QuickBooks MCP Server
An MCP server for QuickBooks Online — built for bookkeepers, CFOs, and accountants who use AI assistants in their daily workflow.
Ask your AI assistant to pull a P&L report, create a journal entry, or investigate an account balance — using plain language, not API payloads.
Why This Server?
Intuit provides an official MCP server that's a solid starting point for developers exploring the QuickBooks API. This server takes a different approach: it's designed for financial professionals working in production books.
Use natural language, not internal IDs
Intuit's server requires QuickBooks internal IDs for every reference — you need to look up a vendor's ID before creating a bill. This server resolves names automatically:
"Create a bill for PG&E, $450 to Utilities, dated 2025-01-15"
→ Vendor, account, and department names are resolved automatically
Financial reports built in
This is the only QuickBooks MCP server with report tools. Pull a P&L, Balance Sheet, or Trial Balance — broken down by month, department, or class — without leaving your AI conversation.
Safe by default
Every create and edit operation defaults to draft/preview mode. You see exactly what will be written to your books before committing. No accidental journal entries or misclassified expenses.
Instead of separate search tools for each entity type, a single SQL-like query tool works across all QuickBooks entities. AI assistants write SQL naturally, and QuickBooks validates it — no field whitelists to maintain.
"SELECT * FROM Purchase WHERE TxnDate >= '2025-01-01' AND TxnDate <= '2025-01-31'"
Production-ready credential management
Store credentials locally for personal use, or in AWS Secrets Manager for shared environments. OAuth tokens refresh automatically and persist across sessions.
At a glance
| Intuit Official | This Server |
|---|
| Audience | Developers exploring the API | Bookkeepers, CFOs, accountants |
| Name resolution | Requires internal QB IDs | Resolves names automatically |
| Financial reports | None | P&L, Balance Sheet, Trial Balance |
| Write safety | Executes immediately | Draft preview by default |
| Query approach | Entity-specific search tools | SQL-like queries across all entities |
| Credentials | Local .env file | Local file or AWS Secrets Manager |
| Distribution | Clone from GitHub | npx quickbooks-mcp |
Prerequisites
Installation Options
Choose the setup that fits your use case:
Option 1: NPM Install
The simplest way to get started. Credentials are stored locally on your machine.
1. Create a QuickBooks App
- Go to developer.intuit.com and sign in
- Create a new app (or select an existing one)
- Go to "Keys & credentials"
- Note your Client ID and Client Secret
- Under "Redirect URIs", add:
https://developer.intuit.com/v2/OAuth2Playground/RedirectUrl
2. Add to Claude Code
Add to your project's .mcp.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"quickbooks": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "quickbooks-mcp"]
}
}
}
Create ~/.quickbooks-mcp/credentials.json:
{
"client_id": "your_client_id",
"client_secret": "your_client_secret"
}
4. Authenticate
Once Claude Code is running, use the qbo_authenticate tool:
- Call
qbo_authenticate with no arguments to get an authorization URL
- Open the URL in your browser and authorize the app
- Copy the
code and realmId from the redirect URL
- Call
qbo_authenticate again with the authorization code and realm ID
Your OAuth tokens will be saved and automatically refreshed.
Option 2: Local Checkout
For development or customization.
1. Create a QuickBooks App
Follow the same steps as Option 1 above.
2. Clone and Build
git clone https://github.com/laf-rge/quickbooks-mcp.git
cd quickbooks-mcp
npm install
npm run build
3. Add to Claude Code
Add to your project's .mcp.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"quickbooks": {
"command": "node",
"args": ["/path/to/quickbooks-mcp/dist/index.js"]
}
}
}
Create ~/.quickbooks-mcp/credentials.json with your client credentials (same as Option 1), then run qbo_authenticate to complete the OAuth flow.
Option 3: AWS Mode
For shared or production environments. Stores credentials in AWS Secrets Manager.
1. Create AWS Resources
Create the secret in Secrets Manager:
aws secretsmanager create-secret \
--name prod/qbo \
--secret-string '{
"client_id": "your_client_id",
"client_secret": "your_client_secret",
"access_token": "your_access_token",
"refresh_token": "your_refresh_token",
"redirect_url": "https://developer.intuit.com/v2/OAuth2Playground/RedirectUrl"
}'
Store Company ID in SSM Parameter Store:
aws ssm put-parameter \
--name /prod/qbo/company_id \
--value "your_company_id" \
--type SecureString
Create a .env file in the quickbooks-mcp directory:
QBO_CREDENTIAL_MODE=aws
AWS_REGION=us-east-2
QBO_SECRET_NAME=prod/qbo
QBO_COMPANY_ID_PARAM=/prod/qbo/company_id
Note: Due to a known Claude Code bug, environment variables from .mcp.json are not reliably passed to MCP servers. The .env file workaround is required.
3. Add to Claude Code
{
"mcpServers": {
"quickbooks": {
"command": "node",
"args": ["/path/to/quickbooks-mcp/dist/index.js"]
}
}
}
4. IAM Permissions
The server needs these AWS permissions:
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"secretsmanager:GetSecretValue",
"secretsmanager:PutSecretValue"
],
"Resource": "arn:aws:secretsmanager:*:*:secret:prod/qbo*"
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": ["ssm:GetParameter"],
"Resource": "arn:aws:ssm:*:*:parameter/prod/qbo/*"
}
]
}
Inline Output Mode
By default, large responses (reports, query results) are written to /tmp files and the server returns a file path. This works well for Claude Code in terminal environments but breaks in Claude Desktop and plugin environments where the model cannot read from /tmp.
Set QBO_INLINE_OUTPUT=true to return all responses inline instead.
Option A — via .env file (recommended for local checkout):
Create a .env file in the quickbooks-mcp directory:
Option B — via .mcp.json env block (recommended for NPM install):
{
"mcpServers": {
"quickbooks": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "quickbooks-mcp"],
"env": {
"QBO_CREDENTIAL_MODE": "local",
"QBO_INLINE_OUTPUT": "true"
}
}
}
}
Note: Due to a known Claude Code bug, environment variables from .mcp.json are not reliably passed to MCP servers in some configurations. If Option B doesn't work, use the .env file workaround.
Environment Variables
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|
QBO_CREDENTIAL_MODE | local | Credential storage: local or aws |
QBO_CLIENT_ID | - | QuickBooks app Client ID (local mode) |
QBO_CLIENT_SECRET | - | QuickBooks app Client Secret (local mode) |
QBO_CREDENTIAL_FILE | ~/.quickbooks-mcp/credentials.json | Custom credential file path. A leading ~ is expanded to your home directory, so it works in an MCP client's JSON env block where no shell is present to expand it. |
QBO_INLINE_OUTPUT | false | Return responses inline instead of writing to /tmp files. Required when using Claude Desktop or plugin environments where file-based output is not accessible to the model. |
QBO_SANDBOX | false | Use QuickBooks sandbox environment. Also switches the "View in QuickBooks" deep links to app.sandbox.qbo.intuit.com so they cannot open the production company. |
AWS_REGION | us-east-2 | AWS region (aws mode) |
QBO_SECRET_NAME | prod/qbo | Secrets Manager secret name (aws mode) |
QBO_COMPANY_ID_PARAM | /prod/qbo/company_id | SSM parameter path (aws mode) |
| Tool | Description |
|---|
| Setup | |
qbo_authenticate | Set up OAuth credentials (local mode only) |
get_company_info | Get connected company information |
| Query & Reports | |
query | Run SQL-like queries against any QuickBooks entity |
list_accounts | List chart of accounts with filtering |
get_profit_loss | Profit & Loss report (by month, department, class, etc.) |
get_balance_sheet | Balance Sheet report |
get_trial_balance | Trial Balance report (flags: true adds a close-review pass for wrong-side and uncategorized/suspense balances) |
get_report | Any of 24 other QuickBooks reports — A/R and A/P aging, customer and vendor balances, transaction lists, general ledger, journal, sales by customer/item/class/department, cash flow, and the detail variants |
query_account_transactions | All transactions affecting a specific account (13 posting entity types, paginated, optional sub-account rollup; see docs/entity-coverage.md for limits) |
account_period_summary | Period summary for an account (opening/closing balance, debits, credits, count) |
| Journal Entries | |
create_journal_entry | Create a journal entry (validates debits = credits; lines take entity_name/entity_type) |
get_journal_entry | Fetch a journal entry by ID |
edit_journal_entry | Modify an existing journal entry |
| Bills | |
create_bill | Create a vendor bill (lines take customer_name) |
get_bill | Fetch a bill by ID |
edit_bill | Modify an existing bill |
| Expenses | |
create_expense | Create an expense (Cash, Check, or Credit Card; payee may be a vendor, customer, or employee) |
get_expense | Fetch an expense by ID |
edit_expense | Modify an existing expense |
| Sales Receipts | |
create_sales_receipt | Create a sales receipt with item lines |
get_sales_receipt | Fetch a sales receipt by ID |
edit_sales_receipt | Modify an existing sales receipt |
| Invoices | |
create_invoice | Create an invoice with item lines (customer required) |
get_invoice | Fetch an invoice by ID |
edit_invoice | Modify an existing invoice |
| Deposits | |
create_deposit | Create a bank deposit (lines take entity_name/entity_type) |
get_deposit | Fetch a deposit by ID |
edit_deposit | Modify an existing deposit (lines take entity_name/entity_type) |
| Vendor Credits | |
create_vendor_credit | Create a vendor credit (lines take customer_name) |
get_vendor_credit | Fetch a vendor credit by ID |
edit_vendor_credit | Modify an existing vendor credit |
| Bill Payments | |
create_bill_payment | Pay bills and apply vendor credits (the QBO "check" / pay-bills flow) |
receive_payment | Record a customer payment against open invoices (A/R counterpart to create_bill_payment); each line defaults to the invoice's open balance |
create_transfer | Move money between two of the company's own accounts (bank↔bank, credit-card paydown) |
get_bill_payment | Fetch a bill payment by ID; flags unapplied amounts |
| Delete | |
delete_entity | Delete any transaction (journal entry, bill, invoice, deposit, sales receipt, expense, vendor credit, bill payment) |
Naming Vendors, Customers, and Employees
Every write tool that can attribute a line or a header to a name list accepts a
name and resolves it to an ID, the same way account_name and
department_name do. Which parameter you get depends on what QuickBooks will
actually store there:
| Parameter | Where it applies | Accepts |
|---|
entity_name + entity_type | create_deposit / edit_deposit lines, create_journal_entry / edit_journal_entry lines, create_expense / edit_expense header payee | Vendor, Customer, or Employee. entity_type defaults to Vendor. |
customer_name | create_bill / edit_bill, create_expense / edit_expense, create_vendor_credit / edit_vendor_credit lines | Customer only — QuickBooks stores a CustomerRef on these lines and has no vendor or employee option. |
vendor_name | create_bill, create_vendor_credit, create_bill_payment headers | Vendor only. |
customer_name (header) | create_invoice, create_sales_receipt | Customer only. Their item lines have no per-line entity. |
Each also has an _id form (entity_id, customer_id) if you already know the
internal ID. On edit tools, the rule for line parameters is:
- omit the parameter and a line addressed by
line_id keeps the entity it
already has;
- name one and it is set or replaced;
- pass an empty string (
entity_name: "") and it is cleared.
See docs/quickbooks-api-limitations.md
for the underlying QBO field shapes, which are not uniform.
Parameter Names Are Enforced
Arguments are checked against the schema each tool advertises, before anything
runs. An unknown parameter is an error that names the closest valid one, a
missing required parameter is an error, and an edit_* call with no field to
change is an error rather than a write that reports success.
The alternative is silence. A handler reads the parameters it knows about, so a
misspelled one is simply absent: a create call that puts the date under the
wrong key posts on today's date, an as-of report asked for a date range returns
today's balances, and an edit whose fields are all misspelled comes back
"updated successfully" having changed nothing. None of those raise anything for
the caller to notice.
Relatedly, when QuickBooks accepts an update without advancing the record's
SyncToken — meaning the payload matched what was already stored — the edit
tools report no change instead of success.
Token Refresh
The server automatically refreshes OAuth tokens on each request and persists them back to your credential store (local file or AWS Secrets Manager).
Development
npm run dev
npm run build
npm run typecheck
npm test
Tests live in tests/, mirroring src/. They are TypeScript, compiled by
tsconfig.test.json into dist-test/ and run by Node's built-in test runner —
no test framework dependency. Type errors in a test are build failures, so a
test referencing a renamed export fails loudly rather than silently skipping.
Anything needing a QuickBooks client passes a hand-written stand-in covering
just the calls under test, so the suite runs offline with no credentials.
Troubleshooting
Run the qbo_authenticate tool to set up OAuth credentials (local mode only).
"Authorization code expired"
Authorization codes are only valid for a few minutes. Start the OAuth flow again.
Token refresh fails
- Check that your refresh token hasn't expired (~100 days)
- Verify your client credentials are correct
- Try re-authenticating with
qbo_authenticate
AWS credential errors
- Ensure
.env file has QBO_CREDENTIAL_MODE=aws
- Check your AWS credentials and permissions
- Verify the secret and parameter names match your configuration