (the trial balance as of the date, default today).
- `books.balance_sheet { as_of? }` → totals (`assets`, `liabilities`,
  `equity`, `current_earnings`, `balanced`) plus `asset_accounts`,
  `liability_accounts`, `equity_accounts` (`{code, name, amount}`), as of
  the date (default today).
- `books.profit_and_loss { start?, end?, class? }` → totals plus
  `revenue_accounts` and `expense_accounts` for the range. `end` defaults to
  today, `start` to the first posted entry. Closing entries are excluded, so
  a closed period still shows what it earned.
- `books.cash_flow { start?, end?, cash_accounts?, financing_accounts?, investing_accounts? }` (each defaults to `[books]` in wanderbooks.toml; cash is required one way or the other)
  → indirect-method cash flow statement. `cash_accounts` are the reconciling
  accounts (required); the three sections always sum to their net change.
  Disposal gains/losses move from operating to investing automatically.
- `books.digest { since: "2026-10-01" }`
  → `{ entries_posted: [...], totals_by_account: [...], stale_rules: [...] }`.
  The human review surface: "what did the AI do with my books lately." The
  digest is the answer to "trust, but verify." `stale_rules` lists legal
  amounts wanderbooks may no longer know as of today (`{ name,
  known_through, catalog, source, why }`): research the current value or
  ask the human, then update it upstream (pull request or issue at
  github.com/swaits/wanderbooks). `unreconciled_accounts` lists the cash
  and card accounts due for reconciliation (`{ code, name,
  reconciled_through?, due_through, next_step }`): the cash accounts
  (`[books] cash_accounts`, else asset accounts named for cash: cash,
  bank, checking, savings, money market), the card accounts (liabilities
  named "card", before their first statement), and every other liability
  with a recorded statement, that have posted activity through the end of
  last month but no reconciliation (not voided) through it. The viewer's
  Needs attention uses the same rule (`ledger_store::reconcilable`).

## Tools — fixed assets

Straight-line **book** depreciation only; tax depreciation stays with the
CPA. Partial first/final months prorated by days; the final month trues up
so the lifetime total is exactly (cost − salvage).

- `books.register_asset { description, purchase_date, cost, salvage_value?,
  useful_life_months, cost_account, accum_depr_account, expense_account,
  tag?, serial? }` → `{ asset_id, tag }`. Accounts resolved by id or code.
  Without `tag`, the next free `PREFIX-0001` (`[books] asset_tag_prefix`,
  else the company name's initials without LLC/Inc; "FA" when none).
- `books.label_asset { asset, tag?, serial?, clear_serial? }` → `{ asset_id,
  tag, serial }`: set or change the tag (unique ignoring case, never reused
  by another asset even after a retag or disposal) or the manufacturer's
  serial. `asset` is the id or current tag. Journaled as `asset.tagged`,
  `asset.serial_set`.
- `books.asset_labels { assets?, skip? }` → `{ file_name, content_base64,
  tags }`: an Avery 5160/8160 label sheet (PDF): company, tag, QR code of
  the tag, description, serial. Default: every active tagged asset; `skip`
  reuses a partly used sheet.
- `books.asset_schedule { asset_id | tag }`
  → `{ status, schedule: [{ period, amount, accumulated, book_value }] }`.
- `books.list_assets {}` → assets with status and current book values.
- `books.run_depreciation { period: "YYYY-MM", asset_id? }`
  → per-asset `{ entry_id, amount, already_posted }`, plus `skipped` for
  assets outside their useful life. Idempotent per asset and period.
- `books.dispose_asset { asset_id | tag, date, proceeds, proceeds_account,
  gain_loss_account, buyer?, confirmed?, receipt_attachment_ids? }` →
  without
  confirmation: `{ status: "preview", ... }` and posts nothing; with
  `confirmed: true`: auto-posts missing final-period depreciation, then
  posts the balanced disposal entry. Subject to receipt policy (bill of
  sale); monthly depreciation is exempt as an allocation. `buyer` (a
  party) is the disposal entry's party; under `[books] parties =
  "require"` a sale with proceeds without one is refused before anything
  posts (`party_required`); a retirement with no proceeds and no buyer is
  marked as having no counterparty.
- `books.export { report: "fixed_asset_register", format: json | csv,
  as_of? }`: every asset registered by the date (tag, serial, cost,
  depreciation by schedule, book value, disposal), totals, and the
  general ledger's balances of the assets' cost and accumulated
  depreciation accounts, with `unposted_depreciation` and
  `unregistered_cost` (zero when register and books agree;
  `ledger_core::fixed_asset_register`).
- `books.show { asset }` opens an asset in the viewer; `page: "assets"`
  and `report: "fixed_asset_register"` open the register.

## Tools — schedules and recurring entries

Amortization spreads a prepaid expense (asset → expense) or deferred
revenue (liability → revenue) evenly over the months it covers, posting on
each month end, to the cent (the last month absorbs rounding). Like
depreciation, the schedule is the evidence: its postings are exempt from
the receipt policy (the original payment carries the receipt). Recurring
entries never post: they generate drafts, so every real receipt still goes
through the policy.

- `books.create_schedule { kind: "prepaid_expense" | "deferred_revenue",
  description, total, start, months, balance_account, pl_account }` →
  `{ schedule_id, ..., total, remaining, months: [{ date, amount, posted }],
  plan_error }`. Prepaid needs an asset and an expense account; deferred
  revenue a liability and a revenue account. `plan_error` is null, except
  for a schedule an earlier version accepted whose months run past the
  last date the books can compute: then it says why, `remaining` is null
  and `months` empty, and `books.run_schedules` refuses until it is dealt
  with.
- `books.list_schedules {}` → `{ schedules: [...] }`, same shape.
- `books.run_schedules { through?, confirmed? }` → `{ status: "preview" |
  "posted", postings: [{ schedule_id, date, description, amount,
  entry_id? }] }`: every unposted month ending on or before `through`
  (default today). Idempotent; closed periods are refused.
- `books.create_recurring { description, frequency: "weekly" | "monthly" |
  "quarterly" | "yearly", start, end?, lines: [{ account, side, amount }] }`
  → `{ recurring_id, ..., generated: [] }`. Lines must balance. Monthly and
  longer occurrences are computed from the start date each time, so a
  month-end start stays on month ends (Jan 31, Feb 28, Mar 31).
- `books.list_recurring {}` → `{ recurring: [...] }`.
- `books.run_recurring { through? }` → `{ drafts: [{ recurring_id, date,
  entry_id }] }`: one draft per occurrence on or before `through`, once.

## Tools — the viewer

- `books.show { entry_id | account | report | attachment_id | asset |
  party | reconciliation | search | page, start?, end? }` → `{ shown,
  note }`. Asks the human's viewer (`ledger-gui`) to open an entry, an
  account register or a report (for start/end dates if given), a stored
  file, an asset, a party (by id or name, resolved as in "Tools —
  parties"), a reconciliation (by id: its account's page, with its
  statements and reconciliations; viewer target `{show: "reconciliation",
  id}`), a transactions search, or a page (`parties` among them). Exactly
  one target; entries, accounts, attachments, assets, parties, and
  reconciliations are checked to exist. Never touches the books: the request is a small JSON file in
  the user's runtime directory (`$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/wanderbooks/viewer-<hash
  of the data dir>.json`), written atomically, watched by the viewer. A
  viewer started within two minutes of a request opens it; older requests
  are ignored.

## Tools — integrity

- `books.verify { blobs? }` → `{ status: "ok" | "healed", events, head,
  healed?, blobs_verified?, checked }`. Verifies the journal's hash chain,
  replays it against the live ledger, and compares every table of the
  SQLite database row for row against a fresh projection of the journal.
  A drifted database is rebuilt from the journal (the old file kept as
  `wanderbooks.mismatch.<time>`). With `blobs` (default true), re-hashes
  every stored file. The server runs the same check, and heals the same
  way, every time it starts.

## Tools — payouts

- `books.record_payout { date, description, deposit_account, deposit,
  revenue: [{ account, amount, class? }], fees?: [{ account, amount,
  class? }], adjustments?: [{ account, side, amount, class? }] }` →
  `{ entry_id, status: "draft", gross, fees, adjustments, deposit, lines,
  next }`. Builds the grossed-up entry — Dr deposit (net; Cr when negative),
  Dr fees, Dr/Cr adjustments (a debit reduces the deposit: refunds,
  chargebacks, reserves held, tax withheld), Cr revenue (gross; revenue or
  liability accounts, e.g. deferred revenue or sales tax collected) — and
  refuses unless gross − fees ± adjustments equals the deposit to the cent,
  naming the difference. A draft: attach the payout statement, preview,
  post. Platform-agnostic; format-specific statement parsers can feed it.

## Tools — 1099 tracking

Payments are counted as cash: credits minus debits to asset accounts on
entries tagged with the vendor. Card payments move no asset (the card
processor's 1099-K covers them), so they drop out; reversals of tagged
entries carry the tag and net out. Thresholds: $600 for payments through
2025, $2,000 from 2026 (indexed for inflation after 2026); always
overridable, always for the CPA to confirm. The books keep whether a W-9
is on file and the TIN's last four; full TINs live only in the TIN vault
("Tools — the TIN vault").

- `books.list_vendors {}` → `{ vendors: [{ id, name, form_1099?,
  tin_on_file, party_id }] }`.
- `books.set_vendor_1099 { vendor, form_1099: "nec" | "misc" | "none",
  tin_on_file? }` → the vendor. `vendor` is an id or a name.
- `books.set_entry_vendor { entry_id, vendor? }` → the entry (as
  `books.get_entry`, which now shows `vendor`). Omitting `vendor` clears
  the tag. Metadata only: posted entries may be tagged. `books.draft_entry`
  takes `vendor` too; bills and their payments are tagged automatically.
  `books.set_entry_party` tags the vendor too when the party has a vendor
  record, so tagging by party counts for 1099s the same way. On an entry
  naming several parties the parties are `books.set_entry_party`'s:
  tagging the vendor of a party already named keeps every share as it
  is; tagging a vendor whose party isn't named, or clearing the tag while
  its party is named, is refused (drop or add the party with `parties`
  instead). An entry and its reversal always carry the same tags.
- `books.vendor_1099 { year, threshold?, include_tins?, save_csv_to? }` →
  `{ year, threshold, vendors: [{ vendor_id, name, form_1099?, tin_on_file,
  paid, reportable, party_id?, tin_last4?, tin?, tin_type?, tin_note? }],
  missing_w9, notes, warning?, saved_csv? }`. For a year whose threshold
  wanderbooks doesn't know (after 2026 until the indexed amount is added)
  it refuses with what to do; pass `threshold` explicitly once the figure
  is confirmed. On an entry naming several parties, `paid` counts only
  the vendor's resolved share of the payment (rules.md B-19); an entry
  whose shares don't resolve counts in full and `notes` names it.
  `tin_last4` comes from the party's W-9 facts. With
  `include_tins: true` (default false) each line carries `tin`, the full
  TIN formatted as the IRS writes it (123-45-6789; 12-3456789 for an
  EIN), and `tin_type`, read from the vault, or `tin_note` saying why not
  (not in the vault, the vault locked, a record whose last four or hash
  disagree with the books); `warning` then says the output holds full
  TINs, for the CPA only. This is the only tool output that ever holds a
  full TIN. `save_csv_to` also writes the worksheet as CSV (TINs only with
  `include_tins`) to a new file outside the books dir, mode 0600.

## Tools — parties

The directory of everyone the company deals with (`ledger_core::parties`;
design in `docs/parties-and-attachments.md`): vendors, contractors,
landlords, customers, payout platforms, tax agencies, banks and card
issuers, members, employees. Vendor and customer *records* (bills,
invoices, aging, 1099 marks) stay where they are; each links to exactly one
party. `books.add_vendor` and `books.add_customer` link their record to the
party of the same name (ignoring case and surrounding space, not archived)
that has no such record yet, or make a new party.

**References.** A `party` argument is an id or a name: the name ignoring
case and surrounding space, among parties not archived (an archived party
goes by id). A number that is one party's id and another party's name is
refused, never guessed.

**Roles:** `vendor`, `contractor`, `customer`, `employee`, `member`,
`payout_platform`, `tax_agency`, `government_agency` (regulators and
registries that don't tax: a division of corporations, a licensing board),
`financial_institution`, `landlord`.
Vendor and customer follow the records and are never set by hand.

**Rules the engine enforces** (each refusal changes nothing, the journal
byte for byte): no party field holds a full TIN (a run of nine digits,
single spaces or hyphens allowed between them); a W-9's TIN is its last
four digits only; W-9 facts need a 1099 role (contractor or landlord), W-4
facts the employee role; names are unique among parties not archived;
texts are at most 500 characters, no control characters.

- `books.add_party { name, roles? }` → the party (below). Journaled as
  `party.added`.
- `books.update_party { party, name?, display_name?, website?, address?,
  notes?, archived? }` → the party. Give at least one field; `""` clears
  `display_name`, `website`, `address`, or `notes`. Every field is checked
  (in order, on a rehearsal) before any is written; each is journaled as
  its own `party.updated`, in the order name, display_name, website,
  address, notes, archived. Un-archiving is refused while another party
  has the name.
- `books.set_party_roles { party, add?, remove? }` → the party. Adds apply
  before removes (so a contractor's W-9 survives a swap to landlord); roles
  it already has, or lacks, are skipped; each change is journaled as
  `party.role_set`. Removing the last 1099 role with W-9 facts on file, or
  employee with W-4 facts, is refused: clear the facts first.
- `books.set_w9 { party, received_on, entity_type, exempt_payee_code?,
  fatca_code?, tin_last4, kept_at, tin?, tin_type?, w9_file_path? }` or
  `{ party, clear: true }` → the party. Journaled as `party.w9_set`. A
  party with a vendor record also gets the record's `tin_on_file` set to
  match (journaled as `vendor.1099_set`), so `books.vendor_1099`'s
  `missing_w9` follows. `tin`, `tin_type`, and `w9_file_path` put the full
  TIN and the signed form in the TIN vault (below); with them `tin_last4`
  comes from the TIN (a given one must agree) and `kept_at` defaults to
  `"wanderbooks vault"`.
- `books.set_w4 { party, received_on, state, kept_at }` or `{ party, clear:
  true }` → the party. Journaled as `party.w4_set`.
- `books.set_entry_party { entry_id, party?, parties?, no_party_reason? }`
  → the entry (as `books.get_entry`). `party` null or omitted clears the
  tag. A party with a vendor record also tags the entry's vendor; one
  without, or clearing, clears the vendor tag. Metadata only; posted
  entries may be tagged. Tagging an entry that was reversed, or a
  reversal, tags the other too (the whole reversal chain), so each
  party's part of the pair still nets to zero. Journaled as
  `entry.party_set`.
  `no_party_reason` (with no party) marks an entry as having no
  counterparty (`entry.no_party`).
- **Several parties:** `parties: [{ party, amount? | percent? }]`, in
  place of `party`, names every counterparty with its share; `[]` clears.
  Journaled as `entry.parties_set { entry_id, parties: [{ party_id, share
  }] }`, `share` being `{"amount": "30.00"}`, `{"percent": "60"}`, or
  `"derived"`. Each share, of what the entry moved (its `entry_flow` net;
  for an entry moving no money, like property contributed, its total):
  - `amount`: exactly that, positive, in cents; the amounts must sum to
    what it moved.
  - `percent`: that percent; the percents must sum to exactly 100. Each
    part is rounded down to the cent and the leftover cents go to the
    first party listed.
  - neither (derived): a sole party gets all of it. Members named
    together (parties with the member role named in `[[company.members]]`)
    get what their own capital and distributions lines on the entry say,
    when it has any (these must account for all it moved); else their
    `[[company.members]]` shares, rescaled to the members named, rounded as
    percents are. A derived share for a non-member among several is
    refused.
  Every party gives the same kind of share. Refused, journaling nothing: a
  party named twice, an unknown party, mixed kinds, percents not summing
  to 100, an amount finer than a cent, two parties with vendor records (a
  1099 counts a payment toward one vendor; the one vendor party's record
  is tagged and counts the whole payment), and, once the entry has
  balanced lines, shares that don't resolve. A draft's shares are checked
  against its lines again at `post_entry`. Under `[books] parties =
  "require"`, any party (or the no-party mark) satisfies the check.
  Reversals carry every share. There is no "joint" party: a joint member
  transaction names both members and lets the shares derive.
- `books.parties { role?, include_archived?, year? }` → `{ year, parties:
  [{ party_id, name, label, roles, vendor_id?, customer_id?, w9_on_file,
  tin_last4?, w4_on_file, archived, paid, received }] }`, by id.
- `books.party { party, year? }` → `{ party, year, totals, entries,
  invoices, bills, payroll }`: the facts; the calendar year's totals
  (default this year); every entry it is on (drafts included, newest
  first); its invoices and bills (`{ id, date, due_date, total, paid,
  balance, status, entry_id }`); and the payroll lines naming it
  (`{ run_id, date, entry_id, gross_pay, net_pay }`).

The party (every mutating party tool returns it): `{ party_id, name,
label, display_name?, roles, website?, address?, notes?, archived,
vendor_id?, customer_id?, w9?: { received_on, entity_type,
exempt_payee_code?, fatca_code?, tin_last4, kept_at, in_vault }, w4?: { received_on,
state, kept_at } }`. `label` is the display name, else the name; `roles`
include vendor and customer when it has those records.

**Totals** (`books.party` `totals`; `paid` and `received` in
`books.parties`), from the journal:

- *The party's entries:* tagged with the party; tagged with its vendor
  record (bills and their payments); its customer record's invoices and
  the payments received on them; and reversals of any of these. Only
  posted entries dated in the year count.
- *Money accounts:* the `[books] cash_accounts` (every asset account but
  receivables when none are set), and every liability account except the
  payables and payroll withholding roles (`books.roles`). A liability
  counts as how the company paid or was paid: a card, a member paying for
  it, a loan.
- `paid` / `received`: each entry's money lines, credits minus debits
  (`ledger_core::parties::entry_flow`), with a liability paid down
  counting once, as paid to its creditor: by cash (a reimbursement to the
  members, a card payment) or by another liability (a member paying the
  card from their own funds, a loan paying it off); cash raised by a
  liability is received from the lender. A positive net was paid to the
  party, a negative one received from it; a reversal counts against its
  root original's side (reversing the reversal counts on that side
  again). A bill isn't paid until its payment is; a transfer between the
  company's own cash accounts nets to zero. An entry naming several
  parties counts this party's resolved share only (an entry whose shares
  don't resolve counts for none). The year is the whole calendar year;
  the viewer's party page and directory show these same numbers.
- `invoiced` / `billed`: its invoices' and bills' totals dated in the year.
  `owed` / `receivable`: its open bills' and invoices' balances now (every
  year).
- `amount_1099` (vendor parties only): what `books.vendor_1099` counts as
  paid to its vendor record in the year (asset accounts only, so card
  payments drop out); `form_1099` is the record's mark.
- `gross_pay` / `net_pay`: payroll lines naming it, in the year.

## Tools — the TIN vault

Full TINs (SSN, EIN, ITIN) and signed W-9 forms, kept so what the CPA
gets is complete (every member's TIN for their K-1, every payee's for
their 1099), never in the books (`ledger-vault`; design in
`docs/parties-and-attachments.md` "The TIN vault"; B-26). DECISION
(Stephen, 2026-10-15): the vault holds everyone's TIN, members included,
and the CPA package carries them.

- **Where:** `vault/` in the books dir (the parent of the data dir, beside
  `wanderbooks.toml`; git-ignored), one file per record, each encrypted
  (XChaCha20-Poly1305) and bound to its party. **Key:** the file named by
  `[vault] key_file` in `wanderbooks.toml`, else
  `~/.config/wanderbooks/vault.key` (`$XDG_CONFIG_HOME`), mode 0600,
  created the first time a TIN or form is stored, never when reading. A
  key file inside the books dir is refused, and so is storing into books
  kept in git (a `.git` beside them) whose `.gitignore` doesn't list
  `vault/`. Without the key the vault is
  locked: the books open and verify; the worksheet says the TINs are
  missing.
- **Never out:** no tool output, error, or log holds more than a TIN's
  last four, except `books.vendor_1099 { include_tins: true }`; the CPA
  package carries them only in its zip, written outside the books dir.
  The tool arguments that take a TIN never echo it, even when refused.
- **TIN facts:** any party (any role) may have `tin` facts:
  `{ tin_type: "ssn" | "ein" | "itin", last4, vault_record?, purged? }`,
  journaled as `party.tin_set {id, facts|null}` and shown in every party
  output as `tin: { tin_type, last4, in_vault, purged? }`. They never
  disagree with the party's W-9 facts: both on file means the same last
  four (the engine refuses otherwise).
- `books.set_tin { party, tin, tin_type }` → the party. Validates the TIN
  as `books.set_w9` does, checks the facts on a copy of the ledger, writes
  the TIN to the vault (the same key and git-ignore checks), and journals
  `party.tin_set` with the record's hash. Any role. A party whose W-9
  facts name another last four is refused (a payee's new TIN comes with
  its W-9: `books.set_w9`); one whose W-9 facts agree gets their
  `vault_record` updated too (`party.w9_set`).
- `books.set_w9 { ..., tin, tin_type, w9_file_path? }` (above): validates
  the TIN against its type (nine digits, hyphens allowed; an ITIN starts
  with 9 and has an IRS group in digits 4-5; an SSN or EIN doesn't start
  with 9), checks the facts on a copy of the ledger, then writes the vault
  and journals the facts with `vault_record`, the SHA-256 of the TIN
  record (of the form's record when only a form is given). With a TIN it
  also journals the party's TIN facts (`party.tin_set`, as
  `books.set_tin`); a TIN with a new last four clears the old TIN facts
  first (`party.tin_set` null), so the two never disagree. The form (PDF,
  PNG, JPEG; 25 MB at most) goes to the vault only, never the attachment
  store. `w9_file_path` is read exactly as `books.import_local_file` reads
  a path (the import roots, the sealed places, no links followed out of
  them), and its type is judged by the file the path really leads to.
  Facts given later without a TIN keep the vault record when their
  last four agree with the vault's TIN, and are refused when they don't
  (pass the new TIN, or purge). Clearing the facts (`clear: true`) is
  refused while the vault holds the party's TIN or form: purge first.
- `books.get_w9 { party, save_to }` → `{ party_id, path, file_name,
  size_bytes, note }`. Writes the party's form from the vault to `save_to`:
  a new file (an existing one is refused), in a folder that exists,
  outside the books dir and outside the import roots, mode 0600. Returns
  the path, never the contents. Journals nothing. The same holds for
  `books.vendor_1099`'s `save_csv_to` with `include_tins` and
  `books.export_cpa_package`'s `save_to` with TINs: a file with full TINs
  never lands where it could be filed back in. Nor does one go in from
  elsewhere: the server keeps, beside the vault, the SHA-256 of every file
  it read or wrote with full TINs (the W-9 `books.set_w9` reads, recorded
  once the call has passed every check, just before the vault keeps it,
  so a refused call marks no file; each of these outputs; each file inside a CPA package
  that holds a TIN), shared by every session and kept across restarts,
  and every filing tool (`books.import_local_file`, `books.attach_receipt`,
  `books.file_document`) refuses those exact files and any text file
  (CSV, TSV, text, JSON, IIF, XML, HTML, Markdown, by type, name or UTF-8
  or UTF-16 decoding, UTF-16 with a byte-order mark or NUL-interleaved
  without one) holding a full TIN, storing nothing. A text file
  holds one when it has a TIN the vault holds, anywhere, as nine digits,
  3-2-4 joined by hyphens, spaces or dots, or 2-7 joined by a hyphen or a
  space (compared on the server; a vault that can't be opened leaves the
  next test alone), or a stand-alone number printed as an SSN or EIN is
  (123-45-6789, 12-3456789; no digit, and no hyphen or dot followed by a
  digit, beside it). Bank exports pass: routing and account numbers,
  long references and dates next to amounts are not TINs (rules.md B-26).
  No probing: a text with more than two TIN-shaped numbers ending in the
  last four of a TIN the books know is refused before the vault is
  opened, in the same words whether or not one is that TIN, so the vault
  is compared against at most two candidates a filing (rules.md B-26).
  An altered copy of a binary file (a W-9 PDF re-saved or re-scanned),
  and a TIN the vault doesn't hold written another way, are not
  detected: P2 and P7 take the path tools and full TINs out of the
  agent's reach.
- `books.purge_tin { party, reason, confirmed? }` → `{ status: "preview" |
  "purged", party_id, name, tin_in_vault, w9_file_in_vault, tin_last4?,
  journaled, note }`. Without `confirmed`, a preview that changes nothing.
  Confirmed, deletes the party's vault records (needs no key) and, when the
  party has W-9 facts, journals `party.w9_set` with `vault_record` cleared,
  the last four kept, and `kept_at` saying when and why it was purged;
  when it has TIN facts, `party.tin_set` likewise, with `purged` saying
  when and why. Refused when the reason is blank or there is nothing to
  purge.

## Tools — attachments

A stored file (a receipt or a document) links to any number of subjects;
a subject is `{ kind, id? }`: `entry` (id), `account` (code or id),
`asset` (tag or id), `party` (id or name), `invoice`, `bill`, `period`,
`payroll_run`, `schedule`, `reconciliation` (ids), or `company` (no id).
Every subject is checked to exist. In outputs a subject is `{ kind, id?,
label }` (`id` absent for the company; for an account, its id, with the
code in `label`). A file linked to an entry is one of the entry's receipts:
the receipt policy counts it.

- `books.link_attachment { attachment_id, subject }` → `{ attachment_id,
  links }`. Journaled as `attachment.linked`. Refused for an unknown or
  withdrawn attachment, a subject that doesn't exist, or one it is linked
  to already (or filed on).
- `books.unlink_attachment { attachment_id, subject, reason }` → `{
  attachment_id, links }`. Journaled as `attachment.unlinked` with the
  reason; the file stays filed. Refused when the reason is blank, it isn't
  linked there, it is filed on that entry (`books.unlink_receipt`), it is
  a posted entry's last receipt under the receipt policy
  (`receipt_required`), or it is the statement of a reconciliation not
  voided.
- `books.attachments { subject }` → `{ subject, attachments: [...] }`: the
  files on a subject (an entry's: filed on it and linked to it), not
  withdrawn, each as in `books.list_receipts`.
- `link_to: [subject]` on `books.attach_receipt` and `books.file_document`
  links the new file in the same call, each link its own
  `attachment.linked`. All or nothing: every subject is checked (exists,
  named once, not the entry it is filed on) before anything is filed.

## Tools — receipts & documents

- `books.attach_receipt { entry_id?, file_name, mime_type, content_base64,
  description?, link_to? }` → `{ attachment_id, sha256, deduplicated, links
  }`. `entry_id` is optional: a receipt can be filed before its entry
  exists. `link_to` as in "Tools — attachments".
- `books.link_receipt { receipt_id, entry_id }` → link a previously filed
  (unlinked, not withdrawn) receipt to its entry. A receipt linked elsewhere
  must be unlinked first; one already linked to that entry
  (`books.link_attachment`) is refused, as filing it there twice.
- `books.unlink_receipt { attachment_id, reason }` → `{ ok, entry_id,
  remaining_receipts }`. Detaches a receipt from its entry; it stays filed,
  unlinked. Journaled as `receipt.unlinked` with the reason. Subject to the
  receipt policy: an entry that requires a receipt cannot be left with none
  (`receipt_required` error, remedy `books.attach_receipt`), so replacing a
  receipt is attach-new, then unlink-old.
- `books.withdraw_attachment { attachment_id, reason }` → `{ ok }`. Retires
  an unlinked receipt or a filed document: hidden from listings, never
  linkable again. Journaled as `attachment.withdrawn`; the bytes stay in the
  blob store. Nothing in the evidence trail is ever erased — receipts change
  by new events, the same way entries change by reversals.
- `books.list_receipts { entry_id?, include_withdrawn? }` → metadata list
  (no bytes), each with `withdrawn` / `withdrawn_reason` and `links` (every
  subject it is linked to, its filing entry first). Withdrawn attachments
  are omitted unless `include_withdrawn` is true. `entry_id` lists the
  files filed on the entry and linked to it.
- `books.get_receipt { attachment_id }` → `{ metadata, description?,
  links, content_base64 }`.
- `books.file_document { category: "formation" | "legal" | "tax" |
  "accounting" | "statement" | "contract" | "photo" | "warranty" |
  "import_source" | "other", file_name, mime_type, content_base64,
  description?, link_to? }` → `{ attachment_id, sha256, deduplicated, links
  }`. The Drive-folder replacement (today's 01 Formation / 02 Legal / 03
  Tax / 04 Accounting). Never a W-9: it shows the full TIN (`books.set_w9
  w9_file_path`).

## Receipt enforcement

Prose tells the model to attach receipts; the policy makes it true. The
engine stays policy-free (it knows nothing of receipts) — enforcement lives
in the MCP layer, which reads the `attachments` table before confirming a
posting.

- **Policy config** (server config file, not per-call): `require_receipts_above`
  (default `"25.00"` in base currency), plus `receipt_required_accounts`
  (account codes that always require receipts, e.g. meals and travel) and
  `receipt_exempt_accounts` (e.g. automated bank fees). Human-edited and
  versioned with the deployment.
- **Preview.** Every `post_entry` preview includes the receipt checklist
  (`receipts: [...]`, `receipt_required: bool`, `receipt_missing: bool`,
  `split_detected: [...]`), so the human sees it before confirming. A
  `reverse_entry` preview carries none: a reversal needs no receipt (the
  original carries the evidence).
- **Hard error.** Confirming a posting that violates the policy fails with a
  structured, machine-readable error (JSON in the tool-error string):
  `{ "code": "receipt_required", "message": "…", "entry_id": 5,
  "debits": "100.00", "policy": "strictly greater than $25.00",
  "remedy_tool": "books.attach_receipt",
  "remedy_hint": "…" }`. Clients match on `code`, not prose. The agent's job
  then is to get the receipt attached (ask the human for it) and re-confirm
  — not to shrink the amount or split the entry to dodge the threshold. The
  tool description says this explicitly; gaming the policy is a correctness
  violation, and the append-only audit log would show it anyway.
- **Anti-splitting.** Posting an entry triggers a split check: posted
  entries on the same date with the same normalized description and debit
  accounts are grouped, and if the group total exceeds the threshold while
  the entry alone does not, a receipt is required. The preview surfaces
  `split_detected: [...]`, and the error names the group. Same-day,
  same-description, same-accounts is the signature; recurring spending
  spread across days is not flagged.
- **Below the threshold**, receipts are still expected per the operating
  contract ("a material entry without its source document is incomplete")
  but not hard-required — the preview checklist keeps them visible.

## Tools — export

- `books.export { format, report, start?, end?, as_of?, cash_accounts?,
  financing_accounts?, investing_accounts? }` → `{ content, content_encoding? }`.
  - Reports: `profit_and_loss`, `balance_sheet`, `cash_flow` (needs
    `cash_accounts`), `trial_balance`, `members_equity` (statement of
    changes in members' equity; members from `wanderbooks.toml`),
    `general_ledger` (by account: beginning balance, postings with running
    balance and split, ending balance), `general_journal` (alias
    `journal`: every entry, line by line, in date order).
  - Formats: `pdf` and `xlsx` (base64) for the five statements; `xlsx`,
    `csv`, `json` for every report; `iif` for the journal (QuickBooks
    Desktop).
  - Dates: period reports take `start` (default: first entry) and `end`
    (default: today, local time); `balance_sheet` and `trial_balance`
    take `as_of`.
  - Presentation (PDF and XLSX alike, QuickBooks-style): centered company,
    title, and period; a column-header row; "$" on subtotals and totals;
    negatives in parentheses with decimal points aligned; a rule above every
    sum and a double rule under statement totals; a footer with the
    accounting basis, preparation date, and journal seq. Multi-member LLCs
    get "Members' equity" with members named; the balance sheet separates
    retained earnings from the fiscal year's net income (loss).

## Tools — chart templates

- `books.chart_template { entity_type, owners? }` → `{ csv, settings_toml,
  notes }`: a starter chart for a sole proprietorship (incl. single-member
  LLC), partnership (incl. multi-member LLC), S corporation, or C
  corporation — the equity and owner-pay accounts that entity needs (owner's
  capital and draws; per-partner capital and distributions plus guaranteed
  payments; officer compensation and shareholder distributions; dividends
  and income tax expense), common income and expense accounts with tax
  categories, and the `wanderbooks.toml` settings (tax form, members, close
  target). A proposal: review with the human, then `books.import_chart_csv`.

## Tools — tax categories

- `books.tax_categories {}` → `{ form?, categories: [{ key, label, kind,
  default_deductible_percent, note }] }`: where an account can land on the
  income tax return, filtered to the business's return when known
  (`[company] tax_form`, or derived from `tax_classification`). Stable
  semantic keys (`meals`, `guaranteed_payments`, `commissions_fees`, ...),
  never form line numbers, which change by year.
- `books.renumber_account { account, code }` → `{ id, previous_code,
  code, config_mentions }`: give an account a new code. Only the code
  changes (entries name accounts by id), so balances and reports don't
  move. Refuses a code in use, or an unassigned control role's default
  code for an account of the wrong type. `config_mentions` lists the
  wanderbooks.toml settings still naming the old code (edit them; the
  server reloads the file). Journaled as `account.renumbered`.
- `books.set_tax_category { account, category?, deductible_percent? }`:
  map a revenue or expense account to a category (null clears),
  optionally overriding its deductible percent. Journaled as
  `account.tax_set`.
- `books.export { report: "tax_summary" }`: book vs. tax amounts by
  category, the difference where they disagree (meals 50%, penalties 0%),
  and every P&L account still uncategorized. In the CPA package for the
  fiscal year to date.
- `books.import_chart_csv` accepts an optional fifth `tax_category` column,
  validated before anything is created.

## Tools — import

- `books.import_bank_csv { csv_text, bank_account_code, default_offset_code,
  rules?, date_order?, source_attachment_id? }` → creates one draft per
  transaction (QBO upload layout). `rules` maps description substrings to
  account codes. `source_attachment_id` (the export as filed, category
  `import_source`) is checked before any draft and linked to the bank
  account (`source_linked`; false when it was already), never to the
  drafts: a bank export is not a receipt.
- `books.import_chart_csv { csv_text }` → creates accounts from
  `code,name,type,parent_code` CSV. All-or-nothing.
- `books.import_local_file { path, category: "receipt" | "document", ... }`
  → files a file from the server's own disk, read only from the **import
  roots**: each `--import-root DIR` given to `ledger-mcp` (repeatable), or
  by default the downloads folder only (`$XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR`, else
  `~/Downloads`). No root may be `/`, the home folder or a folder holding
  it, a folder holding the books dir, the data dir (where a symlinked one
  really is), the vault or a vault key, or a folder inside the books dir,
  the data dir or the vault (every file there would be refused): a named
  root like that stops
  the server at startup, saying why; a default one is dropped. The default
  is used only when it is a real folder that isn't the home folder (an
  `XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR` of `$HOME/` falls back to `~/Downloads`, and to no
  root when that doesn't exist; an import then says the server has no
  import folder). The path must be absolute, with no `.` or `..` name,
  and where it leads (every link followed) a regular file strictly inside
  a root, with one hard link. Refusals never name a path and never probe:
  a path that is missing, a dangling link, outside the roots, or with a
  `.` or `..` name (refused before anything is looked up: `a/b/..`
  resolves only when `b` is a folder) gets one refusal, "no
  such file in the server's import folders (by default your downloads
  folder): save it there first". Inside a root, the books' sealed places
  (the data dir, the vault, the key file in force and the default one,
  where each leads, `~/.config/wanderbooks`, and the key files' folders
  unless that folder is the home folder, a root, or holds one) are refused
  as "belongs to the books or the TIN vault"; anything else in the books
  dir is refused with "save a copy of it in the server's import folders
  first". The file is opened by a walk from `/`, one name at a time, each
  folder with `openat(O_DIRECTORY | O_NOFOLLOW)` and the file with
  `O_NOFOLLOW | O_NONBLOCK`, so a folder on the path swapped for a link
  after the check fails the open and a pipe can't hang the server; no step
  may land on a protected place by device and inode (one renamed into a
  root), and the file opened must be the checked one (device, inode, one
  link). It is filed under the name and type of the file the path leads
  to. Files holding full TINs are refused as above
  (`ledger-mcp/src/local_files.rs`, `tin_files.rs`). Deleted in P2
  (uploads replace it).

## Resources (read-only)

Hand-rolled on `ServerHandler` (rmcp 3.x has no resource macros):
`list_resources` advertises, `read_resource` renders.

- `books://chart`
- `books://reports/trial-balance`, `books://reports/balance-sheet`,
  `books://reports/profit-and-loss`
- `books://digest?since=2026-10-01`; bare (or with an empty `since=`),
  this month so far
- `books://handbook` (the index) and `books://handbook/{section}` (one per
  section, Markdown)
- `books://receipts/{id}` — receipt metadata + base64 bytes

Resources exist so read-only clients (dashboards, the future read-only GUI,
auditors) never need tool credentials. Tested end-to-end over stdio.

## The agent operating contract

Any AI client driving these tools follows this contract (it will also live
in the server's tool descriptions, so the model reads it at use time):

1. **Show the preview before confirming any posting.** No silent posts, ever.
2. **Echo exact numbers back to the human.** Amounts as written, no rounding
   in prose.
3. **Attach receipts at record time.** A material entry without its source
   document is an incomplete entry. File first, link later if the entry
   isn't ready. Postings strictly above the receipt policy threshold *cannot*
   post without one — the server refuses with `receipt_required`.
4. **When unsure of categorization, draft and ask.** A draft is cheap; a
   wrong posting is a reversal. Never guess-post.
5. **The digest is the receipt for your work.** After a batch of bookkeeping,
   offer the digest; the human reviews, you fix.
6. **Keep the party directory current.** Every counterparty gets a party;
   every entry is tagged with its party; contractors and landlords get W-9
   facts before they are paid, employees W-4 facts before their first
   payroll, and every payroll line names its employee party. Never a full
   TIN or SSN: the engine refuses nine-digit numbers.

## Out of scope for this phase

Bank feeds, payment processing, payroll, tax filing, multi-user authN/Z, the
GUI (it consumes the event log in a later phase). Cash flow reporting is
R-FUTURE-3 and rides the engine roadmap, not the MCP layer.

## Tools — periods

- `books.create_period { name, start, end }` → `{ period_id }`.
  Dates are YYYY-MM-DD, inclusive.
- `books.close_period { period_id, confirmed? }` → without confirmation:
  `{ status: "preview", lines: [...] }`: the exact closing entry (the close
  run on a copy of the ledger), posting nothing; with `confirmed: true`:
  posts it and marks the period closed. The entry zeroes revenue and
  expense balances as of the period end; the net goes to `3999` Retained
  Earnings, or, with `[[company.members]]` in `wanderbooks.toml`, to each
  member's capital account by share. Periods close in order. Closed periods
  reject new entries.
- `books.list_periods {}` → `{ periods: [{ id, name, start, end, status,
  closing_entry }] }`.

## Tools — bank reconciliation

- `books.mark_cleared { entry_id, line_index, cleared }` → `{ ok }`.
  Only posted lines can be marked; the flag is workflow metadata, not
  accounting data (posted entries stay immutable).
- `books.record_statement { attachment_id, account, period_start,
  period_end, opening_balance, closing_balance }` → the statement `{
  attachment_id, file_name, account_code, account_name, period_start,
  period_end, opening_balance, closing_balance, reconciliation_id? }`.
  Records what a filed statement says (balances as printed, in the
  account's normal direction, cents at most) and links it to the account.
  Journaled as `statement.recorded` then `attachment.linked`. Refused for
  an unknown or withdrawn attachment, one already recording a statement
  (not voided), an account that isn't an asset or liability, or a period
  that runs backwards.
- `books.statements { account? }` → `{ statements }`, by statement date:
  those not voided whose file isn't withdrawn (withdrawing a statement's
  file retires it).
- `books.void_statement { attachment_id, reason }` → the statement as it
  was recorded. For a statement recorded wrong: journaled as
  `statement.voided`; it is no longer listed, backs no reconciliation, and
  the same attachment can record it again. Refused while a reconciliation
  not voided rests on it.
- `books.reconcile { statement_attachment? | account, statement_date,
  statement_balance, confirmed? }` → `{ status: "preview" | "reconciled",
  account_code, statement_date, statement_attachment?, book_balance,
  cleared_balance, statement_balance, difference, uncleared_lines,
  cleared_lines, problems, reconciliation? }`, each line `{ entry_id,
  line_index, date, description, side, amount }`. `difference` is cleared
  − statement; zero means reconciled. With `statement_attachment` the
  account, date, and balance are the recorded statement's (any given must
  agree). Without `confirmed: true` it is a preview that records nothing;
  `problems` lists why a confirmation would be refused. Confirmed, it
  needs a recorded statement (its file not withdrawn: refused before
  anything is journaled), a difference of exactly zero, and a date after
  the account's last reconciliation not voided; it then journals
  `reconciliation.completed` (the cleared lines, the statement) and links
  the statement to it, returning `reconciliation`.
- `books.reconciliations { account? }` → `{ reconciliations: [{
  reconciliation_id, account_code, account_name, statement_date,
  statement_balance, statement_attachment, cleared: [{ entry_id,
  line_index }], voided, voided_reason? }] }`, voided ones included.
- `books.void_reconciliation { reconciliation_id, reason }` → the
  reconciliation, voided. Journaled as `reconciliation.voided`; the
  account can be reconciled through that date again.
- `books.mark_cleared` refuses to un-clear a line a reconciliation not
  voided recorded as cleared: void the reconciliation first. Clearing a
  line dated on or before a reconciliation (an outstanding check that
  clears on a later statement) is allowed.

## Tools — A/R and A/P

- `books.add_customer { name }` → `{ id, party_id }`.
- `books.add_vendor { name }` → `{ id, party_id }`. Both link the record to
  a party ("Tools — parties").
- `books.create_invoice { party_id, date, due_date, lines: [{ description,
  amount }] }` → `{ id, total, entry_id }`. Auto-posts Dr `1200` Accounts
  Receivable / Cr `4000` Revenue.
- `books.create_bill { party_id, date, due_date, lines }` → `{ id, total,
  entry_id }`. Auto-posts Dr `6999` General Expenses / Cr `2000` Accounts
  Payable.
- `books.receive_payment { document_id, date, amount, cash_account }` →
  `{ entry_id, remaining, status }`. Posts Dr Cash / Cr A/R.
- `books.pay_bill { document_id, date, amount, cash_account }` →
  `{ entry_id, remaining, status }`. Posts Dr A/P / Cr Cash.
- `books.ar_aging { as_of }` → `{ rows: [{ name, current, days_30, days_60,
  days_90, days_90_plus, total }] }`.
- `books.ap_aging { as_of }` → same, per vendor.

## Tools — foreign exchange

- `books.add_line` gains optional `foreign_currency`, `foreign_amount`,
  `fx_rate`. When set, the base amount is `foreign_amount * fx_rate`; the
  foreign original is stored on the line for reference. Reports work in
  base currency.
- `books.set_fx_rate { currency, date, rate }` → `{ ok }`. Records a
  historical rate for reference; lines store their own rate at entry time.

## Tools — payroll (accounting only)

No tax tables: the caller supplies every number; the engine cuts correct
entries.

- `books.run_payroll { date, cash_account, lines: [{ employee?,
  employee_name?, gross_pay, federal_withholding, state_withholding, ss_employee,
  medicare_employee, ss_employer, medicare_employer, other_deductions }] }`
  → `{ run_id, entry_id, total_gross, total_net }`. One balanced entry:
  Dr 6100 Salary & Wage Expense (gross), Dr 6110 Payroll Tax Expense
  (employer SS + Medicare), Cr 2110–2150 withholding payables, Cr cash
  (net). Auto-creates the 61xx/21xx accounts. Respects closed periods.
  `employee` names the employee's party (id or name; it must have the
  employee role, else nothing is written); new runs should name it, and
  `employee_name` then defaults to the party's name. A line needs one or
  the other. When every line with net pay names its party, the entry
  names those parties, each with its net pay, so each employee's
  `books.party` counts it; under `[books] parties = "require"` a line
  with net pay and no party is refused before anything posts
  (`party_required`).
- `books.remit_payroll_taxes { date, cash_account, agency? }` → `{
  entry_id, total }`. Clears every payroll payable to cash in one entry,
  naming `agency` (the tax agency's party) on it; required under
  `[books] parties = "require"` (`party_required`, nothing posted).
- `books.list_payroll_runs` → `{ runs: [{ id, date, employee_count,
  total_gross, entry_id }] }`.

## Tools — classes (divisional tracking)

- `books.add_class { name }` → `{ id }`. E.g. "Rondo", "Coach vs Coach".
- `books.list_classes` → `{ classes: [{ id, name }] }`.
- `books.add_line` gains optional `class` (name or id): tags the new line.
  Shared costs are split explicitly across lines at entry time.
- `books.profit_and_loss` gains optional `class` filter.
- `books.profit_and_loss_by_class { start, end, class? }` → per-class revenue,
  expenses, net income, plus an unclassified row (only that class's row
  when `class` is given; an unknown or ambiguous class is refused). Reversals carry their
  class so divisional P&L nets correctly.

## Tools — CPA handoff

- `books.export_cpa_package { as_of?, cash_accounts?, financing_accounts?,
  investing_accounts?, include_receipts?, include_tins?, save_to? }` →
  `{ file_name, content_base64?, saved_to?, tins_included, tin_gaps, note }`.
  **Receipts** (`include_receipts`, default true): `receipts/` holds every
  current file behind each posted entry of the fiscal year to date, filed
  on it or linked to it (`books.link_attachment`; a linked file counts as
  the entry's receipt), one copy per entry, each with a row in
  `receipts/index.csv`; `documents/<category>/` holds the files behind no
  entry, receipts excepted.
  **TINs** (`include_tins`, default true; DECISION, Stephen, 2026-10-15):
  the K-1 worksheet and the 1099 worksheet carry every member's and
  payee's full TIN from the vault, so the zip is written to `save_to` (a
  new `.zip` path, or an existing folder it goes in as
  `cpa-package-<as_of>.zip`; outside the books dir, `exports/` included;
  mode 0600) and the output is its path, never its bytes; without
  `save_to` it is refused. A locked vault or a missing TIN never fails the
  package: the row says why ("TIN not in the vault", "the TIN vault is
  locked", a record that disagrees with the books), the README lists it,
  and `tin_gaps` names each member and each reportable payee without one.
  `include_tins: false`: last fours only, returned as `content_base64`
  unless `save_to` is given. **K-1 worksheet** (`k1-members.csv`, with
  `[[company.members]]`): one row per member, in order: `member,
  party_id, share, capital_account, tin, tin_type, tin_note` (without
  TINs: `tin_last4, tin_type`), then `beginning_capital,
  contributions_cash, contributions_property, net_income, distributions,
  other, ending_capital` for the fiscal year to date: the statement of
  members' equity's figures (`ledger_core::k1`), contributions split into
  property (what an entry crediting a member's capital debits to asset
  accounts other than cash and receivables: equipment, software, or a
  prepaid service contract the members owned and handed over straight to
  capital, e.g. AppleCare+ contributed with a laptop) and cash (the rest:
  deposits, and what the members paid for the company, including a
  service they paid a vendor ahead for, booked through Due to
  Shareholders and then converted to capital; DECISION, Stephen,
  2026-10-15). Property in an entry crediting several members is shared
  in proportion to their credits. An entry and its reversal both in the
  year cancel: neither is a contribution or a distribution. A member's
  party is the party with the member's name (not a display name) and the
  member role, as the viewer's capital statement finds it; with none, the
  member's TIN is a gap.
  **1099 worksheet** with TINs adds `party_id, tin_last4, tin, tin_type,
  tin_note`. A zip with the full set, each
  statement as PDF and XLSX: `profit-and-loss`, `balance-sheet`,
  `cash-flow` (reconciled to `cash_accounts`), `members-equity`
  (multi-member LLCs), `trial-balance`; plus `general-ledger.xlsx` and
  `general-journal.xlsx`. Period reports cover the fiscal year to date.
  What the CPA needs; they never log into the system.