quickbooks -by-cdata

This MCP server exposes QuickBooks data through a read-only MCP interface by wrapping the CData JDBC Driver for QuickBooks. Once configured, clients can query live QuickBooks data without writing SQL directly, using the built-in tools exposed by the MCP server such as retrieving available tables, listing columns, and running read-only queries. The server supports a small set of tools named after the server, for example quickbooks_get_tables, quickbooks_get_columns, and quickbooks_run_query. Clients (like Claude Desktop) can send JSON-RPC payloads to invoke these tools and receive results in a structured format. The goal is to let LLMs understand the data model and respond with live data by issuing the appropriate tool calls, without requiring direct SQL or knowledge of the underlying data access details.

Prerequisites:

• Java Runtime Environment (JRE) or JDK 8+ installed on the machine that will run the MCP server
• Maven installed (for building the MCP jar from source)
• Access to the CData JDBC Driver for QuickBooks and a valid license process as described in the documentation

Installation steps:

1. Clone the repository and build the MCP server jar

git clone https://github.com/cdatasoftware/quickbooks-mcp-server-by-cdata.git
cd quickbooks-mcp-server-by-cdata
mvn clean install

This will produce a JAR similar to CDataMCP-jar-with-dependencies.jar (located in the target directory).

2. Install the CData JDBC Driver for QuickBooks and license it as described in the project README:

• Download the driver from the CData site
• Install it according to the platform instructions
• License the driver by running the command from the lib folder, e.g. java -jar cdata.jdbc.quickbooks.jar --license and providing your name, email, and license key

3. Create a .prp file for your JDBC connection (e.g. quickbooks.prp) with the necessary properties, including Prefix, ServerName, ServerVersion, DriverPath, DriverClass, JdbcUrl, and Tables as described in the README

4. Run the MCP server with the prepared prp file

java -jar /PATH/TO/CDataMCP-jar-with-dependencies.jar /PATH/TO/quickbooks.prp

Note: The server uses standard I/O (stdio) and is intended to be used with clients running on the same machine.

Tips and notes:

• The MCP server is read-only by default, meaning write/update/delete actions are not exposed through this deployment.
• Ensure the CData JDBC Driver for QuickBooks is properly licensed and accessible in the DriverPath specified in quickbooks.prp.
• The server communicates via stdio; use a client on the same host to interact, or wrap the stdio interface if integrating with another process.
• If Claude Desktop (or another client) does not show the MCP server, fully quit and restart the client to refresh the server list.
• When configuring Claude Desktop, add an entry under mcpServers with the path to java, the JAR, and the path to your quickbooks.prp file as shown in the README.
• For troubleshooting, verify the connection string and test connectivity using the CData JDBC Driver utility before wiring it into the MCP server configuration.