FreshBooks Automation

Automate FreshBooks operations including listing businesses, managing projects, tracking time, and monitoring budgets for small and medium-sized business accounting.

Toolkit docs: composio.dev/toolkits/freshbooks

Setup

This skill requires the Rube MCP server connected at https://rube.app/mcp.

Before executing any tools, ensure an active connection exists for the freshbooks toolkit. If no connection is active, initiate one via RUBE_MANAGE_CONNECTIONS.

Core Workflows

1. List Businesses

Retrieve all businesses associated with the authenticated user. The business_id from this response is required for most other FreshBooks API calls.

Tool: FRESHBOOKS_LIST_BUSINESSES

Parameters: None required.

Example:

Tool: FRESHBOOKS_LIST_BUSINESSES
Arguments: {}

Output: Returns business membership information including all businesses the user has access to, along with their role in each business.

> Important: Always call this first to obtain a valid business_id before performing project-specific operations.

2. List and Filter Projects

Retrieve all projects for a business with comprehensive filtering and sorting options.

Tool: FRESHBOOKS_LIST_PROJECTS

Key Parameters:

• business_id (required) -- Business ID obtained from FRESHBOOKS_LIST_BUSINESSES
• active -- Filter by active status: true (active only), false (inactive only), omit for all
• complete -- Filter by completion: true (completed), false (incomplete), omit for all
• sort_by -- Sort order: "created_at", "due_date", or "title"
• updated_since -- UTC datetime in RFC3339 format, e.g., "2026-01-01T00:00:00Z"
• include_logged_duration -- true to include total logged time (in seconds) per project
• skip_group -- true to omit team member/invitation data (reduces response size)

Example:

Tool: FRESHBOOKS_LIST_PROJECTS
Arguments:
  business_id: 123456
  active: true
  complete: false
  sort_by: "due_date"
  include_logged_duration: true

Use Cases:

• Get all projects for time tracking or invoicing
• Find projects by client, status, or date range
• Monitor project completion and budget tracking
• Retrieve team assignments and project groups

3. Monitor Active Projects

Track project progress and budgets by filtering for active, incomplete projects.

Steps:

1. Call FRESHBOOKS_LIST_BUSINESSES to get business_id
2. Call FRESHBOOKS_LIST_PROJECTS with active: true, complete: false, include_logged_duration: true
3. Analyze logged duration vs. budget for each project

4. Review Recently Updated Projects

Check for recent project activity using the updated_since filter.

Steps:

1. Call FRESHBOOKS_LIST_BUSINESSES to get business_id
2. Call FRESHBOOKS_LIST_PROJECTS with updated_since set to your cutoff datetime
3. Review returned projects for recent changes

Example:

Tool: FRESHBOOKS_LIST_PROJECTS
Arguments:
  business_id: 123456
  updated_since: "2026-02-01T00:00:00Z"
  sort_by: "created_at"

Recommended Execution Plan

1. Get the business ID by calling FRESHBOOKS_LIST_BUSINESSES
2. List projects using FRESHBOOKS_LIST_PROJECTS with the obtained business_id
3. Filter as needed using active, complete, updated_since, and sort_by parameters

Known Pitfalls

| Pitfall | Detail | |---------|--------| | business_id required | Most FreshBooks operations require a business_id. Always call FRESHBOOKS_LIST_BUSINESSES first to obtain it. | | Date format | The updated_since parameter must be in RFC3339 format: "2026-01-01T00:00:00Z". Other formats will fail. | | Paginated results | Project list responses are paginated. Check for additional pages in the response. | | Empty results | Returns an empty list if no projects exist or match the applied filters. This is not an error. | | Logged duration units | When include_logged_duration is true, the duration is returned in seconds. Convert to hours (divide by 3600) for display. |

Quick Reference

| Tool Slug | Description | |-----------|-------------| | FRESHBOOKS_LIST_BUSINESSES | List all businesses for the authenticated user | | FRESHBOOKS_LIST_PROJECTS | List projects with filtering and sorting for a business |

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