{"id":1073,"date":"2026-08-10T13:28:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T20:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/embedded.gusto.com\/blog\/?p=1073"},"modified":"2026-08-10T13:28:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T20:28:18","slug":"react-payroll-sdk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/embedded.gusto.com\/blog\/react-payroll-sdk\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Build Payroll with the Gusto Embedded React SDK"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the second post in our series on the Gusto Embedded Payroll SDK.<\/span><\/i> The first post<\/span><\/i><\/a> covered why we built it. This one is for the engineers and PMs who are actively evaluating or starting an SDK build. By the end, you should know where the SDK fits relative to your other options, what it actually gives you out of the box, how to customize it, and what a realistic first few weeks of building look like.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Where the SDK Sits<\/span><\/h2>\n

Gusto Embedded gives you three ways to build payroll: direct API calls, our pre-built embeddable Flows, or the SDK. This isn\u2019t a single decision, but one you can revisit for different parts of payroll as you build. We usually recommend new partners get to market with a pilot rapidly to get early signal from real users. The SDK is the best starting point in most parts of the build, allowing you to move quickly without giving up the customization that makes payroll feel native to your application. If your dev team is proficient in coding with AI, you should be able to use the SDK and our enablement materials to build a comprehensive payroll demo application\u2014or proof of concept that looks native to your application\u2014in a matter of days.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Within the SDK portfolio, we have a spectrum of options that allow you to choose your desired level of customization and level of investment. This was built on the insight that our partners often consider some parts of payroll to be more critical to customize than others, so optionality allows them to optimize for both speed and quality. The nature of the customization may also vary: wanting to bring your own navigation patterns, ensuring consistency in look and feel, or omitting certain data field collection or experiences entirely.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So given this, how do you decide what to use within the SDK? Where a payroll-related workflow is standard and you want to move fast, use the SDK’s pre-built components. Where a workflow touches something core to your product’s identity, like how you present cash flow or handle vertical-specific pay structures, use the SDK’s Hooks to build it yourself on top of our business logic\u2014a headless path that abstracts the API complexity away from your code. The API is always there if you need it, but our goal is to make direct API calls unnecessary for most areas of a complete payroll build.<\/span><\/p>\n

What the SDK Actually Is<\/span><\/h2>\n

The<\/span> Gusto Embedded React SDK<\/span><\/a> (<\/span>@gusto\/embedded-react-sdk<\/span> on npm) is a React component library that wraps our payroll APIs with the business logic, validation, and edge-case handling we’ve built over 15+ years. It ships three ways to consume that logic, and you can mix all three in the same app:<\/span><\/p>\n