Odoo and Gusto integration

What moves between them

Employee records flow from Odoo into Gusto so payroll rosters stay current with Odoo hires and transfers. GL accounts, cost centers, and job codes from Odoo are read and mapped to Gusto compensation records and earning types. Pay schedules, payroll run data, and compensation records flow from Gusto back to Odoo via webhooks or polling, allowing payroll events to update GL journals and employee records. Contractor and bank account data are read-only from Gusto into Odoo for reconciliation purposes.

How ml-connector handles it

ml-connector stores both credential sets encrypted, presenting Odoo's API key on each REST or XML-RPC call and maintaining Gusto's OAuth2 bearer token, refreshing it every 2 hours or when a call returns 401. Since Odoo lacks webhooks, ml-connector polls employee and GL account tables using write_date timestamps, storing a high-water mark per query to detect only new and modified records. Gusto webhooks are listened to for real-time payroll events; ml-connector validates each webhook signature with HMAC-SHA256 and the subscription verification token. Employee records from Odoo are mapped to Gusto compensation records using job code and cost center fields. Because Gusto is single-company-per-token, ml-connector stores the company UUID and routes all Gusto calls through that token. Rate limits are monitored; ml-connector respects Gusto's 200-req/min rolling window and Odoo's integration user access rules. Every webhook received and every polling cycle carries a full audit trail.

A real-world example

A small accounting firm uses Odoo for invoicing, GL accounts, and employee tracking, and Gusto for payroll and benefits for its own staff of 20 people across two departments. Before the integration, the HR person manually entered new employees from Odoo into Gusto, assigned them to the right cost centers, and reviewed payroll after each run to ensure GL coding matched. With Odoo and Gusto connected, new hires in Odoo are pushed to Gusto automatically with their department and cost center mapped, and payroll webhooks alert the accounting team when runs are processed, letting them reconcile GL accounts without re-keying employee data.

What you can do

• •Sync employees from Odoo to Gusto with job codes, cost centers, and department assignments.
• •Map Odoo GL accounts and analytic accounts to Gusto earning types and company benefits for accurate payroll GL coding.
• •Receive payroll events from Gusto via webhooks and log them to Odoo with signature verification and audit trails.
• •Poll Odoo on a schedule to detect employee and GL account changes incrementally using write_date timestamps.
• •Handle Gusto OAuth2 token refresh, single-company scoping, and Odoo API key authentication transparently.

Questions

Which direction does data move between Odoo and Gusto?

Employee records and GL dimensions flow from Odoo into Gusto so payroll rosters and cost centers align. Payroll run data, pay schedules, and compensation records flow from Gusto back to Odoo via webhooks and polling for GL reconciliation. Contractor and bank account data are read-only from Gusto.

How does ml-connector detect changes in Odoo if it has no webhooks?

ml-connector polls Odoo's employee and GL account tables on a schedule you define, using write_date filters to detect only new and modified records since the last poll. ml-connector stores a high-water mark timestamp per table and continues from there, so every polling cycle processes only changed data.

Does Gusto's single-company-per-token limit affect multi-company setups?

Yes. Each Gusto OAuth token is scoped to a single company, so if you run multiple Gusto companies, ml-connector requires a separate token per company and routes payroll and employee records through the correct token based on the company UUID.