Configure Xero as a data pipeline source ​

Set up Xero as a data pipeline source to extract accounting data, such as invoices, contacts, payments, and chart-of-accounts records, from the Xero Accounting API and sync it to your destination.

Use this guide to review the features and prerequisites, connect Xero as a data pipeline source, configure the pipeline, and understand the supported objects, sync modes, schema handling, sensitive data handling, and limitations.

Features supported ​

The following features are supported when you use Xero as a pipeline source:

• Cloud connectivity: Connects to the Xero Accounting API over https. An on-prem agent isn't required.
• Object-level selection: Choose the supported objects you plan to sync when you configure the pipeline.
• Full sync and incremental sync: Supports full sync and incremental sync.
• Multi-organization support: Each connection syncs one Xero organization. Create a separate pipeline for each organization you manage.
• Schema drift handling: Choose to auto-sync or block newly added fields in the source.
• Field-level data protection: Replicate field values as is or hash sensitive values before they reach your destination.
• Configurable sync frequency: Schedule syncs with time-based or cron-based schedules. The minimum interval is 15 minutes.

Prerequisites ​

Complete the following requirements before you configure Xero as a data pipeline source:

• A Xero account with access to the organization you plan to sync.
• Permission to authorize a third-party application through the Xero OAuth flow.

Supported connection types ​

Xero data pipelines support OAuth 2.0 authentication:

• OAuth 2.0: Authorizes Workato to read data from the Xero organizations your account can access. Workato requests read-only scopes and refreshes access tokens automatically for the life of the connection.

Xero supports OAuth 2.0 as its only authentication method for the Accounting API. Client credentials and custom connections aren't supported, because they don't support the multi-organization model that data pipelines use.

Connect to Xero ​

Complete the following steps to connect to Xero:

Configure the pipeline ​

Complete the following steps to configure Xero as your data pipeline source:

[minute] [hour] [day of month] [month] [day of week]

0 8 * * *

Supported objects ​

Xero data pipelines sync data from the Xero Accounting API. The following tables list the supported objects, grouped by category. Each object syncs as a separate table in your destination.

Child and junction objects appear in your destination as separate normalized tables. You select and schedule each one independently, and the connector reads the parent object to build the rows.

The invoice, credit_note, bank_transaction, purchase_order, quote, and manual_journal objects sync their line items as separate child tables. The invoice, credit_note, and manual_journal line tables also sync their tracking-category assignments as a further child table.

Each child table uses a composite primary key that combines the parent identifier with the child key.

Transactions ​

The following objects describe the financial transactions in your organization and the line items and tracking categories attached to them:

Contacts ​

The following objects describe the contacts in your organization and the groups they belong to:

Accounting settings and reference data ​

The following objects describe the chart of accounts and the reference data that transactions refer to:

Assets and projects ​

The following objects require a specific Xero module or add-on:

Primary keys ​

Root objects use a single-column id primary key. Child and junction tables use a composite primary key that combines the parent identifier with the child key:

Sync modes ​

Xero data pipelines support full sync and incremental sync. The sync mode is fixed for each object, based on whether the object exposes a modification timestamp.

Full sync ​

Full sync reads all available records for an object on each run and replaces the record set in your destination. The pipeline uses full sync for reference objects that provide no modification signal, such as tax_rate, currency, tracking_category, and branding_theme.

Incremental sync ​

Incremental sync reads only the records created or updated since the previous run. Each incremental object tracks its progress using a modification timestamp, which is updated_date_utc for most objects and created_date_utc for bank_transfer. The pipeline stores the highest timestamp it observes and uses it as the starting point for the next run.

Refer to the Supported objects tables to see the sync mode for each object.

Delete tracking ​

Xero doesn't have a native delete log, so the pipeline detects deletions in two ways:

• Source-driven soft delete: Transaction, contact, account, item, tracking category, tax rate, fixed asset, and project objects carry a status, archive, or disposal field. The pipeline reads these fields and sets _workato_is_deleted on the destination row. These objects are marked Yes (soft). Invoices, credit notes, and manual journals are marked deleted when their status is DELETED or VOIDED; purchase orders, quotes, payments, and repeating invoices when their status is DELETED; overpayments, prepayments, and linked transactions when voided; accounts, tracking categories, and tax rates when archived or deleted; contacts when deleted or archived; items when archived; fixed assets when disposed; and projects when closed.
• Destination-inferred delete: Full-sync objects re-read the complete record set on each run. The destination compares each run against the previous one and sets _workato_is_deleted to true for records that are no longer present, so deletions are tracked without a source-side marker. These objects are marked Yes (destination-inferred) in the Supported objects tables.

The user and bank_transfer objects sync incrementally and expose no status or archive field, so the pipeline can't detect deletions for them. These objects are marked No.

Soft-delete detection for manual_journal and linked_transaction is best-effort. Xero's APIs don't provide an unbounded way to request all deleted manual journals or all voided linked transactions, so some source-side deletions may not be returned for the connector to mark.

Schema and data type handling ​

The connector applies specific handling to certain Xero field types when it replicates data to your destination.

Timestamps and dates ​

Xero returns most timestamps in a .NET date format. The connector converts these values to ISO 8601 UTC before writing them to your destination. Date-only fields that have no time component, such as date, due_date, and fully_paid_on_date, are stored as DATE rather than TIMESTAMP.

Multi-currency fields ​

Your organization can enable multi-currency to include currency_code and currency_rate fields on transactions and list enabled currencies in the currency object.

Synthetic columns ​

Workato adds the following synthetic columns to destination tables:

Column name casing in your destination ​

Your destination adjusts column name casing when it creates tables. Snowflake stores column names in uppercase, most destinations store them in lowercase, and BigQuery and SQL Server keep them as the connector emits them.

Sensitive data handling ​

Xero objects can contain personally identifiable information (PII) and sensitive financial data. The following objects commonly contain sensitive fields:

The contact object carries the highest risk, because it includes bank account details, tax numbers, and full contact records. The narration field on manual_journal is free-text and can contain employee names or payment references. Invoices, credit notes, and other transaction objects reference contacts by contact_id rather than storing contact names or email addresses. Hash the sensitive fields on the contact object and join on contact_id to protect this data.

Use the Hash option in field-level data protection during pipeline configuration to protect PII before it reaches your destination. Workato recommends hashing contact and user PII for pipelines operating under the GDPR, the CCPA, or the Australian Privacy Act. Refer to the Configure the pipeline steps for more information.

Limitations ​

The following limitations apply when you use Xero as a data pipeline source:

Multi-currency gains and losses ​

The Xero API doesn't expose unrealized currency gains and losses or bank revaluations as discrete records. Reports that depend on these values can't be reconstructed from the synced data alone.

Subscription and module requirements ​

Certain objects require a specific Xero subscription or enabled module:

If your organization doesn't have access to an object because of its subscription, region, or module enablement, that object's sync fails with a permissions error. Remove the object from the pipeline to sync the remaining objects.

Minimum sync frequency ​

The minimum sync interval is 15 minutes by default.