# Approve ClockShark timesheets before payroll

> Your agent checks each ClockShark timesheet for alerts, approves the clean ones and pulls CSV Export totals so payroll gets locked hours.

Source: https://cotlet.dev/integrations/clockshark-api-mcp-server/approve-weekly-timesheets

Monday morning, before the payroll run, a ClockShark manager opens Time > Approvals, scans last week for red exceptions and ticks the clean timesheets. Anyone with a missing clock out or a geofence alert has to be opened and checked first, and only then do the hours go to payroll.

Cotlet does it in your own ClockShark account with list\_time\_entries, approve\_timesheets and export\_time\_csv, called by your AI agent, an n8n workflow or a script.

[Request access](https://cotlet.dev/app/signup?app=clockshark) [All ClockShark tools](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/clockshark-api-mcp-server)

Hosted · nothing to install or maintain

Official options

## Can ClockShark do this on its own?

ClockShark has no public API for timesheet approvals, and its Zapier integration has no approve action (checked 10 Oct 2026). The ClockShark help center (checked 12 Oct 2026) describes approving on the web only: Time > Approvals, or the Day, Week and Pay Period timesheet views. Built-in payroll integrations push hours to partners such as QuickBooks, ADP and Gusto. Nothing in ClockShark approves only the timesheets without alerts, or lists who is still open before the export.

By hand

## How you do it in ClockShark today

1. An admin turns approvals on once: Admin > Company Settings > Payroll and Overtime to select a Pay Period, then Timesheets > Enable Timesheet Approvals and Save.
2. Go to Time > Approvals and use the drop-downs above the table to pick the day, week or pay period; filter by approval status, department, location or employee.
3. Open each employee row that shows red exceptions on the View Timesheets page and read the alert, such as Missing Out or Weekly Overtime Alert, before deciding.
4. Click the checkmark next to the Status column for one timesheet, or tick the boxes of several and click Approve.
5. Run Reports > CSV Export for the same range, or export to a payroll integration. Both show a warning when shifts are unapproved, and the integration export lets you ignore it and send the hours anyway, so unapproved time still reaches payroll if nobody reads it.
6. The same review repeats every pay period for every employee, and one red exception on a long crew list is easy to scroll past.

With an agent

## How to approve ClockShark timesheets before payroll

Prompt

```
Approve last week's ClockShark timesheets for everyone without alerts, hold back the rest, and give me the CSV Export totals for payroll.
```

1. 01  
### Read the whole period, alerts included  
The agent calls list\_time\_entries for the pay period you name, unapproved shifts only. It groups the shifts by employee and splits the crew into clean timesheets and flagged ones.
2. 02  
### Hold back anyone with an open question  
An employee with Missing Out, Unscheduled Time, Out of Bounds or Location Tampering on any shift stays out of the batch. Overtime alerts are not mistakes, so by default those timesheets are approved and the overtime hours are listed for you to see.
3. 03  
### Approve the clean ones in one call  
approve\_timesheets gets only the clean employee IDs and the exact first and last day of the period, so a week that is still running stays open. If ClockShark refuses because approvals are off, the agent stops and points you to Admin > Company Settings instead of trying again.
4. 04  
### Pull the payroll totals and cross-check  
export\_time\_csv for the same range gives paid, regular, overtime and double time minutes. The agent turns minutes into hours per person and compares them with the hours the approval returned, so a shift added after the review shows up as a difference.
5. 05  
### Report what is left  
Held-back employees come back with the day, the job and the alert, so you can fix those shifts and ask for a second pass that approves the rest.

### What you get back

Example data

```
Pay period 5 to 11 Oct: 14 employees, 12 approved
Held back: Mike Torres, Thu 9 Oct, Missing Out on 42 Oak Street
Held back: Jen Park, Tue 7 Oct, Out of Bounds clock in at Elm Ave
Overtime approved: Luis Ortega 1.5 h, Dana Reed 3.0 h
CSV Export: 468.5 paid h, 464.0 regular, 4.5 overtime, 0 double time
Download link ready for payroll
```

### Other ways to ask

- Approve this pay period for the framing crew only and send me the CSV Export link.
- Every Monday at 7 am, approve last week for everyone without alerts and tell me who is still open.
- Unapprove Luis Ortega for Thursday so I can fix his job, then approve the week again.
- Export last pay period as CSV with timesheet notes and tell me who worked double time.

Before you automate it

## What ClockShark allows, and what to know first

- ClockShark timesheet approvals depend on a Pay Period chosen under Admin > Company Settings > Payroll and Overtime, and the Enable Timesheet Approvals box is an admin setting.
- A ClockShark manager can approve only with Approve Timesheets ticked in Manager Settings, and only for the employees assigned to them; administrators reach every employee.
- An approved ClockShark day is locked for edits: it has to be unapproved, changed and approved again.
- When an employee logs a shift inside a ClockShark period that is already approved, the shift gets an Unapproved Time alert.
- ClockShark CSV Export carries an Approved status column per shift and shows a warning when the chosen date range still holds unapproved shifts.

approve\_timesheets changes only your own ClockShark data and reach no one else, so it runs without asking first.

Sources: [ClockShark: How to use timesheet approvals](https://help.clockshark.com/how-to-use-timesheet-approvals) · [ClockShark: Using alerts, notifications and reminders](https://help.clockshark.com/using-alerts-notifications-and-reminders) · [ClockShark: Roles and manager permissions](https://help.clockshark.com/using-roles-and-manager-permissions) · [ClockShark: CSV Export report](https://help.clockshark.com/csv-export-report)

REST

## Call approve\_timesheets from a script

curl

```
curl https://cotlet.dev/api/v1/clockshark/approve_timesheets \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $COTLET_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"employee_ids":["e_48213","e_48219"],"from":"2026-10-05","to":"2026-10-11","action":"approve"}'
```

Example response

```
{
"approved": 2,
"period": {
"from": "2026-10-05",
"to": "2026-10-11"
},
"timesheets": [
{
"employee_id": "e_48213",
"paid_hours": 41.5,
"overtime_hours": 1.5,
"status": "approved"
},
{
"employee_id": "e_48219",
"paid_hours": 38,
"overtime_hours": 0,
"status": "approved"
}
]
}
```

MCP: add https://cotlet.dev/mcp/v1 with the same key; the tool is clockshark\_approve\_timesheets. Example data.

[Schedule it in n8n, Make, Zapier or cron](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/clockshark-api-mcp-server#automations)

Tools

## ClockShark tools this automation uses

__Cotlet ClockShark tools used to approve ClockShark timesheets before payroll__
| Tool | Parameters |
| ------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------- |
| list\_time\_entries | from, to, employee\_ids, approval\_status, with\_alerts\_only |
| approve\_timesheets | employee\_ids, from, to, action |
| export\_time\_csv | from, to, employee\_ids, include\_notes |

[All 15 ClockShark tools with descriptions](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/clockshark-api-mcp-server#tools)

## More ClockShark automations

- [Fix missed clock outs in ClockShark every morning](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/clockshark-api-mcp-server/fix-missed-clock-outs)
- [Schedule a crew on a new job in ClockShark](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/clockshark-api-mcp-server/schedule-crew-shifts)
- [Approve ClockShark time off requests against the schedule](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/clockshark-api-mcp-server/approve-time-off-requests)
- [ClockShark API and MCP server: every tool](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/clockshark-api-mcp-server)
- [All use cases](https://cotlet.dev/use-cases)

## Give your agent access to ClockShark.

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[Request access](https://cotlet.dev/app/signup?app=clockshark)