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Gusto CLI

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About

The official command-line interface for Gusto. Bring payroll data into your terminal, automate the work you do every pay cycle—or wire it into the AI agent of your choice.

⚠️ Gusto CLI runs through an AI agent you choose. Data you share with that agent may be processed by the agent's provider under that provider's terms. See Privacy and data handling below before you connect.

What can you do with it

  • Speed up every pay cycle—pull the hours, tips, commissions, bonuses, and reimbursements you already track in other systems and spreadsheets onto a draft payroll, ready for review.

  • Understand your payroll costs—read processed-payroll and ledger data to see what payroll costs you and what's coming up, so you can plan cash flow.

  • Build on top of Gusto—every command emits a stable { ok, data | error } JSON envelope, so it slots cleanly into scripts, CI, and agent workflows.

  • Stay in OAuth-managed scope—auth via standard Gusto OAuth with least-privilege permissions; your Gusto access token stays on your machine.

Installation

The Gusto CLI is built to be driven by an AI agent. We strongly recommend letting one (e.g. Claude Code) install and authenticate it for you.

Recommended — let an agent do it

Paste this prompt into your agent:

Install the Gusto CLI and log me in:
1. Run: curl -fsSL https://cli.gusto.com/install.sh | sh
2. Then run: ~/.gusto/bin/gusto auth login
   Use that full path — the installer adds ~/.gusto/bin to my PATH, but this
   shell won't pick it up until it restarts. This opens my browser for OAuth
   login; I'll complete that step myself.
3. Confirm it worked: ~/.gusto/bin/gusto auth whoami

Manual install

From your terminal:

curl -fsSL https://cli.gusto.com/install.sh | sh
gusto auth login
  • The install script detects your OS, verifies the SHA-256, and installs to ~/.gusto/bin/gusto, adding it to your PATH.
  • gusto auth login opens your browser for OAuth login and stores the token locally.

Note: Restart your shell (or source your profile) after installing so gusto is on your PATH.

Built for agents, too

The CLI ships bundled skills that drop into Claude Code, Cursor, or any agent workspace—prepare a pay cycle's inputs or forecast upcoming payroll cash needs straight from a single chat session.

Privacy and data handling

You run Gusto CLI through an AI agent. When the CLI runs inside an AI agent (for example Claude Code or Cursor), the data you provide to, or route through, that agent—including personal information about you, your business, your employees, and your contractors—may be sent to, processed by, and retained by that agent's provider, under that provider's terms and outside Gusto's control. Choose what you share with the agent accordingly.

How Gusto handles your data. Gusto's collection and use of data accessed through the CLI is described in the Gusto Privacy Notice, which addresses optional AI-powered integrations and third-party AI providers. Connecting authorizes the CLI under least-privilege OAuth scopes; the authorization screen shown at gusto auth login displays Gusto's data-handling notice, and your access token is stored locally on your machine.

Your responsibilities. You are responsible for your own compliance with the privacy and data-protection laws that apply to the data you handle through the CLI, including any employee or contractor personal information you read or process.

Beta software and feedback. The CLI is in beta. Feedback you submit with gusto feedback is shared with Gusto to improve the product; do not include sensitive personal information in feedback text.

Governing terms. Use of the CLI is governed by the Gusto Terms of Service, the Payroll Terms, the Gusto Privacy Notice, and the Gusto CLI Beta Agreement. Business customers subject to data-protection law are also covered by the Employer Data Processing Addendum.

Links

Legal and privacy