bamboohr-cli

Command-line interface for the BambooHR API. 17 commands across 4 domains — employees, time off, files, and metadata.

Install

npm install -g bamboohr-cli

Setup

Set two environment variables in your shell profile:

export BAMBOO_TOKEN="your-api-token"           # BambooHR > Settings > API Keys
export BAMBOO_COMPANY_DOMAIN="mycompany"        # the subdomain in mycompany.bamboohr.com

Commands

All commands output JSON. Add --pretty to pretty-print.

employee

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | bamboohr employee get [id] | Get employee by ID (defaults to current user) | | bamboohr employee search [query] | Search employees by name, supervisor, department, location, division | | bamboohr employee directory | Get the full company directory | | bamboohr employee photo <id> | Download employee photo (--size: original, large, medium, small, xs, tiny) | | bamboohr employee goals <id> | Get performance goals (--status: open, closed, all) |

timeoff

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | bamboohr timeoff types | List time off types (--requestable to filter) | | bamboohr timeoff create [employeeId] | Create a time off request (defaults to current user) | | bamboohr timeoff requests | List requests (--status, --start, --end, --employee, --type) | | bamboohr timeoff balance [employeeId] | Estimate time off balance (--end to project to future date) | | bamboohr timeoff whos-out | View who's out today and upcoming | | bamboohr timeoff update-status <requestId> | Approve, deny, or cancel a request |

file

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | bamboohr file list | List all company files and categories | | bamboohr file get <fileId> | Download a company file |

meta

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | bamboohr meta fields | List all available BambooHR fields | | bamboohr meta departments | List all departments | | bamboohr meta locations | List all office locations | | bamboohr meta divisions | List all divisions |

Pagination

List commands accept --limit to control page size. Responses include a nextPage token — pass it back as --offset to fetch the next page. When nextPage is null, there are no more results.

Examples

# Look up your own employee record
bamboohr employee get

# Find someone by name
bamboohr employee search "Jane"

# Filter by supervisor (use "me" for your direct reports)
bamboohr employee search --supervisor me

# Download a photo
bamboohr employee photo 123 --output ./photo.jpg --size large

# Check who's out this week
bamboohr timeoff whos-out

# Request a day off
bamboohr timeoff create --start-date 2026-04-20 --end-date 2026-04-20 --type-id 83 --amount 1

# See pending requests for approval
bamboohr timeoff requests --status requested --start-date 2026-01-01 --end-date 2026-12-31

# List available fields for custom queries
bamboohr meta fields