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I'm completely new to AI. Where do I start?

A plain-language introduction to AI assistants, agents, MCP and skills, with a simple path to your first xpnAi conversation.

Use case

You've heard that AI can help with finance work, but the language is unfamiliar. You want to understand the pieces before connecting anything to your accounting data.

Introduction

You don't need to become a developer to start. You need an assistant you can talk to, a clear task and a way to check its work. Connecting that assistant to xpnAi lets it work with the Xero data and tools you give it access to.

Let's give the main terms a meaning before putting them together.

What is an AI assistant?

An AI assistant is an application you can ask for help in everyday language. It can explain a concept, draft a report or help investigate a question. Claude and OpenAI's ChatGPT and Codex are examples of products you might use to work with AI.

The model is the system producing the responses. The assistant is the application around it, with its own tools, files and settings. Two applications using the same model can have different abilities.

A prompt is simply the request you give the assistant. “Explain this expense movement” is a prompt. A more useful version includes the organisation, dates, evidence and kind of answer you want.

What is an agent?

An agent uses AI to work through a task in steps, choosing from the tools available to it. Instead of only explaining how to analyse an expense, it might retrieve the relevant transactions, compare two periods and prepare a summary.

People sometimes use “assistant” and “agent” interchangeably. The useful distinction is what the application can actually do: can it only answer, or can it also use tools to carry out parts of your task?

An agent still needs a clear goal, appropriate access and a way to check the result. Its explanation can sound confident even when the data is incomplete or its interpretation is wrong.

What is MCP?

MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. It is a standard way for an AI application to connect to another service's tools and information.

Think of it as a common connection interface. The assistant asks to use a tool; the connected service carries out that request within the access it allows and returns a result.

xpnAi provides an MCP server for working with your connected Xero organisations. Your assistant can use the available tools to retrieve finance data or prepare supported changes. You choose a Workspace and approve the connection's permissions during sign-in.

MCP does not mean an assistant automatically has access to every file or every action. The application must support the connection, and the tools and permissions must be available in that session.

What are skills?

A skill is a reusable set of instructions for a task. It can describe the steps to follow, what information to gather and how to check the result. Some skills also include supporting files or scripts.

For a finance team, a skill might explain how to review month-end expenses: compare the periods, investigate material movements, link the evidence and list unanswered questions.

Skills guide the process; connected tools provide the data and actions. A skill by itself does not grant access to Xero. How skills are installed or loaded depends on your assistant. xpnAi's setup instructions are a practical example of instructions you can ask a compatible assistant to read.

How do the pieces fit together?

You give the assistant a prompt. It follows the relevant instructions, uses its xpnAi connection to retrieve the finance data it needs, and returns work for you to review.

For example: “Explain the change in electricity expense between July and August.” The assistant can compare the totals and identify the bills or journals behind the movement. You check whether the evidence supports the explanation and add the business context it cannot know.

Prompts

1. Learn without connecting data

You can start with this in your chosen assistant today.

I'm new to using AI for finance work.
Explain how you could help me review monthly expenses.
Use a small fictional example and label the numbers as invented.
Explain any unfamiliar term before using it.
Show what I would need to check in your answer.

2. Get ready to connect

Choose an assistant from the setup links below, then use this prompt.

Read https://help.xpnai.app/onboarding.md and guide me through
getting started with xpnAi in this assistant.
Explain each connection step in plain language.
Help me use my team's existing Workspace if I already have access.
I want to begin with reading and analysing data.

3. Try a small, checkable task

Use this after the connection is verified and your Xero import has completed. Replace the organisation and dates.

Use xpnAi to confirm my Workspace, [organisation] and the
last successful data refresh.
Show the five largest expense accounts for August 2026
in the organisation's base currency.
For the largest account, show the supporting transactions
and their Xero links where available.
Explain any missing information and make no changes in Xero.

Output

The first prompt should give you a clearly fictional worked example. After connection, expect a named Workspace, a data refresh time and a small report you can check against Xero. A useful answer makes its evidence and uncertainty visible.

Screenshot / video to come
Capture: a short beginner walkthrough moving from a plain-language question to a verified demo Workspace, an expense summary and one supporting transaction. Define new terms on screen and use demo data throughout.

Choose your next step

Once you're comfortable with a small report, try creating a finance dashboard.