Connector Details

Name	Value
Platform	QuickBooks Desktop
Auth Type	On-Premise (QuickBooks Web Connector)
Direction	Bidirectional

Overview

The QuickBooks Web Connector (QBWC) is a Windows application from Intuit that ships with QuickBooks Desktop. It acts as a bridge between a QuickBooks company file and a web service: on a schedule you configure, QBWC contacts hotglue, picks up any pending read or write requests, runs them against the company file, and sends the results back. Compared to the installed QuickBooks Desktop connector:

Nothing to install from hotglue. Your tenant only needs a .qwc configuration file and a connector password. There is no .exe to download, run as administrator, or keep in a startup folder.
Works with hosted QuickBooks (e.g. Rightworks), where the Web Connector is already installed.
Supports V2 flows.
Tables are selected via field map, like a normal cloud connector.

Because QBWC polls hotglue on an interval rather than holding an open connection, reads and writes are asynchronous: a job queues its requests and completes once the Web Connector’s next sync processes them.

Enable and set up your connector in hotglue

Set up your flows

Enable the QuickBooks Web Connector in your read flow, and in your write flow if you need to write data back to QuickBooks Desktop. The data format for both reads and writes is the same as the installed QuickBooks Desktop connector. For detailed behavior and business logic (upserts, processing order, batching, and per-record errors), see the connector README.

What your tenant needs

Each tenant needs two things to connect the Web Connector:

Item	Description
Connector password	A string that authenticates the Web Connector to push and pull data for the connected tenant. This is the same password used by the installed connector.
`.qwc` file	The configuration file that tells the Web Connector how to communicate with hotglue. It embeds the tenant ID, so each tenant needs their own.

The .qwc file and connector password must belong to the same tenant ID. A file paired with another tenant’s password will not work.

Set up your tenant

The simplest way to set up a tenant is to link the QuickBooks Web Connector through the hotglue widget, either embedded in your app or opened via a magic link. Linking from the widget handles everything for you:

Generates the tenant’s connector password
Links the tenant to your flows
Generates the tenant’s .qwc file

Once linked, the widget shows a download link for the .qwc file and a copy button for the connector password. The tenant can then follow the end-user instructions below. White-labeling: The .qwc file sets the application name your tenants see in QuickBooks and the Web Connector. To use your own branding for .qwc files downloaded from the widget, go to Settings > Connectors > Quickbooks Web Connector and change these values:

"qbwc_app_id": "hotglue-web-connector",
"qbwc_app_display_name": "Hotglue Web Connector"

Option 2: Set up the tenant via API

If you’d rather set up tenants programmatically, you can generate the password, link the tenant, and generate the .qwc file yourself.

Generate the connector password

The Web Connector accepts the same connector password as the installed connector, and uses the same endpoint to generate it:

cURL

curl 'https://api.hotglue.com/<ENVIRONMENT_ID>/<READ_FLOW_ID>/<TENANT_ID>/taps/quickbooks-desktop/token?write_flow_id=<WRITE_FLOW_ID>' \
--header 'x-api-key: <SECRET_API_KEY>'

If you haven’t generated a signing key before, this request will error with: No signing key has been created for this environment. To resolve, go to Settings > API Keys, and click Generate Signing Key.

Link the source

Pass the connector password as token in the config of a POST to /linkedSources. Unlike the installed connector, you don’t pass company_file_path or tables; tables are selected via field map.

cURL

curl 'https://api.hotglue.com/<ENVIRONMENT_ID>/<READ_FLOW_ID>/<TENANT_ID>/linkedSources' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--header 'x-api-key: <SECRET_API_KEY>' \
--data '{
    "source": {
        "tap": "qbwc",
        "config": {
            "token": "<CONNECTOR_PASSWORD>"
        }
    }
}'

object

required

Hide child attributes

string

required

qbwc

object

required

Hide child attributes

string

required

The connector password generated in the previous step.

Link the target (write flows only)

If you’re writing data to QuickBooks Desktop via a separate V1 write flow, either symlink the target config to the source config, or pass the same token in a POST to /linkedTargets:

cURL

curl 'https://api.hotglue.com/<ENVIRONMENT_ID>/<WRITE_FLOW_ID>/<TENANT_ID>/linkedTargets' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--header 'x-api-key: <SECRET_API_KEY>' \
--data '{
    "target": {
        "target": "qbwc",
        "config": {
            "token": "<CONNECTOR_PASSWORD>"
        }
    }
}'

Generate the .qwc file

Generate the tenant’s .qwc file from the following public URL:

https://qbwc.hotglue.com/qwc?tenant_id=<TENANT_ID>&app_id=hotglue-web-connector&app_display_name=Hotglue+Web+Connector

Parameter	Description
`tenant_id`	The tenant ID. Must match the tenant the connector password was generated for.
`app_id`	Identifier for the application in the Web Connector. Replace to white-label.
`app_display_name`	Name shown to the user in QuickBooks and the Web Connector (URL-encoded). Replace to white-label.

The .qwc file isn’t secret on its own, since it only works alongside the matching connector password. You must still generate a separate file for each tenant, because it embeds the tenant ID.

Once you have the connector password and .qwc file, send both to your tenant along with the end-user instructions below.

Optional: Connect additional company files

Each QuickBooks company file is connected as its own subtenant. For each additional company file:

Create a subtenant in hotglue (for example, test-user_1).
Get a connector password and .qwc file for the subtenant, either by linking the Web Connector in the widget for the subtenant, or by following the API steps above with the subtenant ID in place of <TENANT_ID>.
Have the user open the other company file and repeat the end-user instructions with the subtenant’s .qwc file and password.

End-user instructions

Requirements

1. QuickBooks Desktop with the QuickBooks Web Connector Only Windows versions are supported. The Web Connector comes pre-installed with modern versions of QuickBooks Desktop, and is already installed on hosted QuickBooks environments such as Rightworks. 2. The .qwc configuration file 3. The connector password

Connect the Web Connector

If you previously used the hotglue QuickBooks Desktop Connector (.exe) on this machine, stop it and remove it from your startup folder before continuing.

Open your company file

Open QuickBooks Desktop and log in to the company file you want to connect.

Open the Web Connector

Go to File > App Management > Update Web Services.

Add the application

Click Add an Application and select the downloaded .qwc file. When QuickBooks asks you to authorize the new web service, click OK.

Grant access

QuickBooks will ask what access to give the application. Select Yes, always; allow access even if QuickBooks is not running, and choose a QuickBooks user that won’t cause access conflicts (for example, a user that isn’t also logged in to the company file by someone else). Then click Continue and Done.

If you’ve used the installed hotglue connector, this is the same access prompt you saw then.

Enter the password and enable syncing

You’ll return to the Web Connector’s list of applications, which now includes the hotglue application. For that application:

Enter the connector password in the Password field (click Yes if asked to save it).
Check Auto-Run, and set Every Min to 5.
Check the checkbox on the left of the application’s row, and click Update Selected.

Once the update completes successfully, the Web Connector will sync with hotglue every 5 minutes and you’re ready to start running jobs.

Migrating from the installed connector

To move an existing tenant from the installed QuickBooks Desktop connector:

Enable the QuickBooks Web Connector in your read and write flows. Your existing export script continues to work as-is.
Get the tenant’s connector password and .qwc file, either by linking the Web Connector in the widget or via the API (see Set up your tenant).
Select tables via field map.
Have the tenant stop the installed connector, remove it from their startup folder, and follow the end-user instructions.

Getting Started

Key Concepts

Managed authentication

Transformation

Custom Connectors

Composite MCP

Unified Schema

Environment Settings

CLI

Connectors

QuickBooks Web Connector

Connector Details

Overview

Enable and set up your connector in hotglue

Set up your flows

What your tenant needs

Set up your tenant

Option 1: Use the widget (recommended)

Option 2: Set up the tenant via API

Optional: Connect additional company files

End-user instructions

Requirements

Connect the Web Connector

Migrating from the installed connector

​Connector Details

​Overview

​Enable and set up your connector in hotglue

​Set up your flows

​What your tenant needs

​Set up your tenant

​Option 1: Use the widget (recommended)

​Option 2: Set up the tenant via API

​Optional: Connect additional company files

​End-user instructions

​Requirements

​Connect the Web Connector

​Migrating from the installed connector

Connector Details

Overview

Enable and set up your connector in hotglue

Set up your flows

What your tenant needs

Set up your tenant

Option 1: Use the widget (recommended)

Option 2: Set up the tenant via API

Optional: Connect additional company files

End-user instructions

Requirements

Connect the Web Connector

Migrating from the installed connector