How to connect QuickBooks Desktop to ChatGPT (MCP server setup)
Add Conductor's MCP server to ChatGPT as the Conductor QuickBooks plugin so ChatGPT can read and write QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Enterprise company files, with a separate read-only plugin for your accountant.
To connect QuickBooks Desktop to ChatGPT, open Plugins in the sidebar, add https://mcp.conductor.is/ as a custom MCP server named Conductor QuickBooks, and sign in to Conductor when you click Connect Conductor QuickBooks. Signing in lets ChatGPT read and write QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Enterprise company files through Conductor, with no API key to copy. Setup takes five steps and needs a Conductor account plus a ChatGPT plan whose Plugins page offers Add custom MCP server. QuickBooks and the QuickBooks Web Connector must also run on a Windows computer.
Before you start
Before you add the plugin, a QuickBooks company file has to be connected to a Conductor project, and your ChatGPT plan has to allow custom MCP servers. You need:
A Windows computer that holds the company file, with QuickBooks and the QuickBooks Web Connector running on it.
A supported edition: QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions in any version or year (Accountant, Contractor, Manufacturing and Wholesale, Nonprofit, Professional Services, and Retail editions), or QuickBooks Premier (Plus), QuickBooks Desktop Pro (Plus), or QuickBooks Accountant Desktop (Plus) 2018 or later. QuickBooks Desktop for Mac has no Web Connector, so Conductor does not support it.
A Conductor account, created at dashboard.conductor.is, with a project that holds the company file's connection. The QuickBooks user makes that connection once by opening Conductor's config file in the Web Connector and authenticating.
A ChatGPT plan whose Plugins page offers Add custom MCP server, or a ChatGPT Business, Enterprise, or Edu workspace whose admin adds the plugin for members.
Conductor costs $49 per company file per month in production, with no platform fee and no monthly minimum. The free Trial tier covers one connection for testing and development.
Add the Conductor MCP server to ChatGPT
Add Conductor to ChatGPT as a custom MCP server from Plugins in the sidebar, in five steps that work on the web and in the desktop app. QuickBooks and the Web Connector must already be running on the Windows computer connected to Conductor.
In ChatGPT, open Plugins in the sidebar, click Add, then click Add custom MCP server. OpenAI's custom MCP server guide calls Add the plus button.
Name it
Conductor QuickBooks, pastehttps://mcp.conductor.is/from Conductor's MCP setup guide as the URL, and leave OAuth selected.Check I understand and want to continue, click Create as a plugin, then click Connect Conductor QuickBooks.
Sign in to Conductor, pick your project, and click Allow. This adds an "MCP (ChatGPT)" key to your Conductor project's API Keys page. If you ever need to revoke access, delete that key.
In a new ChatGPT chat, ask your question. If ChatGPT answers without Conductor, type
@, pick Conductor QuickBooks, and ask again.
On a ChatGPT Business, Enterprise, or Edu plan, an admin adds and publishes the plugin, so members don't add it themselves. On a personal ChatGPT plan, if Plugins has no Add custom MCP server, use Codex CLI instead.
Add a read-only Conductor QuickBooks plugin
A read-only ChatGPT plugin uses the same five steps with two changes in step 2: name the plugin Conductor QuickBooks read-only and paste https://mcp.conductor.is/read-only as the URL. Read-only mode blocks creates, updates, and deletes before they reach QuickBooks. Its key appears as "MCP (ChatGPT, read-only connection)" on your Conductor project's API Keys page. The URL limits that one plugin, not the Conductor key behind it.
To test the read-only plugin, ask ChatGPT to create a test customer in QuickBooks. If ChatGPT can't, read-only mode is on. If it can, the plugin still has full access, so check its URL.
Check that it works
To check that ChatGPT can reach your company file, keep QuickBooks and the Web Connector running on the connected Windows computer, open a new ChatGPT chat, and send this prompt:
Show the 5 most recent invoices using my most recently successful QuickBooks Desktop connection.
A reply that lists real invoices from your company file means the setup works. A "connected" indicator proves only that the Conductor sign-in finished, because Conductor checks the key on the first request. If ChatGPT replies without calling the plugin, type @, pick Conductor QuickBooks, and send the prompt again.
What this does and does not do
The Conductor QuickBooks plugin lets ChatGPT read and write data in a QuickBooks Desktop or QuickBooks Enterprise company file on Windows, and it does not reach QuickBooks Online.
QuickBooks Online is a different product. Intuit's own ChatGPT app, "Intuit QuickBooks", is for QuickBooks Online and needs an active subscription to it. Intuit covers that app in Connect QuickBooks Online to ChatGPT.
Conductor supports QuickBooks hosted on Rightworks with one limit: requests succeed only while you are connected to your Rightworks remote desktop session with QuickBooks open, because Rightworks stops background programs when you disconnect.
Use the full-access plugin at https://mcp.conductor.is/ for work that creates or edits records, such as invoices. The read-only plugin at https://mcp.conductor.is/read-only suits a trial, an accountant, or co-workers who should only read. Conductor's docs state its limit: "Read-only mode is a guardrail, not a security boundary: anyone with the Conductor key can still write through the Conductor API." Signing in gives each person their own key, which you can revoke without touching anyone else's.
Setting | Full access | Read-only |
|---|---|---|
Plugin name |
|
|
Server URL |
|
|
Key on the API Keys page | "MCP (ChatGPT)" | "MCP (ChatGPT, read-only connection)" |
What ChatGPT can do | Read and write QuickBooks data | Read QuickBooks data; creates, updates, and deletes are blocked |
When to use | Work that creates or edits records, such as invoices | A trial, an accountant, or co-workers who should only read |
Limit or revoke ChatGPT's access to QuickBooks
To revoke ChatGPT's access to QuickBooks, delete the "MCP (ChatGPT)" key on your Conductor project's API Keys page in the Conductor Dashboard. For a read-only plugin, delete the "MCP (ChatGPT, read-only connection)" key instead. ChatGPT can reach every company file connected to the Conductor project picked at sign-in, so to limit ChatGPT to certain company files, pick a project in step 4 that holds only those files' connections.
When a co-worker leaves, remove them on the Members page, then delete the MCP keys they created on the project's API Keys page. The "Created by" column shows whose each key is. Removing a member does not delete their keys.
How this works
MCP, the Model Context Protocol, is an open standard for plugging outside tools and data into AI applications. ChatGPT turns a custom MCP server into a plugin, which is why step 3 says Create as a plugin. Conductor's hosted MCP server at https://mcp.conductor.is/ connects QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Enterprise to ChatGPT.
The Conductor MCP server gives ChatGPT two tools. search_docs searches the Conductor API documentation. execute runs code that ChatGPT writes against Conductor's TypeScript SDK, inside an isolated sandbox with no web or filesystem access, and hands back whatever that code returns.
Ask for last month's unpaid invoices, and ChatGPT writes a short program for execute to run. Each API call in that program reaches Conductor under the "MCP (ChatGPT)" key from the sign-in, and Conductor passes it to the QuickBooks Web Connector on the Windows computer that holds the company file. The Web Connector hands the request to QuickBooks and sends the answer back the same way.
Conductor keeps no cache, so ChatGPT sees the company file as it stands, and nothing answers while that computer is off. That is why QuickBooks and the Web Connector have to be running on that one computer, while ChatGPT can run in a browser or on a phone anywhere. The QuickBooks user sets up the Windows side once, through Conductor's authentication flow, and adding ChatGPT later changes nothing there.
If it does not work
When the Conductor QuickBooks plugin fails in ChatGPT, match the message or symptom to one of the four entries below. Each fix comes from the troubleshooting section of Conductor's MCP docs.
Couldn't reach the MCP server
The message "Couldn't reach the MCP server" means the plugin's URL isn't https://mcp.conductor.is/ or https://mcp.conductor.is/read-only. Remove the plugin in ChatGPT, then add it again with the URL from step 2.
Authorization with the MCP server failed
The message "Authorization with the MCP server failed" means the Conductor sign-in didn't finish. On the Conductor page that opens, click Use a different account and sign in with the email your company uses for Conductor, or ask a teammate to add you on the Members page. Then connect the plugin again.
Requests to QuickBooks fail
Failed requests to QuickBooks usually mean QuickBooks or the Web Connector isn't running on the computer connected to Conductor. Make sure both are running there, then ask ChatGPT again; connecting ChatGPT doesn't need any Web Connector changes. If the Web Connector shows an error of its own, the Web Connector errors guide explains it.
I see SEO tools, not QuickBooks (wrong Conductor)
Tools such as ai_brand_insights and keyword_insights mean ChatGPT is connected to the MCP server of an unrelated SEO company at conductor.com, which also returns "couldn't identify the caller" errors. Remove that plugin and add https://mcp.conductor.is/ instead. The QuickBooks server is at conductor.is and has only the execute and search_docs tools.
Frequently asked questions
Does this work with QuickBooks Enterprise?
The Conductor QuickBooks plugin works with QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions of any version, year, or edition. QuickBooks Enterprise uses the same Desktop SDK and Web Connector as the other editions. The five ChatGPT steps are the same for it.
Does QuickBooks Desktop need to be open for ChatGPT?
QuickBooks and the Web Connector must be running on the Windows computer connected to Conductor whenever ChatGPT sends a request. ChatGPT itself can run on any device.
Can I give ChatGPT read-only access to QuickBooks?
ChatGPT gets read-only access through a second plugin named Conductor QuickBooks read-only that uses https://mcp.conductor.is/read-only. That plugin stops creates, updates, and deletes before they reach QuickBooks.
What if my ChatGPT plan has no Add custom MCP server option?
On a personal ChatGPT plan without that option, connect QuickBooks through Codex CLI, which reaches the same Conductor MCP server from a terminal. On a Business, Enterprise, or Edu plan, ask a workspace admin to add and publish the plugin.
How much does it cost to use ChatGPT with QuickBooks?
Conductor costs $49 per month for each established QuickBooks Desktop company file connection in use, with no platform fee and no monthly minimum. Testing and development fit in the free Trial tier, which includes one connection. Connections to QuickBooks sample company files or trial installations are free.
Can my co-workers use the same Conductor QuickBooks plugin?
Each co-worker who is a member of your Conductor organization can sign in to Conductor from ChatGPT with their own account, which creates a separate key for them. Pricing is per company file, so more co-workers, keys, or AI tools on the same company file cost nothing extra.
Connect QuickBooks Desktop to other AI tools
The same Conductor MCP server works in other AI tools, and each has its own guide:
Claude, for claude.ai, Claude Desktop, and the Claude mobile apps.
Claude Cowork, for Cowork tasks.
Claude Code, in the terminal.
Codex CLI, the route for a personal ChatGPT plan without Add custom MCP server.
Cursor, for the agent in Cursor.
VS Code, for the chat in VS Code.
Microsoft Copilot Studio, for Copilot Studio agents.
QuickBooks Desktop MCP server options, a comparison of Conductor and the alternatives.
AI agent use cases for a QuickBooks company file.
