panda-create-user

name	panda-create-user
description	Create a demo user and company on local Panda via curl. Authenticates against the local dev server, submits the demo account form, and returns login credentials. Use when the user asks to create a local user, demo account, demo company, or needs a test account on local Panda.

Panda Create User

Create a demo account on the local Zenpayroll dev server via curl.

Prerequisites

• Local server must be running (bin/server)
• Server accessible at http://app.gusto-dev.com:3000

Workflow

Step 1: Authenticate

Run the auth script to get a session cookie:

bash ~/.cursor/skills/panda-create-user/scripts/get-auth-token.sh

This logs in as [e-mail] and saves cookies to /tmp/gusto_cookies.txt.

Verify output shows Login successful.

Step 2: Create Demo Account

Run the create script with the saved cookies:

bash ~/.cursor/skills/panda-create-user/scripts/create-demo-account.sh

The script accepts optional arguments to customize the account:

Argument	Default	Options
--state	CA	Any US state abbreviation
--benefits	external	external, hi, new_plans
--employees	1 (yes)	1 (multiple) or 0 (single)
--skip-contractors	0 (no)	1 (skip) or 0 (include)
--no-payrolls	not set	flag to skip generating payrolls

Example with options:

bash ~/.cursor/skills/panda-create-user/scripts/create-demo-account.sh --state NY --benefits hi --employees 0

Step 3: Verify

The script prints success/failure. The demo account is created asynchronously via Sidekiq, so it may take 30-60 seconds to fully populate.

The user can log into the demo company at http://app.gusto-dev.com:3000/login using the payroll admin email shown on the Panda demo accounts page with password password5.

Troubleshooting

• Server not running: Start with bin/server from the zenpayroll root
• Auth fails: Server may need rails db:migrate or the Colima VM may need restarting (colima stop gusto && colima start gusto)
• Port 3000 in use: Kill the process with lsof -ti :3000 | xargs kill
• Cookie file missing: Re-run Step 1 to get fresh cookies