How does the FreshBooks plugin for ChatGPT work?

The FreshBooks plugin for ChatGPT is a tool that lets ChatGPT access information about your FreshBooks account. The FreshBooks plugin is built on the Model Context Protocol (MCP), an open standard from OpenAI for connecting AI assistants to external data and tools.

The FreshBooks plugin for ChatGPT gives you answers based on your live FreshBooks data, providing a secure, read-only way to use ChatGPT for finance questions. You can use the plugin to check in on your profit, cash, invoices, clients, and more in plain language, without leaving ChatGPT. 

To get started, open ChatGPT and connect your FreshBooks account to it, then you can begin asking ChatGPT questions, or use any of the suggested prompts below. ChatGPT will only provide information based on your role in the FreshBooks account.

 

Heads Up: If you use Claude, review How does the FreshBooks connector in Claude work? instead.

 

 

Connect FreshBooks to ChatGPT

Connecting ChatGPT to your FreshBooks account will connect it to all active businesses associated with your login. To set up the FreshBooks plugin in your ChatGPT account, you can use a free or paid ChatGPT account through the desktop app or on a web browser with these steps: 

  1. In your ChatGPT account, go directly to the Plugins directory, or select your avatar in the bottom left corner, then select Settings
    1. Under Integrations, select Plugins
    2. Then select Browse directory
  2. Search for FreshBooks in the list of plugins
  3. Next to FreshBooks, select the + Install Plugin button
  4. Enter your FreshBooks login credentials if prompted to
  5. In the list of permissions, if needed, check off the boxes next to each optional permission
  6. Then select Allow Access to authorize ChatGPT to access your FreshBooks account
  7. In your ChatGPT account, FreshBooks will now appear as a connected app in your list of plugins. If needed, select the FreshBooks plugin, then select the FreshBooks App section to review its tool permissions.

 

Once connected, try a prompt from the Prompt Library section to get started. When you start a chat with ChatGPT, you’ll be asked to grant ChatGPT access to your data, you can choose between Allow to have ChatGPT ask each time before accessing your FreshBooks account’s data, or Always Allow so ChatGPT doesn’t ask again after the first time.

Note: If you want to add multiple FreshBooks accounts under different email logins, after connecting your FreshBooks account for the first time, select the plugin to access its settings and then under Connected accounts, select + Connect another account.
 

Prompt Library

With your FreshBooks account connected in ChatGPT, you can begin asking plain-language questions or prompts, similar to how you would ask your bookkeeper, business partner, or a friend. 

To help you get started, you can use the prompt library, organized by use case. Each use case lists prompts you can ask, exactly as written or in your own words, along with the insights you can expect in return. ChatGPT will pull data from your FreshBooks account to answer with numbers grounded in your actual business.

 

Heads Up: ChatGPT can only provide information based on your role in the FreshBooks account. Review What permissions can I assign to my team member? to review what each team member can access from within ChatGPT.

 

Use Case

Example Prompt

What You'll Learn

Billing and Receivables

Invoices, payments, credits - what's paid, what's overdue, what needs a follow-up.

  • What invoices are overdue right now?
  • Who owes me money right now?
  • How much am I currently owed in total, across all unpaid invoices?
  • How old is my oldest unpaid invoice?
  • Which invoices are aging beyond my typical payment terms?
Total outstanding receivables, which clients are behind, and urgency of follow-ups needed.
  • Can you pull up [a client]'s most recent invoice for me?
Specific invoice details (amount, date, status) for a single client.
  • Has [a client] paid off their invoice?
  • Tell me about [a client]'s payment history - are they reliable?
  • What's my client’s average time to pay?
  • How quickly do my clients typically pay invoices?
Whether a specific client has paid, payment patterns, and reliability as a customer.
  • Does [a client] have any credit on file?
Available refunds or credit balances for a client.
  • Do I have any draft invoices sitting around that I should send?
Unsent or incomplete invoices waiting to go out.

Estimates and Recurring Revenue

Pipeline, what's waiting on a decision, what's on autopilot.

  • What estimates are waiting on a decision from a client?
  • Do I have any accepted estimates I haven't converted to an invoice yet?
Pending sales in your pipeline and revenue that's approved but not yet billed.
  • What recurring invoices do I have set up - are they all running smoothly?
Status of recurring revenue; whether automations are active or encountering issues.
  • What's my income pipeline looking like?
Overall view of all pending and recurring revenue combined.

Expenses and Cash Tracking

Spending patterns, duplicates, what's billable back to a client.

  • Am I missing any receipts I should track down for taxes?
Expenses without supporting documentation that could affect tax preparation.
  • Did I get charged twice for anything?
  • Are there any expenses I haven't billed back to clients yet?
Duplicate or erroneous charges, and reimbursable expenses not yet invoiced to clients.
  • Where is most of my money going?
  • What are my biggest spending categories?
Expense breakdown to understand spending patterns and identify cost reduction opportunities.

Clients and Sales

Who you work with and what's selling.

  • Who are my top clients?
  • Which clients bring in the most revenue?
  • Beyond revenue, which clients actually make me the most money after expenses?
Your highest-value customers by revenue.
  • What's selling - which services are bringing in revenue?
Which products or services generate the most income.
  • Is my income too dependent on one client?
Revenue concentration risk; whether business viability rests on too few customers.

Profit and Loss

Revenue, expenses, and profit trends over time.

  • How did my revenue change from last month to this month?
  • How am I doing compared to this same month last year?
Month-over-month and year-over-year revenue growth or decline.
  • How do my expenses this quarter compare to last quarter?
  • What's going on with my expenses lately?
Quarter-over-quarter and period-over-period spending patterns.
  • What's my net profit trend been over the last few months?
  • How much profit did I make last month?
Profitability trajectory and specific monthly profit figures.
  • Did I have any unusual expenses this month?
Spending anomalies or outliers worth investigating.
  • Am I spending more than I'm making?
  • Is my business growing?
Overall business health; whether revenue is outpacing expenses and growth direction.

What You Owe and Cash Flow

Money moving in and out.

  • What's my net cash movement been this month?
Cash inflows vs. outflows; overall liquidity trend for the period.

Business Overview and Health

Financial stability, priorities, and overall business status - what to focus on and how you're doing.

  • What needs my attention today?
  • Anything I should be worried about right now?
  • What should I be paying attention to this week?
High-priority action items, overdue invoices, low cash balances, or other business risks.
  • Do I have seasonal patterns in my revenue?
  • When is my busiest season?
  • Which months bring in the most revenue?
Revenue seasonality - helps with cash flow planning and staffing decisions.
  • How's my business doing?
  • Give me a quick rundown of my business
  • What's my overall financial standing right now?
Snapshot overview of key metrics (revenue, profit, cash, top clients, problem areas).
  • Is my revenue trending up or down over the past year?
  • What's my growth trajectory looking like?
Long-term business trajectory beyond single months or quarters.

 

AI Best Practices and Tips to Get Started

Prompting Best Practices

When using the FreshBooks plugin in ChatGPT, use detailed, structured prompts for best results. Being specific about the data you want to analyze and the insights you’re seeking will help you get more actionable results. When prompting, keep the following in mind: 

  • Always reference FreshBooks - If you’re not using a ChatGPT project or skill to help ChatGPT always referencing your FreshBooks account, you may need to add “in FreshBooks” or “FreshBooks data” to your prompts to ensure ChatGPT is pulling data from your FreshBooks account
  • Be explicit, not vague - Be specific about your desired output, including timelines - the more precisely you explain what you want, the better result
    • Prompts should include a clear business question, a time period, and/or a client’s name (e.g., “Who are my top clients this financial year?” is more specific than “Who matters most?”)
  • Use separate chats for each business - If you have multiple businesses in your FreshBooks account, create a separate chat for each business to prevent ChatGPT from getting mixed up between businesses
  • Ask follow-up questions - Dig deeper into initial findings rather than accepting the first answer, or treat it as a conversation, not a simple prompt
  • Context first, question last - Provide the context upfront and then ask your question at the end

For additional resources, review Prompt Best Practices for ChatGPT. 

 

ChatGPT Tips

If you’re not familiar with ChatGPT, use these resources to make the most of using ChatGPT and FreshBooks together: 

  • Add other plugins - Get more out of the FreshBooks plugin and ChatGPT by using other ChatGPT Plugins to get additional insights
  • Create a ChatGPT project for FreshBooks - Create a project to have focused chats with ChatGPT about your FreshBooks account, eliminating the need to provide context or account information in every new chat
  • Set up custom instructions in ChatGPT - Save your preferences in ChatGPT so it remembers them in future chats, e.g., “I prefer responses in bullet points”, or “Use tables to present my data”
  • Ask ChatGPT to teach you how to use it - Request ChatGPT to walk you through its features, and review these resources: 

 

Manage the FreshBooks Plugin

ChatGPT Troubleshooting

If you’re having trouble using the FreshBooks plugin in ChatGPT, try any of the following troubleshooting options: 

  • Account Details - Make sure you’re signed into the correct FreshBooks account and referencing the correct business if you have multiple businesses
  • Active Connection - Confirm your FreshBooks plugin is still active, and if needed, disconnect and reconnect again
  • Ask ChatGPT - If your data looks off, ask ChatGPT what its logic is, and where the data was pulled from for you to cross-reference in your FreshBooks account
    • If you’ve noticed a discrepancy between your FreshBooks account and what ChatGPT is reporting, reach out to our Support team
  • Financial Data - ChatGPT pulls live data from FreshBooks, if something doesn’t look right, verify the data directly in your FreshBooks account before contacting our Support team
  • Plugin Limitations - The current FreshBooks plugin use cases are limited to what’s listed in Tool Permissions

 

Tool Permissions

The FreshBooks plugin currently utilizes these permissions: 

  • Access to all businesses associated with this account - Lists all active businesses associated with your login
  • View and search information from your FreshBooks account - View basic information, from users on your account, revenue and payables, and connected bank accounts, apps, and integrations, including the following:
    • Core accounting reports - Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet, General Ledger, Trial Balance, and Revenue by Client reports
    • Client management
    • Estimates
    • Expenses
    • Invoicing and payments
    • Recurring invoices
    • Sales and item reporting

Any other permissions not listed above are not available through the FreshBooks plugin currently. For additional use cases you would like to see built, share your feedback directly.

 

You can also opt into these additional permissions coming soon, to save you time from having to disconnect and reconnect in the near future:  

  • Manage your revenue (money in) - Create, edit, and delete invoices, estimates, credit notes, payments, and recurring templates
  • Manage your payables (money out) - Create, edit, and delete expenses and bills
  • Manage your operations - Create, edit, and delete clients, projects, team members, time entries, and billable items
  • Manage Books and Uploads - Create, edit, and delete journal entries

 

Disconnect the FreshBooks Plugin

If you no longer want to use the FreshBooks plugin, you need to disconnect and reconnect it again for troubleshooting, or you want to connect it to a FreshBooks account under a different email login, use these steps: 

  1. In your ChatGPT account, select your avatar in the bottom left corner, then select Settings
  2. Under Integrations, select Plugins
  3. Select the FreshBooks plugin
  4. Then select the Uninstall button. Select Uninstall again to confirm. ChatGPT will no longer be able to access new data from your FreshBooks account moving forward.

 

FAQs

Is my FreshBooks data safe, and is it used to train AI models? 

Your FreshBooks data is never used to train FreshBooks AI models. The FreshBooks-ChatGPT connection is currently read-only and can only read your live data to answer questions, not change data in your account. Your FreshBooks account remains as the source of truth and you stay in control of your data. For more details on OpenAI’s safety and security practices for ChatGPT, review the OpenAI Trust Portal.


Which model of ChatGPT should I use to ask questions about my FreshBooks account? 

We recommend testing different models in ChatGPT and comparing the results to find the one you like the best. Review ChatGPT’s Models to learn more about different models and their capabilities.

FreshBooks