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Check Command Line Interface (CLI)

Leverage the full power of Check's platform from the command line.

The Check CLI is a command-line interface for the Check Payroll API. Use it to query payroll data, automate workflows, and integrate Check into your scripts and CI/CD pipelines.

It ships with the same repo as the MCP Server and reuses the same tool functions.

The Check CLI is open source software, licensed under the MIT License, and hosted on GitHub in Check's MCP Server & CLI Repository. You can find source code and detailed CLI documentation in CLI.md.

When to use the CLI vs. MCP

Check CLICheck MCP Server
Best forShell scripts, CI/CD pipelines, one-off lookupsInteractive AI workflows
OutputJSON by default, pipe through jq and Unix toolsAI picks the right tool and interprets results
OverheadMinimal — direct request/responseRequires an MCP-compatible AI client
DebuggingSee exact request and responseAI abstracts the details

Prerequisites

  • Check API Key — Your Check API key. For testing, use your Sandbox key.
  • Python 3.10+ and the uv package manager

Install uv if you don't have it:

# Mac / Linux
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

# Windows
powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex"
  • Git — Needed to clone the repo. Verify with git --version.

Quick start

Clone the repo and install dependencies:

git clone https://github.com/check-technologies/mcp-server-check.git
cd mcp-server-check
uv sync

Set your API key and verify the CLI is working:

export CHECK_API_KEY=your-api-key-here
uv run check --help
📘

uv run check vs check — All CLI commands are run via uv run check. The examples below use check as shorthand for readability. If you prefer, you can create a shell alias: alias check="uv run --directory /path/to/mcp-server-check check"

Exploring commands

The CLI is organized by resource type. Use --help at any level to discover available commands and options:

# See all top-level resource categories
uv run check --help

# See all commands for a resource
uv run check companies --help
uv run check employees --help
uv run check payrolls --help

# See options for a specific command
uv run check employees list --help

Example commands

# List all companies
check companies list

# Get a specific company
check companies get com_xxxxx

# List employees in table format
check employees list --company com_xxxxx --format table

# Preview a payroll before approving
check payrolls preview prl_xxxxx

# Approve a payroll
check payrolls approve prl_xxxxx

# Get W-4 tax parameters for an employee
check tax params list --employee emp_xxxxx

Output formats

The CLI outputs JSON by default. Use the --format flag to change the output:

# Default JSON output
check companies list

# Table format for quick lookups
check employees list --company com_xxxxx --format table

Pipe & compose

JSON output makes it easy to chain with standard Unix tools like jq :

# Extract all employee IDs for a company
check employees list --company com_xxxxx | jq '.results[].id'

# Get a count of active employees
check employees list --company com_xxxxx | jq '.results | length'

# Export employee data to CSV
check employees list --company com_xxxxx | jq -r '.results[] | [.id, .first_name, .last_name] | @csv'

# Find all pending payrolls
check payrolls list --company com_xxxxx | jq '.results[] | select(.status == "pending")'

Access control

The CLI supports the same access control options as the MCP Server. Set these as environment variables before running commands.

# Read-only mode — disables all create, update, and delete operations
export CHECK_READ_ONLY=true

# Limit to specific resource categories
export CHECK_TOOLSETS=companies,employees

# Exclude individual commands
export CHECK_EXCLUDE_TOOLS=create_bank_account

# Combine all three
export CHECK_API_KEY=your-api-key-here
export CHECK_READ_ONLY=true
export CHECK_TOOLSETS=companies,employees
export CHECK_EXCLUDE_TOOLS=reveal_employee_ssn

For more details on access control options, see the MCP Server access control documentation.

Switching to production

By default, the CLI connects to sandbox.checkhq.com. To use production:

export CHECK_API_BASE_URL=https://api.checkhq.com
export CHECK_API_KEY=your-production-api-key

Available commands

The CLI provides full coverage of the Check Payroll API, matching the MCP Server.

Updated about 17 hours ago