# QuickBooks Desktop — Accounting API: overview

> Canonical URL: https://developers.apideck.com/apis/accounting/quickbooks-desktop/overview

QuickBooks Desktop is an on-premises accounting software by Intuit for small and medium-sized businesses, offering invoicing, expense tracking, payroll, and financial reporting capabilities.
- Status: beta
- Authentication: custom

- **apideck credentials available:** false
- **partnership note:** A free Intuit Developer Account is sufficient; desktop integrations require no app review or approval.
- **difficulty reason:** Custom Auth + Per-Consumer Local Setup
- **important to know:** On-premises: consumer data lives in a local company file on a Windows machine; every connection involves consumer-side setup on that machine.
Data arrives via scheduled sync runs rather than real-time calls (auto-run defaults to roughly every minute), not real-time push.
Intuit stop-sell: new US subscriptions of Desktop Pro Plus, Premier Plus, and Mac Plus ended September 30, 2024; existing subscribers can renew and Enterprise remains on sale, so the base is consolidating toward Enterprise.
- **consumer access level:** A QuickBooks Admin must authorise the integration on the Windows machine hosting the company file
- **difficulty:** highly_complex
- **sandbox note:** Testing runs against a local QuickBooks Desktop install: bundled sample company files, a free Not for Resale developer copy from Intuit, or a 30-day trial.
- **beta:** true
- **rate limits:** No published rate limits — throughput is bounded by the consumer's machine and the sync schedule.
- **partnership required:** false
- **costs:** None for API access: the QuickBooks Desktop SDK and Web Connector are free from Intuit; consumers pay for their own QuickBooks Desktop licence
- **authentication note:** Shared server-side X-Admin-Secret API key — not OAuth.
- **webhooks:** No webhooks — the platform has no event system and the connector has no webhook support, native or virtual.
- **responsibility matrix:**   - **apideck:** Docs provided
  - **area:** Enable Connector & Configure Vault
  - **customer:** ✓
  - **area:** Share Onboarding Instructions
  - **customer:** ✓
  - **apideck:** Instructions provided
  - **apideck:** Instructions provided
  - **consumer:** ✓ (QuickBooks Admin)
  - **area:** Authorise Integration on the QuickBooks Machine
  - **area:** Build via Unified API
  - **customer:** ✓
  - **apideck:** Maintains connector
  - **apideck:** ✓ Manages sync
  - **area:** Connection Sync
  - **consumer:** ✓ Can revoke access in QuickBooks
  - **customer:** ✓ Via Dashboard
  - **area:** Monitor Connections
  - **apideck:** Logs & alerts
- **account type required:** QuickBooks Desktop for Windows (Pro, Premier, or Enterprise — identical API across editions)
- **sandbox available:** false
- **environment notes:**   - **environment:** Sandbox
  - **description:** No separate sandbox environment. Testing runs against a real QuickBooks Desktop installation — use the bundled sample company files, a free Not for Resale (NFR) developer copy from Intuit (Windows only), or a QuickBooks Desktop 30-day trial.
  - **description:** Connects to a live company file on the consumer's Windows machine via the QuickBooks Web Connector. Be cautious when testing against live company data.
  - **environment:** Production
- **apideck credentials note:** QuickBooks Desktop has no OAuth app model, so no requesting-application credentials exist

## Supported resources

[Accounting data model](/guides/accounting-data-model.md)

- **downstream name:** Customers
- **downstream id:** customers
- **name:** Customers
- **status:** live
- **id:** customers
- **custom field support:** true
- **status:** live
- **downstream id:** invoices
- **id:** invoices
- **name:** Invoices
- **custom field support:** false
- **downstream name:** Invoices
- **id:** journal-entries
- **name:** Journal Entries
- **status:** live
- **custom field support:** true
- **downstream id:** journal-entries
- **downstream name:** Journal Entries
- **custom field support:** true
- **id:** payments
- **name:** Payments
- **downstream name:** Receive Payments
- **status:** live
- **downstream id:** receive-payments
- **status:** live
- **custom field support:** true
- **id:** suppliers
- **name:** Suppliers
- **downstream name:** Vendors
- **downstream id:** vendors
- **status:** live
- **name:** Bills
- **custom field support:** true
- **downstream id:** bills
- **id:** bills
- **downstream name:** Bills
- **name:** Ledger Accounts
- **downstream name:** Accounts
- **custom field support:** true
- **status:** live
- **downstream id:** accounts
- **id:** ledger-accounts
- **downstream name:** Items
- **status:** live
- **custom field support:** false
- **id:** invoice-items
- **downstream id:** items
- **name:** Invoice Items
- **id:** credit-notes
- **name:** Credit Notes
- **downstream id:** credit-memos
- **downstream name:** Credit Memos
- **custom field support:** true
- **status:** live
- **id:** purchase-orders
- **downstream id:** purchase-orders
- **status:** live
- **downstream name:** Purchase Orders
- **custom field support:** true
- **name:** Purchase Orders
- **status:** live
- **downstream id:** tax-rates
- **custom field support:** false
- **name:** Tax Rates
- **id:** tax-rates
- **downstream name:** Tax Rates

An omitted operation list does not establish operation support. Verify the selected operation in the coverage matrix.

[API reference](https://developers.apideck.com/apis/accounting/reference.md) · [Coverage matrix](https://developers.apideck.com/apis/accounting/coverage)