How to connect QuickBooks Desktop to Cursor (MCP server setup)

To connect QuickBooks Desktop to Cursor, add Conductor's hosted MCP server at https://mcp.conductor.is/ to ~/.cursor/mcp.json, then sign in. The sign-in starts when you click Authenticate in Cursor's MCP list and finishes in your browser, so there is no API key to copy. QuickBooks Enterprise uses the same five steps. You also need a Conductor account and a connected Windows computer running QuickBooks and the Web Connector.

Before you start

Cursor can reach a QuickBooks company file through Conductor once these five things are in place:

• A Windows computer that keeps QuickBooks Desktop and the QuickBooks Web Connector running. That computer must stay powered on, online, and signed in to the Windows user that runs the Web Connector.

• A supported edition. Conductor works with QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions of any version or year, and with QuickBooks Premier (Plus), QuickBooks Desktop Pro (Plus), and QuickBooks Accountant Desktop (Plus) 2018 or later. QuickBooks Desktop for Mac has no Web Connector, so it is not supported.

• A Conductor account, which you create at dashboard.conductor.is.

• A company file connected to a Conductor project. On your project's page in the Conductor Dashboard, click Create end user, then open the setup link it creates in a browser on the QuickBooks computer. That link has whoever runs QuickBooks download a config file and open it in the Web Connector, then authenticate.

• Cursor, on the Windows computer or any other computer. Conductor requires no particular Cursor plan.

Conductor's Trial tier is free and includes 1 connection for testing and development. Production costs $49 per company file per month, with no platform fee and no monthly minimum. Connections to QuickBooks sample company files or trial installations are free.

Add the Conductor MCP server to Cursor

Adding the Conductor MCP server to Cursor takes one entry in the global ~/.cursor/mcp.json file and a browser sign-in. Your company file must already be connected to a Conductor project, because step 5 asks you to pick that project. Follow these steps on the computer where you use Cursor.

1. In Cursor, click View > Command Palette in the menu bar, type Open MCPs, and press Enter.

2. Click New MCP Server at the bottom of the list, or New if you have no MCP servers yet. If Cursor asks where to add it, choose User or This computer. Either choice puts the server in the global ~/.cursor/mcp.json file described in Cursor's MCP documentation.

3. Paste the config below into the file that opens, replacing what's there, and click File > Save. The config comes from the Cursor tab of Conductor's MCP setup guide.

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "conductor": {
         "url": "https://mcp.conductor.is/"
       }
     }
   }

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "conductor": {
         "url": "https://mcp.conductor.is/"
       }
     }
   }

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "conductor": {
         "url": "https://mcp.conductor.is/"
       }
     }
   }

   For read-only access, paste this config instead:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "conductor": {
         "url": "https://mcp.conductor.is/read-only"
       }
     }
   }

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "conductor": {
         "url": "https://mcp.conductor.is/read-only"
       }
     }
   }

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "conductor": {
         "url": "https://mcp.conductor.is/read-only"
       }
     }
   }

   If the file already lists other servers, keep them and add only the conductor entry inside mcpServers, replacing any old conductor entry.

4. Back in the MCP list, click conductor, turn it on if it's off, and click Authenticate.

5. Sign in to Conductor in the browser, pick your project, and click Allow. This adds an "MCP (Cursor)" key to your Conductor project's API Keys page. If you ever need to revoke access, delete that key.

Give Cursor read-only access

Cursor gets read-only access to QuickBooks when the url of the conductor entry in ~/.cursor/mcp.json is https://mcp.conductor.is/read-only, as in the second config in step 3. Read-only mode blocks creates, updates, and deletes before they reach QuickBooks. Conductor's docs suggest it for a trial, an accountant, or co-workers who should only read. If you already added the full-access entry, replace it; the other four steps stay the same. The read-only connection's key is named "MCP (Cursor, read-only connection)" on your Conductor project's API Keys page.

To test read-only mode, ask the agent to create a test customer in QuickBooks. If the agent can't, read-only mode is on. If it can, the agent still has full access, so check the url in the conductor entry.

Check that it works

To check the setup, make sure QuickBooks and the Web Connector are running on the connected Windows computer, then open a chat with Cursor's agent and send this prompt: Show the 5 most recent invoices using my most recently successful QuickBooks Desktop connection.

When the agent replies with real invoices from your company file, the setup is complete. By default, Cursor asks for approval before it uses an MCP tool, so approve the Conductor tool call when it appears. To see the arguments before you approve, click the arrow next to the tool name. A "connected" status in the MCP list proves only that the sign-in worked, because Conductor checks the key on first use.

What this does and does not do

With full access, Cursor's agent reads and writes every company file connected to the Conductor project it signed in to. That covers QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions in any version or year and QuickBooks Premier, Pro, and Accountant from 2018 on. To limit Cursor to certain company files, connect it to a Conductor project that holds only those files' connections.

QuickBooks Online is a different product, and Conductor does not connect to it. Intuit describes its own connector for that product in the help article Connect QuickBooks Online to ChatGPT.

QuickBooks hosted on Rightworks works with one limit. Rightworks stops all background programs when you disconnect, so someone must stay connected to the remote desktop session with QuickBooks open for requests to go through. Conductor's Rightworks guide covers the Web Connector setup there.

The read-only URL, https://mcp.conductor.is/read-only, limits only the Cursor connection that uses it. Conductor's docs state: "Read-only mode is a guardrail, not a security boundary: anyone with the Conductor key can still write through the Conductor API." Because each person who signs in gets a separate key, you can revoke one person's access and leave the rest alone.

How this works

Cursor talks to QuickBooks through MCP (the Model Context Protocol), an open protocol that lets an AI application call tools on a separate server. Conductor's hosted MCP server at https://mcp.conductor.is/ connects QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Enterprise to Cursor. The editor finds that server through the url field of the conductor entry in ~/.cursor/mcp.json.

Conductor's MCP server exposes two tools. search_docs queries the documentation for Conductor's API and SDK. execute takes a TypeScript program the agent wrote with Conductor's SDK, runs it in a sandbox with no web or filesystem access, and hands the output back to the agent. For a question about overdue invoices, the agent can look up the invoice endpoint with search_docs, then fetch and total the invoices with execute.

The code that execute runs calls the Conductor API, which passes each request to the QuickBooks Web Connector, a Windows program that runs in the background on the same computer as QuickBooks. The Web Connector checks Conductor for work every 10 seconds when idle, and every 3 seconds for 10 minutes after a request arrives. It hands each request to QuickBooks and returns the answer along the same path.

Conductor keeps no cache, so every answer comes from the live company file. That is why the Windows computer has to stay on with QuickBooks and the Web Connector running.

Clicking Authenticate starts an OAuth sign-in in your browser. When you click Allow on the sign-in page, Conductor creates the "MCP (Cursor)" key in the project you pick, and that project decides which company files the agent can reach.

If it does not work

When Cursor cannot use Conductor, find the message or symptom below; each one matches an entry in the MCP troubleshooting guide.

Couldn't reach the MCP server

"Couldn't reach the MCP server" means the URL in the conductor entry is not https://mcp.conductor.is/ or https://mcp.conductor.is/read-only. Replace the entry in ~/.cursor/mcp.json with the config from step 3, save the file, and repeat steps 4 and 5.

Authorization with the MCP server failed

"Authorization with the MCP server failed" means the browser sign-in to Conductor never completed. Click Authenticate again and sign in with the email your company uses for Conductor; if a different account appears, click Use a different account on the sign-in page. If you are not yet a member of your company's Conductor organization, ask a teammate to add you on the Members page, then sign in again.

Requests to QuickBooks fail

When the agent's requests fail, the usual cause is that QuickBooks Desktop or the Web Connector is not running on the Windows computer you connected. Start both there and send the prompt from Cursor again. Connecting an AI tool needs no Web Connector changes.

I see SEO tools, not QuickBooks (wrong Conductor)

Tools such as ai_brand_insights and keyword_insights belong to the MCP server of an unrelated SEO company at conductor.com. Remove that server from ~/.cursor/mcp.json and add the conductor entry from step 3. Conductor's QuickBooks server lives at conductor.is and offers just two tools, execute and search_docs.

Frequently asked questions

Does this work with QuickBooks Enterprise?

Cursor connects to QuickBooks Enterprise with the same five steps. QuickBooks Enterprise is a tier of QuickBooks Desktop and uses the same SDK and Web Connector. Conductor supports QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions of any version or year, in any edition.

Does QuickBooks Desktop need to be open?

QuickBooks Desktop and the Web Connector have to be running on the connected Windows computer each time Cursor sends a request. Conductor recommends keeping QuickBooks open, either signed in to the company file or at the "No Company Open" screen. Cursor itself can run on any computer.

Can I give Cursor read-only access?

Cursor gets read-only access when the url in its conductor entry is https://mcp.conductor.is/read-only. That URL stops creates, updates, and deletes before they reach QuickBooks.

What does it cost?

Conductor's production price is $49 per company file per month. The free Trial tier includes 1 connection for testing and development. Extra co-workers or AI tools on the same company file add no cost.

Can co-workers use Cursor with the same company file?

Each co-worker can add the same conductor entry to their own Cursor and sign in with their own account. Signing in creates a separate key for each person. They must be members of your Conductor organization, so add them on the Members page first.

How do I revoke Cursor's access to QuickBooks?

Delete the "MCP (Cursor)" key on your Conductor project's API Keys page. A read-only connection's key is named "MCP (Cursor, read-only connection)". For someone who leaves, remove them on the Members page, then delete their keys too; removing a member leaves their keys in place.

Connect QuickBooks Desktop to other AI tools

Conductor's MCP server also works with these AI tools, each covered in its own guide:

• Claude on the web, the desktop app, and mobile.

• Claude Cowork tasks.

• ChatGPT as a custom MCP plugin.

• Claude Code in the terminal.

• Codex CLI in the terminal.

• VS Code chat.

• Microsoft Copilot Studio agents, which use an API key instead of sign-in.

For the options beyond Conductor, read the QuickBooks Desktop MCP server comparison. For tasks to hand an agent once it is connected, read the AI agent use cases for QuickBooks.