qbo

Field-tested on QBO custom reports in a logged-in Chromium-family browser on 2026-05-06.

Fast Path

For clean QBO custom-report PDFs, use the visible QBO export flow, then save the PDF blob directly:

1. Open the saved custom report.
2. Set the visible date inputs, then click refresh-report.
3. Set the required report expansion state.
4. Click QBO report toolbar Export -> Export to PDF.
5. Wait for the generated blob:https://qbo.intuit.com/<uuid> PDF target.
6. Fetch that blob from the QBO page origin and write the bytes locally.
7. Validate with pdftotext when report content matters.

Do not use CDP Page.printToPDF for QBO reports. It prints the surrounding QBO shell, not the clean report body. Do not use the native Save as PDF sheet unless the QBO PDF blob is unavailable.

Browser Attachment

• Use the real logged-in browser profile that has the QBO session.
• If that session is in a non-default Chromium browser, start it with a known remote-debugging port and pass BU_CDP_URL or BU_CDP_WS to Browser Harness.
• Computer Use is only a fallback for native OS sheets, visual confirmation, or unexpected QBO UI blockers. It is not part of the normal fast path.
• After a browser restart, QBO may restore a stale report tab. Always read the visible report period before exporting.

Example attachment pattern for a dedicated browser endpoint:

BU_NAME=qbo BU_CDP_URL=http://127.0.0.1:9223 browser-harness -c 'print(page_info())'

Report State

• Custom reports list route: https://qbo.intuit.com/app/customreports.
• Saved custom report builder routes look like /app/report/builder?rptId=sbg:<uuid>&type=user.
• Date fields are normal visible inputs. Their format follows the QBO/user locale; one tested locale used dd.mm.yyyy.
• After setting dates, click the report toolbar refresh-report.
• Verify report readiness from visible text: <report name> report is ready.
• QBO can move toolbar buttons when the report width/state changes. Locate Export from the current screenshot/DOM instead of reusing old coordinates.

Compact Menu

Use the report toolbar Compact dropdown. It commonly contains:

• Compact View
• Normal View
• Expand All
• Collapse All

For a summary PDF with one visible grouping layer, choose Collapse All, then expand the top report group manually. Verify summary rows are visible and transaction-detail rows are not.

For a detailed PDF, choose Expand All and verify transaction rows are visible.

Useful post-state check:

rows = js("""
return Array.from(document.querySelectorAll("table tr, [role=row], div"))
  .map(r => r.innerText.trim().replace(/\s+/g, " "))
  .filter(Boolean)
  .slice(0, 200)
""")

PDF Export

• QBO Export -> Export to PDF produces the clean report PDF.
• This path may not fire a normal Chromium Browser.downloadProgress event, so Browser.setDownloadBehavior alone is not enough.
• QBO opens an in-page PDF modal using Chromium's built-in PDF viewer. The actual report PDF appears as a child blob:https://qbo.intuit.com/<uuid> target.
• The modal's Save as PDF button can open a native OS save sheet. Avoid that by fetching the blob directly.
• Fetching the blob too early can return no value; wait briefly after clicking Export to PDF.

Blob-save template:

import base64, json, os, time

def latest_qbo_pdf_blob():
    blobs = [
        t["url"]
        for t in cdp("Target.getTargets")["targetInfos"]
        if t.get("url", "").startswith("blob:https://qbo.intuit.com/")
    ]
    return blobs[-1] if blobs else None

def save_qbo_pdf_blob(out_path, timeout=30):
    deadline = time.time() + timeout
    blob = None
    while time.time() < deadline:
        blob = latest_qbo_pdf_blob()
        if blob:
            break
        wait(0.5)
    if not blob:
        raise RuntimeError("QBO PDF blob did not appear")

    wait(2)  # let the PDF viewer finish loading the blob
    meta = js(f"""
    return fetch({json.dumps(blob)}).then(async r => {{
      const b = await r.blob();
      const ab = await b.arrayBuffer();
      const u8 = new Uint8Array(ab);
      let s = "";
      for (let i = 0; i < u8.length; i += 0x8000) {{
        s += String.fromCharCode(...u8.subarray(i, i + 0x8000));
      }}
      window.__qbo_pdf_b64 = btoa(s);
      return {{
        ok: r.ok,
        status: r.status,
        type: b.type,
        size: b.size,
        b64len: window.__qbo_pdf_b64.length
      }};
    }});
    """)
    if not meta or meta.get("type") != "application/pdf":
        raise RuntimeError(f"unexpected QBO blob metadata: {meta}")

    parts = []
    for i in range(0, meta["b64len"], 8000):
        parts.append(js(f"return window.__qbo_pdf_b64.slice({i},{i + 8000})"))

    out_dir = os.path.dirname(out_path)
    if out_dir:
        os.makedirs(out_dir, exist_ok=True)
    pdf = base64.b64decode("".join(parts))
    with open(out_path, "wb") as f:
        f.write(pdf)
    return {"path": out_path, "size": len(pdf), "blob": blob}

End-to-end outline:

# 1. Use screenshot/DOM to click report toolbar Export.
# 2. Click menu item "Export to PDF".
# 3. Save the latest QBO PDF blob.
save_qbo_pdf_blob("/abs/output/report.pdf")

Validation

Use local PDF tools for high-confidence runs:

pdfinfo /abs/output/report.pdf
pdftotext /abs/output/report.pdf -

Checks that catch common failures:

• PDF header starts with %PDF.
• pdftotext includes the expected report title and date range.
• Summary exports include the expected summary rows.
• Detailed exports include transaction-date/detail rows.
• The text does not include QBO shell/navigation labels, which indicates Page.printToPDF was used accidentally.