QuickBooks Online CLI

QuickBooks Online CLI — sync full ledger, query SQLite locally, run duplicate expenses audit, and manage accounting from the terminal.

Created by @kesslerio (Martin Kessler).

Quick Start

1. Install

See Install above.

2. Set Up Credentials

Get your access token from your API provider's developer portal, then store it:

qbo-pp-cli auth set-token YOUR_TOKEN_HERE

Or set it via environment variable:

export QBO_CLIENT_ID="your-token-here"

3. Verify Setup

qbo-pp-cli doctor

This checks your configuration and credentials.

4. Try Your First Command

qbo-pp-cli accounts get mock-value

Usage

Run qbo-pp-cli --help for the full command reference and flag list.

Commands

accounts

Manage accounts

• qbo-pp-cli accounts create - Create or update an account
• qbo-pp-cli accounts get - Get an account by ID

bills

Manage vendor bills

• qbo-pp-cli bills create - Create or update a bill
• qbo-pp-cli bills get - Get a bill by ID

cdc

Change Data Capture (CDC) endpoints for incremental syncs

• qbo-pp-cli cdc - Query changed entities since a timestamp

customers

Manage customers

• qbo-pp-cli customers create - Create or update a customer
• qbo-pp-cli customers get - Get a customer by ID

invoices

Manage invoices

• qbo-pp-cli invoices create - Create or update an invoice
• qbo-pp-cli invoices get - Get an invoice by ID

journal_entries

Manage journal entries

• qbo-pp-cli journal-entries create - Create or update a journal entry
• qbo-pp-cli journal-entries get - Get a journal entry by ID

payments

Manage customer payments

• qbo-pp-cli payments create - Create or update a payment
• qbo-pp-cli payments get - Get a payment by ID

purchases

Manage purchases (Expenses)

• qbo-pp-cli purchases create - Create or update a purchase
• qbo-pp-cli purchases get - Get a purchase by ID

query

Run raw SQL queries against QBO (limitations apply; sync first to query SQLite locally)

• qbo-pp-cli query - Run raw QuickBooks SQL query

vendors

Manage vendors

• qbo-pp-cli vendors create - Create or update a vendor
• qbo-pp-cli vendors get - Get a vendor by ID

Output Formats

# Human-readable table (default in terminal, JSON when piped)
qbo-pp-cli accounts get mock-value

# JSON for scripting and agents
qbo-pp-cli accounts get mock-value --json

# Filter to specific fields
qbo-pp-cli accounts get mock-value --json --select id,name,status

# Dry run — show the request without sending
qbo-pp-cli accounts get mock-value --dry-run

# Agent mode — JSON + compact + no prompts in one flag
qbo-pp-cli accounts get mock-value --agent

Agent Usage

This CLI is designed for AI agent consumption:

• Non-interactive - never prompts, every input is a flag
• Pipeable - --json output to stdout, errors to stderr
• Filterable - --select id,name returns only fields you need
• Previewable - --dry-run shows the request without sending
• Explicit retries - add --idempotent to create retries when a no-op success is acceptable
• Confirmable - --yes for explicit confirmation of destructive actions
• Piped input - write commands can accept structured input when their help lists --stdin
• Agent-safe by default - no colors or formatting unless --human-friendly is set

Exit codes: 0 success, 2 usage error, 3 not found, 4 auth error, 5 API error, 7 rate limited, 10 config error.

Health Check

qbo-pp-cli doctor

Verifies configuration, credentials, and connectivity to the API.

Configuration

Config file: ~/.config/qbo-pp-cli/config.toml

Static request headers can be configured under headers; per-command header overrides take precedence.

Environment variables:

Name	Kind	Required	Description
QBO_CLIENT_ID	per_call	Yes	Set to your API credential.
QBO_CLIENT_SECRET	per_call	Yes	Set to your API credential.
QBO_REALM_ID	per_call	Yes	Set to your API credential.

agentcookie (optional)

If you use agentcookie to sync secrets across machines, this CLI auto-adopts agentcookie-managed credentials with no extra setup. When the daemon writes to this CLI's config, qbo-pp-cli doctor reports agentcookie: detected and auth-status labels the source as agentcookie. Skip this section if you don't use agentcookie - the CLI works the same as any other.

Troubleshooting

Authentication errors (exit code 4)

• Run qbo-pp-cli doctor to check credentials
• Verify the environment variable is set: echo $QBO_CLIENT_ID Not found errors (exit code 3)
• Check the resource ID is correct
• Run the list command to see available items

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