Give Claude full access to your BambooHR — employees, time off, hiring, benefits, training, and more.

A Model Context Protocol server that connects Claude to BambooHR. Install once, then talk to your HR data in plain English — no dashboards, no manual exports.

"Who's out next week?"
"Onboard Sarah Chen starting Monday — Engineering, reports to Maria."
"Show training compliance for the Sales team."
"Approve all pending PTO requests for my team."
"What's our average time-to-fill for engineering roles?"

What's included

🔧 74 MCP Tools Full BambooHR API coverage across 11 modules — employees, time off, time tracking, ATS, benefits, training, goals, reports, webhooks, files, and metadata.

📦 Zero-deploy setup Ships as an npx-runnable package. Add two lines to your Claude config and you're done.

🎭 30 Role-Based Skills Pre-built workflows for HR admins, managers, recruiters, employees, payroll, L&D, and automation admins — organized by who uses them.

🔌 Works everywhere Claude Desktop, Claude Code CLI, or any MCP-compatible client.

Quickstart

Step 1 — Get your BambooHR API key

1. Log in to BambooHR
2. Click your profile icon (top right) > API Keys
3. Click Add New Key, name it, and copy it

Your subdomain is the prefix in your BambooHR URL — e.g. acme from acme.bamboohr.com.

Step 2 — Add to Claude Desktop

Edit your config file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bamboohr": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "bamboohr-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "BAMBOOHR_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here",
        "BAMBOOHR_SUBDOMAIN": "your-company-subdomain"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop.

Step 3 — Or add to Claude Code (CLI)

claude mcp add bamboohr \
  -e BAMBOOHR_API_KEY=your-api-key-here \
  -e BAMBOOHR_SUBDOMAIN=your-company-subdomain \
  -- npx -y bamboohr-mcp

Step 4 — Verify

Open Claude and ask: "Show me the BambooHR employee directory"

Available Tools

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | bamboohr_get_employee | Get an employee record by ID | | bamboohr_list_employees | List all employees in the directory | | bamboohr_create_employee | Create a new employee | | bamboohr_update_employee | Update employee fields | | bamboohr_get_updated_employee_ids | Get IDs of recently changed employees | | bamboohr_get_company_info | Get company account details |

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | bamboohr_get_time_off_types | List all leave types | | bamboohr_get_time_off_policies | List all time-off policies | | bamboohr_get_time_off_requests | Get requests by date range, status, employee | | bamboohr_create_time_off_request | Submit a time-off request | | bamboohr_update_time_off_request_status | Approve, deny, or cancel a request | | bamboohr_get_time_off_balance | Get leave balances for an employee | | bamboohr_get_whos_out | See who is out during a date range | | bamboohr_assign_time_off_policies | Assign policies to an employee |

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | bamboohr_get_timesheet_entries | Get clock/hour entries | | bamboohr_clock_in / bamboohr_clock_out | Record clock events | | bamboohr_create_hour_entries | Submit hour entries | | bamboohr_list_break_policies | List break policies | | bamboohr_list_employee_break_availability | Check break availability |

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | bamboohr_list_job_summaries | List all job openings | | bamboohr_create_job_opening | Create a new job opening | | bamboohr_create_candidate | Create a candidate record | | bamboohr_get_job_applications | Get applications for a job | | bamboohr_get_applicant_statuses | List pipeline stages | | bamboohr_update_applicant_status | Move a candidate to a new stage | | bamboohr_add_application_comment | Add a note to an application | | bamboohr_get_hiring_leads | List available hiring leads | | bamboohr_get_company_locations | List company locations |

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | bamboohr_get_company_benefits | List all benefit plans | | bamboohr_get_employee_benefits | Get an employee's enrollments | | bamboohr_get_benefit_coverages | List coverage tiers | | bamboohr_get_benefit_deduction_types | List deduction types | | bamboohr_get_employee_dependents | List an employee's dependents | | bamboohr_create_employee_dependent | Add a dependent | | bamboohr_get_member_benefit_events | Get benefit life events |

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | bamboohr_list_reports | List all saved reports | | bamboohr_run_report | Run a report by ID | | bamboohr_list_datasets | List available datasets | | bamboohr_get_dataset_fields | Get fields for a dataset | | bamboohr_query_dataset | Query a dataset with filters |

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | bamboohr_get_training_categories | List training categories | | bamboohr_get_training_types | List training types/courses | | bamboohr_create_training_type | Create a training type | | bamboohr_get_employee_trainings | Get an employee's training records | | bamboohr_create_training_record | Assign training to an employee | | bamboohr_update_training_record | Update a training record |

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | bamboohr_list_goals | Get goals for an employee | | bamboohr_get_goals_aggregate | Get goal summary/stats | | bamboohr_create_goal | Create a performance goal | | bamboohr_update_goal_progress | Update percent complete | | bamboohr_close_goal / bamboohr_reopen_goal | Close or reopen a goal | | bamboohr_get_goal_status_counts | Get goal status breakdown |

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | bamboohr_list_webhooks | List all webhooks | | bamboohr_get_webhook | Get webhook details | | bamboohr_create_webhook | Create a new webhook | | bamboohr_update_webhook | Update a webhook | | bamboohr_delete_webhook | Delete a webhook | | bamboohr_get_webhook_logs | View delivery logs | | bamboohr_get_webhook_monitor_fields | List monitorable fields |

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | bamboohr_get_employee_files | List files for an employee | | bamboohr_get_employee_file | Download a specific file | | bamboohr_upload_employee_file | Upload a file to an employee | | bamboohr_delete_employee_file | Delete an employee file | | bamboohr_get_company_files | List company-level files | | bamboohr_create_employee_file_category | Create a file category |

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | bamboohr_get_fields | List all employee fields | | bamboohr_get_tabular_fields | List tabular fields | | bamboohr_get_users | List BambooHR user accounts | | bamboohr_get_countries | List countries | | bamboohr_get_states | List states for a country | | bamboohr_get_list_field_details | Get options for a list field | | bamboohr_update_list_field_values | Add/update list field options |

Skills — Role-Based Workflows

Skills are pre-built prompts that handle common HR workflows end-to-end. Copy them to ~/.claude/skills/ to use them in Claude Code.

# Install all skills at once
cp -r skills/* ~/.claude/skills/

🗂️ HR Admin

For the people running day-to-day HR operations.

| Skill | Try saying... | |-------|--------------| | onboard-employee | "Onboard Sarah Chen starting Monday in Engineering" | | offboard-employee | "Process termination for Bob Lee, last day is Friday" | | bulk-update-records | "Update all Engineering employees to the Austin office" | | manage-documents | "Show me Jane Doe's employee files" | | sync-org-changes | "Move Alex to the Platform team reporting to Maria" | | audit-employee-data | "Find all employees missing a work email" |

📈 HR Manager / HRBP

For strategic HR visibility, analytics, and reporting.

| Skill | Try saying... | |-------|--------------| | headcount-report | "Headcount report by department" | | workforce-snapshot | "Give me a workforce snapshot" | | run-custom-report | "Run a report of all employees in California" | | performance-overview | "Performance overview for the Engineering team" | | new-hire-trends | "Show new hires for Q1 2025" |

🎯 Recruiter / Talent Acquisition

For managing job openings, candidates, and hiring pipelines.

| Skill | Try saying... | |-------|--------------| | post-job-opening | "Post a Senior Engineer role in Austin, TX" | | review-pipeline | "Review the pipeline for the Product Manager role" | | advance-candidate | "Move Jane Smith to the Final Interview stage" | | hiring-velocity-report | "What's our average time-to-fill?" |

👔 Manager / Team Lead

For team-level visibility and day-to-day approvals.

| Skill | Try saying... | |-------|--------------| | approve-time-off | "Review pending PTO requests for my team" | | team-availability | "Who's out next week?" | | team-directory | "Show me my team roster" | | review-team-goals | "Show team goal progress for Q2" | | approve-timesheets | "Review timesheets for last week" |

🙋 Employee Self-Service

For employees managing their own HR needs.

| Skill | Try saying... | |-------|--------------| | request-time-off | "Request 3 days off starting June 10" | | check-leave-balance | "How many PTO days do I have left?" | | update-profile | "Update my home address in BambooHR" | | view-my-trainings | "What trainings am I assigned?" |

💼 Payroll & Benefits Admin

For managing benefits enrollment and compensation data.

| Skill | Try saying... | |-------|--------------| | benefits-status-check | "Check benefits enrollment for John Doe" | | dependent-enrollment | "Add a dependent for Sarah Chen — newborn daughter" | | compensation-audit | "Run a compensation audit for Engineering" |

🎓 Training & L&D

For tracking learning programs and compliance.

| Skill | Try saying... | |-------|--------------| | assign-training | "Assign HIPAA training to all new hires in HR" | | compliance-report | "Training compliance report for Q2" | | manage-catalog | "Show our full training catalog" |

⚡ Automation Admin

For teams integrating BambooHR with other systems via webhooks.

| Skill | Try saying... | |-------|--------------| | setup-webhook | "Create a webhook that fires when job title changes" | | debug-webhook | "Show recent webhook logs for my HRIS sync" | | automation-overview | "What automations are connected to BambooHR?" |

Development

git clone https://github.com/acalder-techpm/bamboohr-mcp
cd bamboohr-mcp
npm install
npm run build

Test locally:

export BAMBOOHR_API_KEY=your-key
export BAMBOOHR_SUBDOMAIN=your-subdomain
node dist/index.js

Interactive testing with MCP Inspector:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector node dist/index.js

Authentication

BambooHR uses HTTP Basic Auth with your API key as the username. This server handles it automatically — just set BAMBOOHR_API_KEY.

Tip: API keys inherit the permissions of the user who created them. Use an Admin user's key for full access, or a limited user's key for read-only integrations.

To create a key: BambooHR > Profile icon > API Keys > Add New Key

Examples

Here are three real-world examples showing how Claude uses this MCP server.

Example 1: Check team availability

You say: "Who's out next week on the Engineering team?"

What happens: Claude calls bamboohr_get_whos_out with next week's date range, then cross-references with bamboohr_list_employees filtered to Engineering. It returns a summary like:

3 people out next week in Engineering:

• Sarah Chen - PTO Mon-Wed
• James Park - Sick leave Monday
• Lisa Nguyen - PTO all week

12 of 15 team members available.

Example 2: Onboard a new hire

You say: "Onboard Maria Torres starting March 17, Software Engineer in Platform, reports to Alex Kim, Austin office."

What happens: Claude calls bamboohr_create_employee with the provided details, then calls bamboohr_assign_time_off_policies to set up standard PTO. It returns:

Created employee record for Maria Torres (ID: 4521)

• Department: Platform
• Job Title: Software Engineer
• Location: Austin, TX
• Supervisor: Alex Kim
• Start Date: 2026-03-17
• PTO policies assigned: Standard PTO, Sick Leave, Company Holidays

Example 3: Training compliance report

You say: "Show me who's overdue on HIPAA training in the HR department."

What happens: Claude calls bamboohr_list_employees to get HR department members, then bamboohr_get_employee_trainings for each to check HIPAA completion status. It returns:

HIPAA Training Compliance - HR Department

2 of 8 team members overdue:

• Tom Rivera - due Feb 15, 2026 (22 days overdue)
• Amy Walsh - due Mar 1, 2026 (9 days overdue)

6 members current. Next renewal due: Jun 2026 (Dana Lee).

Privacy Policy

This MCP server acts as a local bridge between Claude and your BambooHR account. Here is how data is handled:

• No data collection. This server does not collect, store, or transmit any data to third parties. It does not phone home, send analytics, or log to external services.
• Local execution only. The server runs on your machine as a local stdio process. All API calls go directly from your machine to BambooHR's API (api.bamboohr.com).
• Credentials stay local. Your BAMBOOHR_API_KEY and BAMBOOHR_SUBDOMAIN are read from local environment variables and are never persisted, logged, or transmitted anywhere other than BambooHR's API.
• BambooHR's privacy policy applies. Data returned from the BambooHR API is subject to BambooHR's Privacy Policy. This server does not cache or persist any API responses.
• You control access. The API key's permissions in BambooHR determine what data this server can access. Use a limited-permission key to restrict scope.

Support

• Issues: github.com/acalder-techpm/bamboohr-mcp/issues
• Email: [email protected]
• Discussions: github.com/acalder-techpm/bamboohr-mcp/discussions

Contributing

PRs welcome. If you add a new tool or skill, follow the existing patterns in src/tools/ and skills/ and open a pull request with a brief description of the use case.

License

MIT — made with ☕ and Claude.