BambooHR Hello World

Overview

Minimal working examples for the three most common BambooHR API operations: fetch the employee directory, get a single employee by ID, and run a custom report.

Prerequisites

• Completed bamboohr-install-auth setup
• BAMBOOHR_API_KEY and BAMBOOHR_COMPANY_DOMAIN env vars set

Instructions

Step 1: Fetch Employee Directory

typescript
import 'dotenv/config';

const COMPANY = process.env.BAMBOOHR_COMPANY_DOMAIN!;
const API_KEY = process.env.BAMBOOHR_API_KEY!;
const BASE = `https://api.bamboohr.com/api/gateway.php/${COMPANY}/v1`;
const AUTH = `Basic ${Buffer.from(`${API_KEY}:x`).toString('base64')}`;

// GET /employees/directory — returns all active employees
const dirRes = await fetch(`${BASE}/employees/directory`, {
  headers: { Authorization: AUTH, Accept: 'application/json' },
});
const directory = await dirRes.json();

console.log(`Company has ${directory.employees.length} employees`);
for (const emp of directory.employees.slice(0, 5)) {
  console.log(`  ${emp.displayName} — ${emp.jobTitle} (${emp.department})`);
}

Directory response shape:

json
{
  "fields": [
    { "id": "displayName", "type": "text", "name": "Display Name" },
    { "id": "jobTitle", "type": "text", "name": "Job Title" }
  ],
  "employees": [
    {
      "id": "123",
      "displayName": "Jane Smith",
      "firstName": "Jane",
      "lastName": "Smith",
      "jobTitle": "Software Engineer",
      "department": "Engineering",
      "location": "Remote",
      "workEmail": "jane@acme.com",
      "photoUrl": "https://..."
    }
  ]
}

Step 2: Get a Single Employee

typescript
// GET /employees/{id}/?fields=firstName,lastName,jobTitle,department,hireDate,workEmail
const empRes = await fetch(
  `${BASE}/employees/123/?fields=firstName,lastName,jobTitle,department,hireDate,workEmail,status`,
  { headers: { Authorization: AUTH, Accept: 'application/json' } },
);
const employee = await empRes.json();

console.log(`${employee.firstName} ${employee.lastName}`);
console.log(`  Title: ${employee.jobTitle}`);
console.log(`  Dept:  ${employee.department}`);
console.log(`  Hired: ${employee.hireDate}`);
console.log(`  Email: ${employee.workEmail}`);

Common employee fields you can request:

| Field | Description | |-------|-------------| | firstName, lastName, displayName | Name fields | | jobTitle, department, division | Position | | workEmail, homeEmail, mobilePhone | Contact | | hireDate, originalHireDate | Dates | | status | Active or Inactive | | employeeNumber, location, supervisor | Org data | | payRate, payType, exempt | Compensation (admin only) |

Step 3: Run a Custom Report

typescript
// POST /reports/custom?format=JSON
const reportRes = await fetch(`${BASE}/reports/custom?format=JSON`, {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    Authorization: AUTH,
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    Accept: 'application/json',
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    title: 'Hello World Report',
    fields: ['firstName', 'lastName', 'department', 'jobTitle', 'hireDate'],
    filters: {
      lastChanged: { includeNull: 'no', value: '2024-01-01T00:00:00Z' },
    },
  }),
});
const report = await reportRes.json();

console.log(`Report: ${report.title} — ${report.employees.length} rows`);
for (const row of report.employees) {
  console.log(`  ${row.firstName} ${row.lastName} | ${row.department}`);
}

Python Equivalent

python
import os, requests
from dotenv import load_dotenv

load_dotenv()
COMPANY = os.environ["BAMBOOHR_COMPANY_DOMAIN"]
API_KEY = os.environ["BAMBOOHR_API_KEY"]
BASE = f"https://api.bamboohr.com/api/gateway.php/{COMPANY}/v1"

# Employee directory
r = requests.get(f"{BASE}/employees/directory",
                 auth=(API_KEY, "x"),
                 headers={"Accept": "application/json"})
directory = r.json()
for emp in directory["employees"][:5]:
    print(f"  {emp['displayName']} — {emp['jobTitle']}")

# Single employee
r = requests.get(f"{BASE}/employees/123/",
                 params={"fields": "firstName,lastName,department,hireDate"},
                 auth=(API_KEY, "x"),
                 headers={"Accept": "application/json"})
print(r.json())

Output

• Employee directory listing with names, titles, and departments
• Single employee detail response
• Custom report with filtered results
• Console output confirming working connection

Error Handling

| Error | Cause | Solution | |-------|-------|----------| | 401 Unauthorized | Bad API key | Check BAMBOOHR_API_KEY value | | 404 Not Found | Wrong employee ID or company domain | Verify ID exists; check BAMBOOHR_COMPANY_DOMAIN | | 400 Bad Request | Invalid field name in request | Check field name list in docs | | Empty employees array | No active employees or permissions | Verify API key has read access |

Resources

• BambooHR Field Names Reference
• BambooHR API Technical Overview

Next Steps

Proceed to bamboohr-local-dev-loop for development workflow setup.