ConnectWise Manage Product Catalog

Overview

The ConnectWise Manage product catalog is the master list of everything an MSP sells — hardware SKUs, software licenses, managed service subscriptions, bundles, and service offerings. Catalog items are the building blocks that flow into quotes, opportunities, sales orders, agreement additions, and ticket charges. Getting the catalog right drives accurate quoting, consistent billing, and clean COGS/margin reporting.

This skill covers the full catalog item schema, the supporting lookup entities (categories, subcategories, manufacturers, product types, unit of measure), and the workflows for the most common MSP scenarios.

Anti-triggers

• Pricing a deal for a customer — catalog items are the SKU master list; the priced, versioned document a customer actually receives is a ConnectWise CPQ quote. Use connectwise-cpq-quotes.
• Line items on an existing quote — adding, repricing or removing a line happens on the quote, not the catalog; use connectwise-cpq-quote-items.
• Another vendor's catalog — Autotask products and Kaseya Quote Manager SKUs share this vocabulary; use autotask-product-catalog or kaseya-quote-manager-quotes.

API Endpoints

Base:         /procurement/catalog
Categories:   /procurement/categories
Subcategories: /procurement/subCategories
Manufacturers: /procurement/manufacturers
Product types: /procurement/productTypes
Unit of measure: /procurement/unitOfMeasures
Product class: /procurement/productClasses

Available MCP tools (connectwise-manage-mcp):

Tool	Purpose
cw_search_catalog_items	Search catalog items with CW conditions syntax
cw_get_catalog_item	Fetch one catalog item by ID
cw_create_catalog_item	Create a new catalog item (common fields + extraFields passthrough)
cw_update_catalog_item	JSON Patch update against an existing item
cw_list_catalog_categories	List categories
cw_list_catalog_subcategories	List subcategories (filter by category/id=N)
cw_list_manufacturers	List manufacturers

Product Class

productClass is the single most important field because it drives downstream billing, inventory, and agreement behavior.

Class	Use For	Behavior
NonInventory	Software licenses, pass-through charges, most SaaS	No stock tracking, cost = last-purchased or fixed
Inventory	Physical hardware you stock	Tracks on-hand, reorder points, cost layers
Bundle	Parent SKU composed of child SKUs	Expands into components at quote time
Service	Labor-based services, project service items	Maps to work roles, billable on tickets
Agreement	Recurring managed-services line items	Drives MRR additions on agreements

Rule of thumb for MSPs:

• Per-endpoint managed services (RMM, EDR, backup) → Agreement
• M365 / Google Workspace licenses you resell → NonInventory (or Agreement if billing monthly)
• Switches, firewalls, desktops you physically hold → Inventory
• Project engineering hours, onboarding fee → Service
• "Small Business Bundle" that rolls up RMM + EDR + backup → Bundle

Complete Catalog Item Field Reference

Core Identity

Field	Type	Required	Description
id	int	System	Auto-generated ID
identifier	string(60)	Yes	Unique SKU / part number (your internal code)
description	string(50)	Yes	Internal-facing short description
customerDescription	string	No	Customer-facing description (shows on quotes/invoices)
notes	string	No	Internal notes (not customer-visible)

Classification

Field	Type	Required	Description
category	object	No	{id: categoryId}
subcategory	object	Yes	{id: subcategoryId} — CW requires this
type	object	Yes	{id: typeId} — product type
productClass	enum	No	NonInventory / Inventory / Bundle / Service / Agreement
serializedFlag	boolean	No	Track by serial number (hardware)
serializedCostFlag	boolean	No	Per-unit cost tracking
phaseProductFlag	boolean	No	Eligible as a project phase product

Pricing & Cost

Field	Type	Required	Description
cost	decimal	No	Your cost
price	decimal	No	Sell price
priceMethodFlag	string	No	Markup_Flat, Markup_Percent, Gross_Margin, Price_Flat
costFlag	string	No	Billable, DoNotBill, NoCharge
taxableFlag	boolean	No	Subject to sales tax

Vendor & Supply

Field	Type	Required	Description
manufacturer	object	No	{id: manufacturerId}
manufacturerPartNumber	string	No	MPN (not your SKU — the mfr's part number)
vendor	object	No	{id: vendorCompanyId} — a company flagged as a vendor
vendorSku	string	No	Vendor's SKU for reordering

Inventory

Field	Type	Required	Description
unitOfMeasure	object	No	{id: uomId} — Each, Box, Hour, Month, License, etc.
minStockLevel	int	No	Reorder threshold
ianCode	string	No	Inventory account number (GL)
upc	string	No	UPC barcode

Lifecycle

Field	Type	Required	Description
inactiveFlag	boolean	No	Retired from active sale
specialOrderFlag	boolean	No	Not normally stocked
buyingEveryFlag	boolean	No	Continuous purchase

Passthrough Pattern: extraFields

The cw_create_catalog_item tool surfaces ~11 common fields directly as typed Zod params. For any field not in that list (e.g. manufacturerPartNumber, unitOfMeasure, upc, minStockLevel, serializedFlag), use extraFields:

{
  "identifier": "DELL-OPTI-7010",
  "description": "Dell OptiPlex 7010 Desktop",
  "subcategoryId": 12,
  "typeId": 3,
  "cost": 849.00,
  "price": 1199.00,
  "categoryId": 5,
  "manufacturerId": 17,
  "productClass": "Inventory",
  "taxableFlag": true,
  "customerDescription": "Dell OptiPlex 7010 - i5/16GB/512GB SSD",
  "extraFields": {
    "manufacturerPartNumber": "OPT7010-i5-16-512",
    "unitOfMeasure": { "id": 1 },
    "vendor": { "id": 9823 },
    "vendorSku": "DELL-7010-BSTOCK",
    "minStockLevel": 2,
    "serializedFlag": true,
    "ianCode": "1400-INV-HW"
  }
}

extraFields is merged into the POST body verbatim — anything the CW /procurement/catalog POST endpoint accepts will work.

Common MSP Recipes

Recipe 1: Hardware SKU (Inventory)

{
  "identifier": "FW-MERAKI-MX67",
  "description": "Meraki MX67 Firewall",
  "subcategoryId": 8,
  "typeId": 2,
  "productClass": "Inventory",
  "categoryId": 3,
  "manufacturerId": 24,
  "cost": 495.00,
  "price": 795.00,
  "taxableFlag": true,
  "extraFields": {
    "manufacturerPartNumber": "MX67-HW",
    "unitOfMeasure": { "id": 1 },
    "serializedFlag": true,
    "minStockLevel": 1
  }
}

Recipe 2: Software License / SaaS (NonInventory)

{
  "identifier": "M365-BP",
  "description": "M365 Business Premium",
  "subcategoryId": 21,
  "typeId": 5,
  "productClass": "NonInventory",
  "cost": 22.00,
  "price": 28.50,
  "taxableFlag": false,
  "customerDescription": "Microsoft 365 Business Premium - per user/month",
  "extraFields": {
    "unitOfMeasure": { "id": 7 }
  }
}

Recipe 3: Managed Service / MRR line item (Agreement)

{
  "identifier": "MSP-WKST-MGD",
  "description": "Managed Workstation",
  "subcategoryId": 30,
  "typeId": 9,
  "productClass": "Agreement",
  "cost": 18.00,
  "price": 75.00,
  "customerDescription": "Fully Managed Workstation - RMM, EDR, patching, backup",
  "extraFields": {
    "unitOfMeasure": { "id": 7 },
    "ianCode": "4100-REC-MSP"
  }
}

Recipe 4: Project Service / Labor (Service)

{
  "identifier": "SVC-PM-HR",
  "description": "Project Management - hourly",
  "subcategoryId": 45,
  "typeId": 11,
  "productClass": "Service",
  "cost": 85.00,
  "price": 195.00,
  "extraFields": {
    "unitOfMeasure": { "id": 3 },
    "phaseProductFlag": true
  }
}

Updating Catalog Items (JSON Patch)

Use cw_update_catalog_item with JSON Patch ops. CW Manage is strict about patch syntax — reference fields use /id paths.

Common patch patterns

Adjust price:

[{ "op": "replace", "path": "price", "value": 29.95 }]

Retire a SKU:

[{ "op": "replace", "path": "inactiveFlag", "value": true }]

Change manufacturer:

[{ "op": "replace", "path": "manufacturer/id", "value": 42 }]

Update customer description + cost atomically:

[
  { "op": "replace", "path": "customerDescription", "value": "M365 Business Premium (annual commit)" },
  { "op": "replace", "path": "cost", "value": 21.00 }
]

Search Patterns

Catalog search uses standard CW conditions syntax.

All active hardware from one manufacturer:

conditions=manufacturer/id=17 and inactiveFlag=false and productClass="Inventory"

SKUs with a specific prefix:

conditions=identifier like 'M365-%'

Items missing a manufacturer (data hygiene):

conditions=manufacturer=null and inactiveFlag=false

Price-list export — active NonInventory:

conditions=productClass="NonInventory" and inactiveFlag=false
orderBy=identifier asc

Recently updated:

conditions=_info/lastUpdated>=[2026-01-01T00:00:00Z]

Best Practices

1. SKU conventions matter — pick a pattern (VENDOR-PRODUCT-VARIANT) and stick to it. Catalog bloat from inconsistent SKUs is the #1 reason CW quote selection gets painful.
2. Always set productClass — default CW behavior when it's missing is rarely what MSPs want. Bundles and agreement items especially must be classified correctly or they won't expand / won't roll up MRR.
3. subcategory and type are required — look them up first with cw_list_catalog_subcategories and cache the IDs. Don't hardcode.
4. Separate description from customerDescription — internal SKU naming (short, searchable) vs customer-facing (descriptive, marketing-friendly).
5. Retire, don't delete — set inactiveFlag=true instead of deleting. Historical quotes, tickets, and invoices reference the item by ID.
6. Bundle children must exist first — create the component SKUs before the bundle parent, or the bundle creation will fail.
7. GL account (ianCode) on agreement items — this is what flows to accounting. Missing ianCode on Agreement class items is a common source of bad financial reports.
8. Keep cost current — margin reporting uses the catalog cost at quote time unless the quote has its own override. Stale cost = lying margin.

Pitfalls & Error Handling

Symptom	Cause	Fix
SubCategory is required	Missing subcategory.id	Include subcategoryId on create
Type is required	Missing type.id	Include typeId on create
Duplicate identifier	SKU already exists	Search first; or use cw_update_catalog_item
Bundle won't expand on quote	Child SKUs missing or productClass wrong on parent	Confirm parent is productClass: "Bundle" and children exist
Agreement addition doesn't bill	productClass is NonInventory instead of Agreement	Patch productClass to Agreement
Price not applying on quote	priceMethodFlag overrides fixed price	Set priceMethodFlag: "Price_Flat" if you want the catalog price to stick
Serial prompt won't appear	serializedFlag=false	Patch to true
Cost shows $0 on reports	cost never set, relying on last-PO	Set an explicit cost value

Related Skills

• ConnectWise Tickets — using catalog items as ticket product charges
• ConnectWise Projects — phase products and project service items
• ConnectWise API Patterns — query syntax, JSON Patch, pagination