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MCP Payroll in Claude Code

Gross-to-net for hourly staff, computed in the conversation. payroll_run turns hours worked, hourly rate and a tax rate into gross pay, tax withheld and net pay, and payroll_invoice_total folds a payroll run into an invoice-ready total; the arithmetic is exact integer cents under the shared money formatter, so a run for three people agrees with a calculator to the cent.

The run objects are plain JSON, so an agent can loop payroll_run over a roster file and hand you payroll_invoice_total at the end — three employees is three calls it makes itself.

What you get in Claude Code

You say	Tool
Run payroll: Ana 38h at 24, tax 22%.	`payroll_run`
Run the team: Ana 38h, Bo 40h, Cy 12h, all at 24, 22%.	`payroll_run, three calls`
What is the total to invoice for this run?	`payroll_invoice_total`

The contract suite runs real stdio cases: 38 hours at 24.00 with a 22% tax rate returns gross 912.00, tax 200.64 and net 711.36 exactly, a second employee's run is independent of the first, and payroll_invoice_total equals the sum of the runs it was given.

Install it in Claude Code

The file is .mcp.json, and the key inside it is mcpServers.

Scope	Path
local (default)	`~/.claude.json, this project only`
project	`.mcp.json at the repository root`
user	`~/.claude.json, every project`

If you also run Claude Desktop, the shortest path there is one click: payroll.mcpb from the latest release opens as an extension, with no JSON and no terminal. Claude Code reads its own config, so here it is:

From the terminal, against a built file:

claude mcp add --scope user payroll -- node /absolute/path/to/mcp-servers/servers/payroll/dist/index.js
claude mcp list    # health-check it before the first prompt

# or --scope project, committed to .mcp.json for the team

The node command above wants a built file. From a clone, once:

git clone https://github.com/theluckystrike/mcp-servers.git
cd mcp-servers && npm install
npm run build -w packages/mcp-license -w servers/payroll

That writes servers/payroll/dist/index.js, and its absolute path is the one argument the config needs.

The npm packages are not published yet, so the form below returns a 404 today. It is here because it is what the entry becomes the day the publish lands, with nothing else changed:

claude mcp add payroll -- npx -y @theluckystrike/mcp-payroll

No restart. The entry is picked up in the next session, and `/mcp` reconnects one on demand.

Nothing is published to npm yet, so the working install paths are the ones above: the .mcpb bundle from the latest release, a clone and build, or the hosted URL.

No install: the hosted endpoint

There is no hosted endpoint for this one yet. MCP Payroll runs locally over stdio with the config above, which is also the only form in which it reads and writes files on your own disk. Thirty of the servers in this collection are served at https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/<name> over MCP streamable HTTP; https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/connect lists them and prints a ready URL for each.

Claude Code notes worth knowing first

The `--` is load-bearing: it separates Claude Code's own options, such as --transport, --env and --scope, from the command that runs the server. And the default scope is local, private to you and to the directory you ran it in, so adding it in the wrong folder leaves the tools absent with no error at all.

Free: Everything: two tools, no metering, no key. Pro is $19 once, verified offline.

Questions

Which scope should I use for MCP Payroll?

Local, the default, writes ~/.claude.json and is private to you and that directory. --scope project writes .mcp.json at the repository root, shared through version control. --scope user loads it everywhere.

Why did my first prompt ignore the server?

Measured, not documented: of three fresh projects, one first prompt made zero tool calls although initialize answered in 1.05 seconds. Run claude mcp list once first: it prints Connected, and the next run used the tool.

Can I use MCP Payroll without installing anything?

Not this one. The office suite starts every sibling server as its own child process, so it runs locally over stdio. Thirty of those children are hosted individually at https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/<name> if you want a no-install route; open https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/connect and it prints a ready URL for each.

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