An AI Agent Does a Small Company's Books via a Home-Built CLI: 183 Uncategorised Items to 4
In one afternoon, Tom Eberle's agent cut uncategorised operations in his Dougs books from 183 to 4, attached 22 missing invoices from Gmail, wrote about 60 changes and surfaced 3 overdue VAT returns.
Who this is about: Small French company (founder who ships apps from Paris)
What it takes
- Cost
- Free softwaredougs-cli is MIT-licensed and free; you still pay for the AI model and your Dougs plan.
- Setup time
- An afternoonOur estimate from the source, for one business.
- Skill needed
- Some tech skillsComfortable installing an app, pasting an API key or running a command.
Explain it simply
A founder's accounting app had no way for an AI to connect to it, so he had AI help him build one and shared it for free. Now his AI agent finds missing invoices in his email, matches them to bank lines and sorts his transactions. He approves its plan before anything is written to the books, and his accountant still files the returns.
What was done
Dougs had no public API, MCP or CLI, so one Opus agent built a command-line tool for it while a second agent reviewed every change. He reports 245 tests and about 30 hours from idea to npm.
He then let the agent work on his real books: it reads the business inbox read-only, pulls invoice PDFs and matches each to its bank line by amount, date and vendor, showing the list before uploading.
For unusual transactions it asks once, books them, and writes down the treatment so the next month is automatic.
Guardrails: nothing reaches Dougs until he approves the plan, months with a filed VAT return are never touched, and every write is read back and checked.
How it went
He reports one afternoon of work: uncategorised operations from 183 to 4, 22 missing invoices attached, about 60 changes written and 3 overdue VAT returns surfaced. Before a VAT refund claim, it also fixed 34 foreign software invoices that had been booked with the wrong VAT.
- It doesn't file VAT returns or replace the accountant; he says it does the legwork.
- He built and publishes the free CLI himself (unofficial, not affiliated with Dougs). It only helps businesses on Dougs; others need a similar connector for their own software.
- Self-reported numbers; the attached screenshot wasn't reviewed.
Prompt
Use [accounting tool CLI or connector] to review my books for [company].
1. List what needs attention: uncategorised operations, bank lines with no invoice, and anything that looks booked wrong (for example VAT on foreign software).
2. Search my business inbox (read-only) for missing invoices and match each to its bank line by amount, date and vendor.
3. Ask me once about any unusual transaction, then write down how we treat it.
4. Show me the full plan of changes. Write nothing until I approve it.
Never touch months with a filed VAT return. After every write, read it back and check it.Adapted from the starter prompt in the post, with his approval rules added.
Setup notes
- Give the agent read-only access to the business inbox only.
- Approve the full change plan before anything is written to the books.
- Keep closed or filed periods off-limits.
Business fit
Who this helps, and how:
- Solo foundersclear a backlog of uncategorised transactions and missing receipts before the accountant asks.
Small companies with foreign software bills: find invoices booked with the wrong VAT treatment before a refund claim.
Startups
Related
- Evidence grade CAn AI Agent Cut a SaaS Company's Month-End Bookkeeping to About an HourVendor or secondhand, using Hermes Agent, Zoho Books and Gmail
- Evidence grade D47 Trip Receipts Became an Expense Report in 10 MinutesLight evidence, using Claude
- Evidence grade BA DTC Operator Had Claude Close a Year of Books in QuickBooks, With Delete Never EnabledStrong evidence, using Claude and QuickBooks
- AI month-end close examplesDepartment hub: AI for finance, 17 examples
Similar tools
Other tools for this job, and how they differ. Chosen by our editors, never paid for.
- Hermes Agent
Open-source agent you host yourself; a SaaS founder used it for month-end bookkeeping in Zoho Books with approvals.
See it in use: An AI Agent Cut a SaaS Company's Month-End Bookkeeping to About an Hour
- Meta Muse
Connects to QuickBooks and Stripe for back-office checks and asks before it acts, but only in the US and Canada.
- Grok Bot
Can work in QuickBooks and Stripe through plugins, with approval before changes.
Stack: Grok Bot + QuickBooks and Stripe: books and payments, with approvals
“Strong evidence” (grade B) means: The person who did the work describes the setup and results in detail. How we grade. Spotted a mistake? Suggest a correction.