Xero scopes by use case

Detailed guidance on the new granular access scopes required for the Xero partnership certification

Checkpoint 5: Scopes, part of the Xero App Partner certification program, requires that apps have the minimal access to data as required by their use case.

To comply, you must define the access scopes you need for your intended use case. During the app review, Xero will ask you to justify your use of scopes and explain why you are accessing the related data.

We have mapped out the Xero scopes that apply to each specific Codat use case in the table below. You will also need these scopes regardless of the use case:

• offline_access
• accounting.settings

About Xero's granular scopes

Xero is replacing its broad OAuth 2.0 scopes — most notably accounting.transactions — with a set of more granular scopes, so your app requests only the data it needs.

If you create a new Xero app on or after March 2, 2026, you must use the new granular scopes from day one. If your app already exists, you can begin requesting the granular scopes from April 2026, and you must complete your migration by September 2027.

Granular scopes aren't applied to existing tokens automatically. Because your app is requesting a different set of permissions, each customer connectionConnection A link between a Codat company and a data source (like an accounting platform). Each connection represents authorized access to pull or push data from that platform. requires fresh, explicit consent, and you'll need customers to reauthenticate with the granular apps.

For full details, see Xero's Granular Scopes FAQs and the announcement post, Upcoming changes to Xero accounting API scopes.

Scopes by Codat use case

Xero Partnership Type	Codat Use Case	Current (broad) Xero Scopes	New granular Xero scopes
Financial Services - Bank FeedsBank Feeds A Codat product that enables automatic synchronization of bank transaction data into a company's accounting software.	Reconciling bank transactions	bankfeeds	bankfeeds
Financial Services - Lending	Lending - Loan qualification	accounting.reports.read accounting.transactions accounting.contacts accounting.attachments accounting.reports.bankstatement.read	accounting.invoices accounting.payments accounting.banktransactions accounting.reports.balancesheets.read accounting.reports.profitandloss.read accounting.contacts accounting.attachments accounting.reports.banksummary.read
Financial Services - Lending	Lending - Invoice finance	accounting.reports.read accounting.transactions accounting.contacts accounting.attachments accounting.reports.bankstatement.read	accounting.invoices accounting.payments accounting.banktransactions accounting.contacts accounting.attachments accounting.reports.balancesheets.read
App Store and Financial Services - Bank FeedsBank Feeds A Codat product that enables automatic synchronization of bank transaction data into a company's accounting software.	Managing expenses	accounting.transactions accounting.contacts accounting.attachments bankfeeds	accounting.banktransactions accounting.contacts accounting.attachments bankfeeds
App Store	Dashboarding	Read-only configuration required. Please work with your implementation specialist to configure scopes.	Read-only configuration required. Please work with your implementation specialist to configure scopes.
App Store	Automating payables	accounting.transactions accounting.contacts accounting.attachments	accounting.invoices accounting.payments accounting.banktransactions accounting.contacts accounting.attachments
App Store	Automating receivables	accounting.transactions accounting.contacts accounting.attachments	accounting.invoices accounting.payments accounting.contacts accounting.attachments
App Store	Integrating commerce data	accounting.journals.read accounting.transactions accounting.contacts	accounting.invoices accounting.payments accounting.banktransactions accounting.journals.read (needs Advanced tier) accounting.contacts
App Store	Managing payroll	accounting.journals.read accounting.transactions	accounting.manualjournals accounting.journals.read (needs Advanced tier)
App Store and Financial Services	Spend Insights	accounting.contacts accounting.attachments accounting.transactions	accounting.invoices accounting.payments accounting.banktransactions accounting.contacts accounting.attachments
App Store and Financial Services	FX Insights		accounting.invoices accounting.payments accounting.banktransactions accounting.contacts accounting.attachments

A note on the Xero Advanced tier

The accounting.journals.read scope is only available to apps on Xero's Advanced tier. If your use case requires it, confirm your Xero subscription level before submitting for certification.