Connecting Claude to Tools4Books

About five minutes.

The connector address

This is the only thing you type into Claude. Sign-in and approval happen on the Tools4Books dashboard, in your browser, so there is never a key or password to paste.

Before you start

• A QuickBooks company connected in Tools4Books, showing as healthy on the Connections page. An expired connection can't be granted, so reconnect it first.
• Be signed in to the dashboard at app.tools4books.com in the same browser Claude will open. The approval step happens there.
• Custom connectors available in Claude. In a company workspace, an administrator may need to allow them first.

Setup

1. 1

   Add the connector in Claude

   Settings › Connectors › Add custom connector

   The dialog has four parts. Only the first needs typing. Once the address is in, Claude probes it and picks the rest itself, marking each choice Detected. Check that it matches this:

   Name

   T4B – Riverbend Landscaping

   Remote MCP server URL

   https://api2.tools4books.com/mcp

   Authentication

   Always required, marked Detected. Every user signs in through Tools4Books before any tool works.

   OAuth client

   No client ID — register one automatically, marked Detected. Keep this even though Claude labels a different option "Recommended": Tools4Books does not support Anthropic's hosted client metadata yet, and choosing it fails at the approval screen with "Unknown client_id".

   Additional request headers

   None. Leave the Advanced section alone too.

   Name the connector after the company it will be tied to. T4B is short for Tools4Books, and the approval screen uses the same abbreviation. Click Add. The connector appears in your list, not yet connected.

   One connector holds one company. Each connector is bound to exactly one QuickBooks company, chosen at approval. To work with several companies, add one connector per company and name each for its company, so Claude can tell them apart when it asks which one you mean. Or keep a single connector and disconnect and reconnect it, choosing a different company each time.
2. 2

   Click Connect

   Next to the new connector, click Connect. A browser tab opens on the Tools4Books dashboard with an approval screen.

   If you see the dashboard's sign-in page instead, sign in, go back to Claude, and click Connect again so a fresh approval link is issued.

3. 3

   Approve the access

   The approval screen asks three things of you. It looks like this:

   app.tools4books.com/oauth/authorize

   Give an AI assistant access to your books?

   An application calling itself "Claude" is asking to work with your QuickBooks data through T4B.

   Access will be sent to claude.ai

   Company

   Riverbend Landscaping LLC

   What it may do

   AdminEvery operation, nothing held for approval

   OperatorStandard operations, moderate limits

   LimitedInvoices and customers only, payments denied

   BookkeeperAll reads; every write needs approval

   Read OnlyQuery data only, no create/update/delete

   Writes still follow this company's approval rules. You can revoke this at any time from API Keys.

   Deny Allow access to Riverbend Landscaping LLC

   The company name shown is an example. Read Only is selected by default.

   Check the address. The name "Claude" is reported by the app itself and is not verified. The address on the "Access will be sent to" line is the part Tools4Books enforces. For Claude it reads claude.ai. If it shows anything else, click Deny.

   Choose the company. If you belong to more than one workspace, companies are grouped by workspace. A company marked "needs QuickBooks reconnect" is greyed out until someone reconnects it on the Connections page.

   Choose what it may do. This is the same permission level you would assign when creating an API key, and it is enforced on every request. Levels above your own role on that company are greyed out as "Above your own access".

   Level	What it allows	Good for
   Read Only start here	Query data only, no create/update/delete	Questions, reports, reviewing Health Check findings. Nothing can change.
   Bookkeeper start here	All reads; every write needs approval	Letting Claude propose fixes that you approve one at a time in the dashboard.
   Limited	Invoices and customers only, payments denied	Sales-side work where payments must stay out of reach.
   Operator	Standard operations, moderate limits	Day-to-day operations by trusted staff. Small invoices go through without approval.
   Admin	Every operation, nothing held for approval	Only for an owner running a fully trusted process. No approval gate applies.

   Whatever you pick, the company's approval rules still apply to changes, and the level can never exceed your own access. Click Allow access to … for the company. You're returned to Claude and the connector shows as connected.

4. 4

   Check what it's connected to

   Start a new chat and ask:

   Which company are you connected to through Tools4Books, and what am I allowing you to do?

   Claude should name the company, its QuickBooks realm ID, and the permission level you chose. If it names the wrong company, disconnect and reconnect it, choosing the right one.

   Each Claude app connects separately. A connector approved in Claude on the web is not automatically connected in the desktop app or Cowork, and the other way round. Repeat step 2 in each app you use.

Changing or removing access

• Every approval creates an API key on the dashboard's API Keys page, named OAuth — "Claude". That row is the switch. Revoke it there and Claude's access ends immediately.
• Disconnecting inside Claude does not revoke anything. Removing or disconnecting the connector only discards Claude's copy. The key stays active until you revoke it on API Keys.
• To switch company or level, disconnect the connector in Claude, click Connect again, and choose differently on the approval screen. Then revoke the old key on API Keys, because disconnecting leaves it active.
• Access does not expire on its own. Review API Keys when someone leaves or a project ends.
• Everything Claude does is recorded on the Activity page, labelled Connector, under the name of the person who approved the access.

If something goes wrong

The approval page says "This request can't be authorized."

The link from Claude was incomplete or has expired. Nothing was shared. Go back to Claude and click Connect again.

The approval page says "Unknown client_id."

The connector was added with the OAuth client set to Anthropic's hosted client metadata, which Tools4Books does not support yet. Edit the connector in Claude, choose No client ID — register one automatically, and click Connect again.

Connect opens the sign-in page, then nothing happens.

Sign in to the dashboard, return to Claude, and click Connect again. The approval link is only issued once per attempt.

The company I want is greyed out with "needs QuickBooks reconnect."

On the dashboard's Connections page, reconnect that company to QuickBooks. Then click Connect in Claude again.

The level I want says "Above your own access."

Your role on that company caps what you can grant. Choose a lower level, or ask a workspace admin to raise your role first.

Claude says the Tools4Books tools require authentication.

You are in a different Claude app from the one you connected in. Click Connect in this app; each one signs in separately.

Claude reports that QuickBooks refused the request.

The QuickBooks connection has most likely expired. Check the Connections page and reconnect. The connector itself is fine.

Claude answers about the wrong company.

If you keep one connector per company, check that the right one is enabled for this chat. Otherwise disconnect the connector, click Connect again, pick the right company on the approval screen, and revoke the old key on API Keys.

Questions about setup? Reach us at support@tools4books.com. Questions about Claude plans, or whether custom connectors are available on your account, go to Anthropic's help center.