QuickBooks Online MCP

QuickBooks Online + AI - for Claude, the ChatGPT desktop app, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, and any agent that speaks MCP

Unofficial. Community-built Claude Code Skill and MCP server for the QuickBooks Online API. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Intuit Inc..

[QuickBooks Online demo - animated preview]

_{▶ Watch the 30-second demo - demo data is simulated; every command shown exists in the real CLI.}

Every QuickBooks Online Accounting entity, plus an offline SQLite mirror, cross-entity search, and AR/AP aging no SDK or read-only MCP ships. Works with the AI you already use - ChatGPT (desktop app), Claude Desktop, Codex, Claude Code, Claude Cowork, and GitHub Copilot - plus Gemini CLI. Free, open source, runs on your laptop. Built for MSP owners. No code required.

Works with your agent

The six agents MSP owners actually use (self-serve, works today):

The ChatGPT desktop app runs quickbooks-mcp locally and shares MCP configuration with Codex (OpenAI). ChatGPT on the web needs a remote server, which msp-skills does not support yet. If your team works there, a hosted gateway is the better pick; check that your AI app is on the gateway's setup list.

Also for the Microsoft and Google stacks

Big install base, but an honest heads-up: Gemini CLI runs the local binary you just installed, while Microsoft 365 Copilot and the Gemini app need a remote server, which msp-skills does not support yet.

Skill-native agents (also covered): Hermes and OpenClaw read this skill's SKILL.md directly and speak MCP - see their install sections below. Also works with Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, Continue.dev, and Zed via MCP. Full per-tool wire-up: docs/which-agent.md.

Run more than one agent? Install across all 51+ supported agents in one command: npx skills add Servosity/msp-skills@latest (requires Node.js, then run the per-skill installer for the CLI/MCP binaries). See docs/which-agent.md.

Install in 60 seconds

Fastest for Claude Desktop - one-click .mcpb

Claude Desktop bundle: the .mcpb launches on macOS (Intel and Apple Silicon), Windows x64 and Linux x64. Every tool shells out to the companion quickbooks-cli. Releases cut from 2026-09-18 on ship that CLI inside the bundle; older bundles contain only the MCP server, so if yours lacks the companion, run the Path A or Path B installer below first (or set QUICKBOOKS_CLI_PATH to an existing binary). Details: #331.

Download QuickBooks Online MCP (.mcpb) - then open Claude Desktop > Settings > Extensions and select the file. One click, no JSON, no shell. (Browse every QuickBooks Online release on the releases page.)

Prefer the Claude Code plugin? Add the marketplace once, then install - works immediately, no directory listing required:

/plugin marketplace add Servosity/msp-skills/plugin install quickbooks@msp-skills

Path A - paste one prompt into your AI agent (recommended)

Copy this into Claude Code, Codex CLI, or Claude Cowork:

Install the QuickBooks Online Skill and MCP server from Servosity/msp-skills in this agent workspace. If this workspace uses a POSIX shell (macOS, Linux, WSL, or Bash), run bash <(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Servosity/msp-skills/main/skills/quickbooks/install.sh). If it uses Windows PowerShell, run iwr -useb https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Servosity/msp-skills/main/skills/quickbooks/install.ps1 | iex. Then authenticate per the README and run quickbooks-cli --help to explore.

The same prompt works in any agent that can run shell.

Path B - run the installer yourself

Windows (PowerShell):

iwr -useb https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Servosity/msp-skills/main/skills/quickbooks/install.ps1 | iex

macOS / Linux:

bash <(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Servosity/msp-skills/main/skills/quickbooks/install.sh)

The installer drops both quickbooks-cli (the CLI) and quickbooks-mcp (the MCP server) into your user bin path. Claude Code, Codex, and Cowork discover the Skill via SKILL.md in this directory.

Verify:

quickbooks-cli --version

Upgrade to the latest version

The installer always fetches the current release - re-run it to upgrade:

macOS / Linux:

bash <(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Servosity/msp-skills/main/skills/quickbooks/install.sh)

Windows (PowerShell):

iwr -useb https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Servosity/msp-skills/main/skills/quickbooks/install.ps1 | iex

Claude Desktop .mcpb users: download the latest .mcpb (top of this section) and re-select it in Settings > Extensions. Claude Code plugin users: /plugin update quickbooks@msp-skills.

Add to Claude Desktop, the ChatGPT desktop app, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, or another MCP client

After the installer runs, see mcp-install.md and docs/which-agent.md for the per-agent wire-up - one section per agent, including the GitHub Copilot servers key and the ChatGPT desktop app. Claude Desktop's Settings > Extensions panel is the simplest path; the MCP config block (for users who prefer editing JSON) is documented in mcp-install.md.

Install for Hermes

From the Hermes CLI:

hermes skills install servosity/msp-skills/skills/quickbooks --force

Inside a Hermes chat session:

/skills install servosity/msp-skills/skills/quickbooks --force

Hermes speaks MCP natively, so it can also use the quickbooks-mcp server directly - same install path, same env vars.

Install for OpenClaw

Tell your OpenClaw agent (copy this):

Install the quickbooks skill from https://github.com/servosity/msp-skills/tree/main/skills/quickbooks. The skill defines how its required CLI (quickbooks-cli) can be installed via the openclaw: frontmatter block.

OpenClaw isn't generally available yet; the frontmatter wiring is pre-shipped and will activate the moment OpenClaw launches.

Authenticate

Set the credentials the CLI needs. You need two things: an OAuth access token (scope com.intuit.quickbooks.accounting) and your company realm ID - the token says who you are, the realm ID says which company to read.

export QUICKBOOKS_ACCESS_TOKEN=<token>     # from the Intuit OAuth 2.0 Playground, or: quickbooks-cli auth refreshexport QUICKBOOKS_REALM_ID=<company-id>    # your QuickBooks Online company (realm) ID# optional: export QUICKBOOKS_ENVIRONMENT=sandbox   # default is productionquickbooks-cli doctor

doctor confirms the credentials and company scope work before you run anything that touches data. It exits 0 even when the credential is rejected, so scripts should add --fail-on error. Have a refresh token instead of a live access token? Set QUICKBOOKS_CLIENT_ID, QUICKBOOKS_CLIENT_SECRET, and QUICKBOOKS_REFRESH_TOKEN: every command and the MCP server then refresh the access token on their own (before it expires, and once after a 401), saving the refresh token QuickBooks rotates to. quickbooks-cli auth refresh refreshes on demand.

What this skill does

Sync your company once, then ask:

Full command reference: guide.md. For the AI-agent operating contract (--agent, --dry-run, when to confirm before mutating), see AGENTS.md.

What makes this different

Most QuickBooks Online integrations and MCP servers proxy each question into a live API call. That's fine for one record. It dies at close time, when you're asking "who's overdue across the whole book and how much is in the 90+ bucket" - because QuickBooks has no single endpoint that returns aging, DSO, or a reconciliation verdict.

This skill syncs QuickBooks Online into a local SQLite mirror with full-text search. Aggregate questions become one local SQL join: instant, offline, and the AI sees the answer, not the raw data. Compound commands like ar-aging, dso, and reconcile join across invoices, payments, customers, and vendors with real date math - work a stateless API wrapper can't do.

The pain this closes

Ask any MSP owner what eats the last day of the month and the answer is the books. On r/msp and r/QuickBooks the same complaints recur: close drags because you're chasing unapplied payments, deduping "Acme Inc" against "Acme, Inc.", and proving the ledger balances before it goes to the accountant. Receivables age silently - by the time you export the A/R Aging Summary, the 90+ bucket holds money you'll fight to collect - and because QuickBooks reports are point-in-time, you can't see who slipped a bucket since last month without keeping your own spreadsheet history.

This skill turns each chore into one offline question:

See pain-point.md for the longer narrative.

Frequently asked questions

Does this work with ChatGPT?

Yes, in the ChatGPT desktop app. It runs MCP servers locally (STDIO), the way quickbooks-mcp runs, and shares MCP configuration with Codex (OpenAI): add quickbooks-mcp under Settings > MCP servers as a STDIO server, or add it once to Codex's ~/.codex/config.toml. ChatGPT on the web is not supported by msp-skills yet: it needs a remote server. If your team works there, a hosted gateway is the better pick; check that your AI app is on the gateway's setup list.

Does this work with Codex, Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, Copilot, or Gemini?

Yes - all of them speak MCP. Cross-tool install commands are in the matrix above and the deep-dive in docs/which-agent.md.

Do I need to know how to code?

No. The recommended install is to paste one sentence into Claude Code or Codex - your agent reads SKILL.md and does the install. The fallback is a one-line installer per OS (bash or PowerShell). Neither path requires writing code. You'll enter your QuickBooks Online credentials once.

Is my QuickBooks Online data safe?

Your data stays on your machine. The CLI and MCP server are local binaries. The SQLite mirror sits in a directory under your user account. The AI agent only sees what the CLI returns - typically a query result, not raw bulk data. Credentials are read from your environment or your agent's config; never bundled into this repo or transmitted anywhere by MSP Skills.

Will this hit my QuickBooks API rate limits?

Rarely. The only API-heavy step is the one-time sync that mirrors your company into local SQLite; after that, ar-aging, dso, cash-forecast, reconcile and the rest run entirely offline against the mirror. Intuit throttles per company (realm), and the CLI paginates and rate-limits sync for you, so day-to-day questions never touch the API.

Do I need to be an Intuit partner to use it?

No. You need a QuickBooks Online company and an OAuth access token scoped to com.intuit.quickbooks.accounting, plus your company realm ID. Mint the token from the Intuit Developer portal or the OAuth 2.0 Playground; quickbooks-cli auth refresh turns a refresh token into a fresh access token. No partner status required.

Will this replace my QuickBooks Online portal?

No - it complements it. QuickBooks stays your book of record; this skill answers questions from your terminal or AI agent, keeps cross-run aging memory the portal doesn't, and composes a one-shot month-end reconcile the UI makes you assemble by hand. Writes go through the same Accounting API the portal uses.

What does it cost?

Free. Apache-2.0 licensed. You pay only for whichever AI agent you use (Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, etc.), and that's billed by your AI provider, not by us.

Safety model

QuickBooks Online's accounting scope grants read and write together, so there is no read-only credential to issue. The strongest controls are QUICKBOOKS_MCP_READ_ONLY=1 on the MCP server (it lists only read-only tools) and your agent's approval policy for CLI writes. Full details, including how to lock it down, are in governance.md.

Status

Live-verified. Confirmed by Servosity (maintainer) against their own production tenant. More MSPs run it live in our weekly Build Sessions. RSVP at compoundingteams.com/build-sessions.

Standards. Conforms to the open Agent Skills spec (Anthropic, Dec 2025; 40+ agents). MCP-compatible - works with any MCP-capable agent including Hermes. OpenClaw-ready (frontmatter pre-wired, awaiting OpenClaw launch).

Maintained by Servosity. Apache-2.0 licensed. Built with CLI Printing Press. Last updated: 2026-06-06.