Connect Xero to Rig

    Sync your Xero accounting data into Rig, so your AI tools can answer finance questions about invoices, payments and cash alongside the rest of your data. There are two ways to connect Xero: a one-click Connect with Xero authorisation, which we always recommend, and a manual Xero Custom Connection for organisations that block the one-click flow. Both sync the same data.

    Which connection to use

    • Connect with Xero (Option A): a one-click authorisation. Free, no developer setup, no keys to paste. This is the right choice for almost everyone.
    • Xero Custom Connection (Option B): a machine-to-machine link set up in Xero's developer portal. It's a paid Xero add-on, billed per organisation, and needs a Client ID and Client Secret.

    Option A: Connect with Xero

    The fastest way to connect. You authorise Rig against your Xero organisation in a popup, and there are no keys or developer setup involved.

    1. In Rig, open Connections in the left sidebar and go to the Sources step.
    2. Search for Xero (it's under Finance) and click the card labelled simply Xero.
    3. Label (optional): if you'll connect more than one Xero organisation, give each a label such as "UK Ltd" so Rig can keep them in separate datasets.
    4. Xero tenant ID (optional): leave blank. Rig discovers it automatically, and you only need it if you authorise more than one organisation in a single connection.
    5. Click Authorize with Xero. A Xero popup asks you to sign in and choose the organisation to connect, then approve the access Rig requests.
    6. Back in Rig, click Test to pull a small sample, then Sync to run the full pipeline.

    Xero handles the sign-in
    Rig authorises through Xero's hosted login, so there's nothing to configure in Xero's developer portal and no secret to store. Rig keeps the connection alive as long as it syncs regularly.

    Option B: Xero Custom Connection

    A Custom Connection is a machine-to-machine link that keeps syncing in the background without anyone needing to log in again. It's a paid Xero add-on, so use it only if Option A doesn't fit your setup.

    Before you start

    • A Xero login that can authorise the organisation you want to connect (a Standard or Adviser user on that organisation).
    • Access to Xero's developer portal at developer.xero.com to create the Custom Connection. Custom Connections are a paid Xero add-on, billed per connection, and each one is tied to a single organisation.
    • By the end you'll have two values to paste into Rig: a Client ID and a Client Secret.

    Step 1: Create a Xero Custom Connection

    1. Sign in at developer.xero.com, open My Apps and click New app.
    2. Choose Custom Connection as the integration type and give it a name such as "Rig".
    3. Enter the authorising user: the email of the person in your Xero organisation who will approve the connection.
    4. Select the read scopes Rig needs. For a read-only sync, choose accounting.transactions.read, accounting.contacts.read, accounting.settings.read and accounting.journals.read.
    5. Create the connection. The authorising user receives an email from Xero and approves it for one organisation.
    6. Open the connection's Configuration tab. Copy the Client ID, then generate a Client Secret and copy it straight away. Xero only shows the secret once.

    Your scopes set the ceiling
    Rig can only request scopes you granted when creating the Custom Connection. If Rig later asks for a scope the connection wasn't created with, Xero rejects the token. Pick all the read scopes you might want up front.

    Step 2: Connect it in Rig

    1. In Rig, open Connections in the left sidebar and go to the Sources step.
    2. Search for Xero and click the Xero (Custom Connection) card.
    3. Custom Connection client ID: paste the Client ID.
    4. Custom Connection client secret: paste the Client Secret.
    5. Scopes (optional): leave blank to use Rig's read-only default, or paste a space-separated subset of the scopes you granted.
    6. Xero tenant ID (optional): leave blank. Rig discovers it automatically, since a Custom Connection has exactly one organisation.
    7. Click Continue, then Test to pull a small sample, then Sync to run the full pipeline.

    What Rig pulls in

    Whichever way you connect, Xero lands in its own xero schema in your warehouse, covering your core accounting records from the Accounting API:

    • Invoices, contacts, payments, bank transactions and credit notes
    • Manual journals, purchase orders, overpayments and prepayments
    • Accounts (chart of accounts), items, tax rates and tracking categories
    • Organisation details and the full journals feed

    Good to know

    • Each connection covers one Xero organisation. To sync more than one, connect Xero again per organisation (add a label so Rig keeps them in separate datasets).
    • A Custom Connection uses machine-to-machine authentication, so the nightly sync never needs anyone to sign in again. There's no token to refresh by hand.
    • With a Custom Connection, treat the Client Secret like a password. If it leaks, generate a new one on the connection's Configuration tab in Xero and update it in Rig.
    • You can disconnect at any time from Connections → Sources in Rig, and remove a Custom Connection in Xero under My Apps.

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