Your SideQuest setup, seven steps.

Check each step off as you finish it. Your progress saves in this browser, so closing the tab and coming back later picks up where you left off.

• Read the welcome kit

  5 min · what happens in the next 48 hours

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  The welcome kit explains the 48-hour onboarding rhythm, the email you'll receive, and the things to have handy before you click any setup link.

  Open the welcome kit →
• Install the connector and Claude Desktop (free tier is enough)

  5 min · one Terminal command, plus the free Claude Desktop app

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  Unzip the connector folder from your welcome email. In Terminal, cd into the folder and run bash install-connector.sh. The installer pauses for your license key partway through. Paste from the welcome email, press Return.

  The free Claude Desktop app is the only Anthropic product you need. Download from claude.ai/download, sign in with email or Google. No API key, no paid plan, no subscription.

  Open setup steps →
• Create your QuickBooks and Gmail credentials

  15 min · free Intuit Developer + free Google Cloud project

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  You sign in to developer.intuit.com and grab a Client ID and Client Secret. Then sign in to console.cloud.google.com, enable the Gmail API, and download an OAuth client_secret.json. Both accounts are free.

  Open setup steps →
• Run the setup wizard

  5 min · sidequest reauth-qb plus the Gmail OAuth dance

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  In Terminal, drop your Intuit Client ID and Client Secret into ~/.qb-distributor-mcp/.env, then run sidequest reauth-qb. It walks the QB OAuth dance, mints a refresh token, writes it to .env, and auto-reinjects into Claude Desktop's config. Then run the Gmail OAuth dance per Step 3 of the quick start (the "+ Add secret" workaround in Google Cloud applies). v0.15.13+ rotates the QB refresh token automatically from here on; no more periodic re-auths.

  Open setup steps →
• Wire the connector into Claude Desktop

  3 min · paste JSON into claude_desktop_config.json, restart Claude

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  Step 4 of the quick start covers this. After Step 3 (sidequest reauth-qb) your QB credentials are already in claude_desktop_config.json. For Gmail credentials and any custom .env values you added, run ~/.qb-distributor-mcp/venv/bin/python ~/.qb-distributor-mcp/reinject.py from any Terminal. Quit Claude Desktop with Cmd+Q (not just close the window) and reopen it. You should see SideQuest Automation in the MCP tool list at the bottom-right of the compose box.

  Open setup steps →
• Upload your cross-reference list (optional)

  15 min one-time · biggest match-quality lever

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  A CSV with four columns: customer_id, customer_part, internal_sku, notes. Maps each customer's part numbers to your QB SKUs. The connector remembers forever. Most distributors upload 100-300 mappings on Day 1 and see Day-1 match rate jump from 85% to 99%.

  If you skip this step, SideQuest still works. It asks you to confirm matches on the first few orders from each customer until it learns.

  See the format →
• Process your first live PO

  2 min · label a PO, ask Claude, submit to QB

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  Take the next real PO email. Add the purchase-orders Gmail label. In Claude Desktop, ask: "List my incoming purchase orders and draft an estimate for each one." Claude calls the connector tools, shows you the draft inline, and gives each one a qbd://drafts/<id> reference. Edit by chat ("change line 2 to qty 10"), then ask Claude to submit draft <id> to QuickBooks. The Estimate appears in QB. Reply to the customer manually with the QB Estimate number.

  That's the whole loop. Every PO from now is the same three steps.

  Open the live-run steps →

Where to go from here