{"id":"concept:mcp-client","kind":"concept","label":"MCP Client","synonyms":["connected AI assistant"],"definition":"An MCP client is the AI assistant — any Model-Context-Protocol-compatible assistant — that calls an MCP server's tools on a user's behalf.","summary":"The AI side of the connection. Any MCP-compatible assistant can act as a client to BalanceMCP's server, calling its nineteen tools under the exact same rules — balanced entries, no editing history, no bypassing tenant isolation — regardless of which assistant it is.","explanation":["An MCP client is the AI assistant that initiates tool calls against an MCP server — the half of the connection sitting on the user's side, translating a plain-language request like \"categorize my June transactions\" into the specific tool calls that actually do the work.","Any assistant that implements the protocol can act as a client to BalanceMCP's server; it isn't limited to one specific product. What makes a client trustworthy isn't its own judgment or carefulness — it's that every tool it calls runs under the exact same database-level rules regardless of which client is calling: balanced entries only, an append-only journal, no posting into a locked period, and tenant isolation that keeps one user's books invisible to another's session entirely.","A client only has access to what the tools it's given actually allow — there's no way for a client to reach past a tool's own scope into some broader capability. Reconciling an account through a client still requires calling reconcile_account with the right arguments; there's no shortcut around the interface the server exposes.","The API key a client uses is what ties every one of its tool calls back to a specific user's books — a client with a valid key can do everything that key's tools allow, which is exactly why the key itself, not the client's own behavior, is the thing worth protecting carefully."],"commonMistakes":["Assuming only one specific assistant can act as an MCP client — any protocol-compatible assistant can.","Assuming the client's own carefulness, rather than the server's database-level rules, is what keeps the books safe.","Assuming a client can reach capability beyond what its available tools expose — it's limited to exactly the named actions it's been given."],"category":"ai-mcp","questions":[{"question":"What actually makes an AI client safe to use with real books?","answer":"Not the client's own judgment — the database-level rules every tool call runs under, regardless of which client is calling: balanced entries, an append-only journal, and tenant isolation."},{"question":"Can any AI assistant act as a client, or only specific ones?","answer":"Any assistant implementing Model Context Protocol can act as a client — it isn't limited to one specific product."}],"url":"/glossary/mcp-client","relatedTo":[{"id":"concept:model-context-protocol","relationship":"related","weight":0.9,"api":"/api/knowledge/concept%3Amodel-context-protocol"},{"id":"concept:mcp-server","relationship":"related","weight":0.9,"api":"/api/knowledge/concept%3Amcp-server"},{"id":"concept:mcp-tool","relationship":"related","weight":0.9,"api":"/api/knowledge/concept%3Amcp-tool"},{"id":"concept:ai-bookkeeping","relationship":"related","weight":0.9,"api":"/api/knowledge/concept%3Aai-bookkeeping"},{"id":"concept:dry-run","relationship":"related","weight":0.9,"api":"/api/knowledge/concept%3Adry-run"},{"id":"guide:how-to-let-an-ai-do-your-bookkeeping","relationship":"references","weight":0.7,"api":"/api/knowledge/guide%3Ahow-to-let-an-ai-do-your-bookkeeping"}],"referencedBy":[{"id":"concept:model-context-protocol","label":"Model Context Protocol","url":"/glossary/model-context-protocol"},{"id":"concept:mcp-server","label":"MCP Server","url":"/glossary/mcp-server"},{"id":"concept:mcp-tool","label":"MCP Tool","url":"/glossary/mcp-tool"},{"id":"concept:ai-bookkeeping","label":"AI Bookkeeping","url":"/glossary/ai-bookkeeping"}],"license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","attribution":"BalanceMCP — https://balancemcp.com"}