When Gather and QuickBooks Online are both connected to Claude, you can work across the two in a single chat. Claude can read your project, specification, and purchase order information in Gather, compare it with your estimates, invoices, and reports in QuickBooks, and help you keep them in sync.
What you'll need
Gather connected to Claude. If you haven't set this up yet, see Connect Gather to Claude.
A QuickBooks Online account, with access to the company you want Claude to work with.
A Gather account on a Core or Core Plus plan.
Connect QuickBooks in Claude
Open Settings in Claude.
Under Customize, select Connectors.
Select Browse connectors and search for QuickBooks.
Select the Intuit QuickBooks connector, then select Connect.
Sign in with your Intuit account and choose the QuickBooks company Claude should use.
You can also start from a chat: click the + sign, hover over Connectors, then select Add connector and Browse connectors.
If you use Claude through a work account, your administrator may need to allow the QuickBooks connector first.
Use both in the same chat
Start a New chat.
Click the + sign and hover over Connectors.
Turn on both Gather and Intuit QuickBooks.
Claude can now pull information from one and use it in the other. Name the Gather project and the QuickBooks customer in your request so Claude knows which records belong together.
Here's a list of a few example prompts:
Turn approved items into an estimate or invoice
Claude can gather the approved items from a project, match them to customers and products in QuickBooks, and draft an estimate or invoice for you to review.
Take everything Approved in the Clover Tower project and draft a QuickBooks estimate for Clover Tower, with one line per item at client price, using our existing QuickBooks products.
Create a deposit invoice for 50% of the approved furniture on The Zinnia project, using our existing QuickBooks products.
Claude will tell you if a customer or product doesn't exist in QuickBooks yet and can create it with your confirmation. If you'd rather keep your product list as it is, ask Claude to use your existing QuickBooks products, as in the prompts above.
Reconcile orders against what you've billed
Comparing purchase order pricing with what was invoiced is one of the most time-consuming parts of closing out a project. Claude can do the side-by-side for you.
Compare every purchase order on Barlow Street with what we've invoiced the client in QuickBooks, and list anything ordered but not billed.
Which items on The Zinnia have a different price on the purchase order than on the QuickBooks invoice?
Compare what we've paid suppliers on Clover Tower orders with what the client still owes us in QuickBooks.
Check budgets and balances before a client meeting
How is the Clover Tower budget tracking in Gather, and what does the client still owe in QuickBooks?
Give me a one-page summary of The Zinnia: budget vs. spend, open orders, and overdue invoices.
Look at the bigger picture
Compare our FF&E sales this quarter in QuickBooks with the projects we had in procurement in Gather.
Which clients have the most open invoices, and which of their Gather projects are still in progress?
Tips for best results
Start with a question before asking for changes. Ask Claude to show you what it found, then ask it to create the estimate or invoice once the list looks right.
Keep names consistent. Matching works best when your Gather client and project names closely match your QuickBooks customer names.
Review before you approve. Claude asks for confirmation before creating or changing records. Take a moment to check amounts, quantities, and the customer before approving.
Check the invoice number. QuickBooks numbers a new invoice from the last one you created, so if you use a prefix per project, check the number before you send it.
Match your tax rate. Make sure the tax rate on your Gather project matches the rate set up in QuickBooks so totals line up. QuickBooks may calculate sales tax from the customer's address.
Treat checks as a starting point. Claude can make mistakes, and the same question can bring back slightly different findings. Spot-check what it reports against Gather and QuickBooks before you act on it.
A few things to keep in mind
Claude works with each service through its own connector. It reads from one and writes to the other while you chat, rather than keeping the two in sync in the background.
QuickBooks' connector for Claude doesn't support creating supplier bills yet, so bills from your Gather purchase orders still need to be entered in QuickBooks directly.
Payments recorded on Gather orders are for tracking only and don't move money or post to QuickBooks. Claude can compare them with QuickBooks so you can spot differences.
If you'd like invoices to flow from Gather into QuickBooks directly, you can also use Export an Invoice to QuickBooks.
Information from both services becomes part of your Claude conversation and is handled according to Anthropic's and Intuit's policies. Check with your accountant before relying on Claude for accounting decisions.