BambooHR
Connect BambooHR to manage employees and the directory, time off, reports, files, hiring, performance, and time tracking.
You end up with two values: your BambooHR company subdomain, the part before .bamboohr.com, and a personal API key shown once when you generate it.
- Setup time
- 3 min
- Auth
- API credentials
- API base URL
- https://{subdomain}.bamboohr.com/api/v1
- Rate limits
- BambooHR does not publish a numeric limit. It will temporarily disable access and return 403 if an unknown or invalid key is retried repeatedly.
Before you begin
- A BambooHR user account with the API Keys option in the user menu, which is permission-gated
- An admin to generate the key if PopMCP needs full employee, payroll or time-off data, because a key inherits the creating user's permissions exactly
- Your company subdomain from the login URL, for example acme in https://acme.bamboohr.com
Get your credentials
Note your company subdomain
Read the address bar while signed in to BambooHR. In https://acme.bamboohr.com, the acme part is what goes in PopMCP's Company subdomain field.
Open API Keys from your user menu
Click your name in the lower-left corner of any page, then choose API Keys. Account owners can also reach the full list at Settings > Account > API Keys.
API Keys
View and manage every API key connected to this account.
| Key Name | Created By | Created | Last Used | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payroll exportFull Access | Dana Reyes | Mar 4, 2026 | Mar 12, 2026 | Delete |
| Directory syncEmployee Self-Service | Sam Okafor | Jan 9, 2026 | Never | Delete |
Your name sits at the bottom of the left navigation. The API Keys entry lives in that menu.
Add a new key and generate it
Click Add New Key, type PopMCP into API Key Name, then click Generate Key.
API Keys
There is no scope picker. The key inherits your own BambooHR permissions.
Copy the key
Click COPY KEY in the confirmation dialog.
API Keys
Paste both values into PopMCP
Put the subdomain in Company subdomain and the key in API key, then save the connection.
Connect in PopMCP
Open your workspace, choose BambooHR in the marketplace, and fill in the connect dialog:
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Company subdomaintext | The first part of your BambooHR URL: https://<your-company>.bamboohr.com. You can paste the full URL; we'll extract the subdomain. This is the company the MCP is locked to. |
| API keysecret | In BambooHR click your name in the lower-left corner of any page → API Keys → Add New Key. Copy it immediately (it's shown only once). The key inherits your permissions and is sent as HTTP Basic auth. Stored encrypted; used server-side only.Encrypted with AES-256-GCM on save and never shown again. |
PopMCP verifies the credential against BambooHR immediately. On success the connection flips to Verified and its MCP tools are provisioned.
Verify it worked
PopMCP shows the BambooHR connection as Connected and an employee-directory call returns your real roster rather than a 401 or 403.
Troubleshooting
401 Unauthorized
Why: The key was mistyped, or the subdomain does not match the account the key belongs to.
Fix: Check the subdomain against your login URL and generate a fresh key. Keys are per-company and are not portable.
403 Forbidden and it was working before
Why: BambooHR temporarily disables access when an unknown or invalid key is retried repeatedly.
Fix: Stop calling, wait for the block to lapse, then reconnect with a valid key.
Some employees or fields are missing
Why: The key inherits the permissions of the person who generated it.
Fix: Have an admin generate a replacement key and reconnect PopMCP with it.
I closed the dialog without copying the key
Why: BambooHR never redisplays a key value after generation.
Fix: Delete the unused key from the API Keys list and add a new one, copying it straight away.
No API Keys entry in the user menu
Why: Your BambooHR role does not include API key permission.
Fix: Ask an account owner to grant it, or to generate the key for you.