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:

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

4. Review Recently Updated Projects

Check for recent project activity using the updated_since filter.

Steps:

Call FRESHBOOKS_LIST_BUSINESSES to get business_id
Call FRESHBOOKS_LIST_PROJECTS with updated_since set to your cutoff datetime
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

Get the business ID by calling FRESHBOOKS_LIST_BUSINESSES
List projects using FRESHBOOKS_LIST_PROJECTS with the obtained business_id
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 |