Quickstart

Quickstart Guide

Welcome to Rutter's Quickstart Guide!👋 If you're eager to explore our API, we've prepared a Postman collection where you can test queries, view responses, and understand our API's capabilities without writing a single line of code.

Run in Postman

Step 1: Create a Rutter account

If you haven't already, head over to our sign up page to create a developer account.

Step 2: Get your API keys

To begin, you'll need to acquire your credentials from the Rutter Dashboard. These credentials will authenticate your requests and grant you access to our API's functionality.

Get your API keys from the API Keys page
- client_id
- client_secret
Get your connection access token from the Connections page

In order to make an API request and access data on a given platform, such as fetching the chart of accounts from a QuickBooks instance, you'll need to have an access token. This is a unique identifier that Rutter creates every time a new connection is made. If you have 3 users, each of whom connects to their own QuickBooks instance, each one of those connections will have a different access token.

Sandbox Mode - Our Sandbox mode provides access to pre-configured accounting platforms with sample data. If you're working in Sandbox mode, you can copy the access token from any available sandbox connection. Simply head to the Connections page. Then, click on the three dots on the right-hand side of the connection you wish to test and select "Copy Access Token".
Production Mode - Production mode gives you access to all of Rutter's platforms and capabilities. If you require access to a full production environment, please fill out the production access form. Then, you'll need to create a connection first. Once the connection is established, you can retrieve the access token.
Click on the three dots on the right-hand side of the connection you wish to test and select "Copy Access Token".

Step 3: Make some API calls

With your API keys and access token in hand, you're ready to start making API calls. We offer two convenient methods to explore our API endpoints.

Option 1: Run Postman Collection
Option 2: Run cURL commands

Option 1: Run Postman Collection

The Postman collection provides pre-formatted requests for many of Rutter’s API endpoints, so you can easily test API queries. All you have to do is fill in your API keys and any desired parameters.

Fork the Postman Collections & Environments

Download our Postman Collection: If you don't have Postman installed, you can sign up for a free account.
Fork the Collections: Here, you'll find a collection of API Endpoints. Select the desired collection and create a fork to make it available in your workspace.
Fork the Environments: Here, you'll find pre-configured environments for Rutter's Sandbox and Production modes. Select the appropriate environment and create a fork to make it available in your workspace.

Configure the Environment in Postman

Configure Environment Variables: Open the forked environment configuration and enter your client_id, secret, and access_token. Paste the values into both the Initial value and Current value fields in Postman.
Select the correct Environment: Before making API calls, ensure that you have selected the correct environment from the dropdown menu in the top right in Postman.
Start making API calls: With your environment configured and the correct collection selected, you're ready to start exploring Rutter's API endpoints. Simply select the desired request from the collection, fill in any required parameters, and send the request.

Option 2: Run cURL commands

If you prefer working with command-line tools, you can use cURL to send API requests and receive responses.

Authorizing Requests

When making an API request to the server, Rutter expects your client_id and client_secret to be Base64 encoded within the Authorization header. The header is formed by concatenating the word Basic, followed by a space ( ), followed by a Base64 encoded string with your credentials formatted as client_id:client_secret.

Authorization: Basic base64({client_id}:{client_secret})

Example sandbox cURL:

bash

1curl "https://sandbox.rutterapi.com/versioned/accounting/accounts?access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>" \
2  -H "X-Rutter-Version: 2024-08-31" \
3  -H "Authorization: Basic <YOUR_ENCODED_CLIENT_ID_AND_CLIENT_SECRET>"

Example production cURL:

bash

1curl "https://production.rutterapi.com/versioned/accounting/accounts?access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>" \
2  -H "X-Rutter-Version: 2024-08-31" \
3  -H "Authorization: Basic <YOUR_ENCODED_CLIENT_ID_AND_CLIENT_SECRET>"

You can start exploring different Rutter API endpoints with our API reference.