> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://help.swarmia.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://help.swarmia.com/settings/integrations/hr-systems/bamboohr.md).

# BambooHR

Swarmia connects directly to BambooHR over OAuth to sync time off and match employees to Swarmia contributors.

## Why use the direct integration

* **No third-party data processor.** Swarmia reads from BambooHR directly, so your HR data doesn't pass through an intermediate vendor.
* **Same data, same product impact.** Approved time off feeds into developer effort metrics, FTE counts, investment balance, capitalization, and the work log.

## Requirements

* **Swarmia admin.** Connecting BambooHR requires a Swarmia admin in your organization.
* **BambooHR admin with a Swarmia account.** The person who completes the connection has to be a BambooHR administrator and have a Swarmia account, because the flow starts in Swarmia and ends with the OAuth consent step in BambooHR.
* **Work email on every employee.** Swarmia matches BambooHR employees to Swarmia contributors by their BambooHR *work email*. Employees without a work email won't sync, and their time off won't show up in Swarmia.

## Connect BambooHR

1. Go to **Settings** → [**HR system**](https://app.swarmia.com/settings/hr-system).
2. In the BambooHR row, click **Connect**.
3. Enter your BambooHR subdomain — the part before `.bamboohr.com` in your BambooHR URL. For example, if you sign in at `https://yourcompany.bamboohr.com`, the subdomain is `yourcompany`.
4. Click **Connect**. You'll be redirected to BambooHR to authorize the connection.
5. Approve the requested access. Swarmia requests three OAuth scopes:
   * `employee:contact` — to read work email for matching.
   * `time_off` — to read time off requests.
   * `offline_access` — to keep the connection alive without re-authorization.
6. After approval, you're redirected back to Swarmia. The status flips to **Connected** and the initial sync starts in the background.

The initial backfill usually completes within a few minutes.

## What Swarmia syncs

### Time off

* All time off entries from the last **2 years** through the next **1 month**, refreshed every **24 hours**. Entries already synced stay even after they age past the 2-year window.
* Only **approved** time off is used in product views. Requested, canceled, and other statuses are stored but never shown in metrics or the work log.
* **Time off type isn't read.** Swarmia doesn't fetch or store the category of a time off entry — vacation, sick leave, parental leave, and anything else are all treated the same.

### Employee data

* **Work email only.** Swarmia uses it to match each BambooHR employee to a Swarmia contributor.

Swarmia doesn't read names, addresses, compensation, or any other employee fields.

## Where the data shows up

* **Developer effort metrics** — approved time off reduces a person's available days, so effort scores reflect when people are actually working.
* **FTE counts** — feed into [investment balance](/features/focus/balance-engineering-investments.md) and [software capitalization](/features/capitalize-software-development-costs.md) reports.
* **Work log** — time off appears when work log is grouped by author.

See [Developer effort (FTEs)](/definitions/developer-effort-ftes.md) for how time off factors into the calculation.

## Check the connection status

The [HR system settings](https://app.swarmia.com/settings/hr-system) page shows the current status of the integration:

* **Connected** — the integration is healthy and syncing.
* **Disabled** — the integration has been turned off.

If BambooHR rejects a token refresh, Swarmia retries automatically before flagging the connection for re-authorization.

## Disconnect or reconnect

There's no in-product disconnect button yet. If you need to disconnect or reconnect BambooHR, [contact support](mailto:support@swarmia.com).

## Related

* [HR systems overview](/settings/integrations/hr-systems.md)
* [Upload time off data via CSV](/settings/integrations/hr-systems/upload-time-off-data-via-csv.md) — alternative when a direct integration isn't an option.
* [Time off API](/settings/integrations/swarmia-apis/time-off-api.md) — push time off into Swarmia programmatically.
* [Developer effort (FTEs)](/definitions/developer-effort-ftes.md)


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