Automate Gusto

Gusto runs payroll, benefits and onboarding for small and growing companies, and its employee and payroll records are what people want to act on. Gusto only gives production API access to apps that pass its partner review, so connecting it today means registering and getting approval for your own app. Once it's connected, describe what you want to your AI assistant, check what it will do, and it keeps running.

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Ideas

What you can automate in Gusto

With a connected Gusto app, you'll be able to describe automations around your company's people and payroll records, such as telling a channel about new hires or sending yourself reminders. These are ready-made starting points. Anything else you can describe works too.

Build your own

Build any Gusto automation you can describe

The ideas above are ready-made starting points, not a fixed list. Describe what Gusto should do in your own words, with your conditions, other apps or an AI step, and your assistant writes it, tests it and runs it on ClickRuntime.

Your own rules
Conditions, thresholds, filters and exceptions, written the way you'd explain them to a colleague.
Any number of apps
One automation can read from one app and update several others. Over 248 apps are ready, and anything with an API works too.
AI where it helps
Summaries, classification, extraction and drafts use ClickRuntime's built-in AI, with no extra key.
On a schedule or on each event
Runs as often as every 5 minutes, or the moment an app sends an event, and keeps track of what it already handled.

For example, ask your assistant

Before each Gusto payroll, compare it to the previous run and alert me if total gross pay changed by more than 10% or any employee's pay changed by more than 20%.

When a payroll is processed in Gusto, add the totals by department to my Google Sheets payroll log.

When a new hire is added in Gusto, create their onboarding tasks in Asana, send them a welcome email through Gmail, and post an intro in our Slack channel.

Setup

Connect Gusto

Gusto has no self-serve API keys. You register your own app in Gusto's developer program, and Gusto must approve it for production before it can reach real company data.

Gusto

HR / Payroll

Create an account at dev.gusto.com and register your own application with the redirect URI https://clickruntime.com/oauth/callback.
Build and test against Gusto's demo environment, which only works with demo data.
Submit the Production Pre-Approval and security review, and wait for Gusto to issue production keys.
In the ClickRuntime dashboard, open Connections, choose Gusto and enter your app's client ID and client secret.

Good to know

Gusto limits that affect automations

Developer keys only work with Gusto's demo environment. Real company data needs production keys, which Gusto issues after its review.
The review takes several weeks and has no fast track, so most companies can't connect Gusto on short notice.
Access tokens are short-lived. ClickRuntime renews them with the refresh token, so automations keep running.

FAQ

Questions about automating Gusto

Why can't I just paste a Gusto API key?

Gusto doesn't offer them. API access goes through an app registered in its developer program, and production access needs Gusto's approval.

Can I try it with my real payroll data straight away?

No. Until Gusto approves your app for production, it can only reach the demo environment with test data.

Will my connection keep working once it's set up?

Yes. Gusto's access tokens are short-lived, and ClickRuntime refreshes them automatically using the refresh token.

Do I need AI for Gusto automations?

Not for plain alerts or reminders. Steps that summarise or rewrite use the AI that comes with every ClickRuntime plan, so you don't need your own AI key.

Is this a Gusto connector for ChatGPT or Claude?

Not for chatting with Gusto data. A chat connector lets your assistant read and change Gusto while you're in the conversation. ClickRuntime is for the work that should happen without you: you set up an automation from the chat once, and it keeps running on a schedule or on each Gusto event.

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