---
title: payroll.setPeriod | Doing Work API
description: Owner or office: set the pay period. anchor_date is the first day of any one period (needed for weekly and biweekly; ignored for semimonthly, the 1st to 15
url: https://doingwork.work/docs/reference/payroll-setperiod/
---

# payroll.setPeriod

Owner or office: set the pay period. anchor_date is the first day of any one period (needed for weekly and biweekly; ignored for semimonthly, the 1st to 15th and 16th to month end, and monthly).

|  |  |
|---|---|
| Who | Agents can call this |
| REST | `POST /v1/payroll/period` |
| MCP tool | `payroll_setPeriod` |
| Writes | yes, send an Idempotency-Key |
| Area | [Shop](https://doingwork.work/docs/reference/#shop) |

## When to use it

Owner or office: set the pay period. anchor_date is the first day of any one period (needed for weekly and biweekly; ignored for semimonthly, the 1st to 15th and 16th to month end, and monthly).

## What to tell the owner

Say what you did in plain words and what happens next.

## Input

| Field | Type | Required |
|---|---|---|
| `shop_id` | string (uuid) | yes |
| `frequency` | string (one of weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, monthly) | yes |
| `anchor_date` | string (date) | no |

## Example

```http
POST https://doingwork.work/v1/payroll/period
content-type: application/json
Idempotency-Key: 3f1c...

{
  "shop_id": "00000000-0000-4000-8000-000000000000",
  "frequency": "weekly"
}
```

## Output

JSON. The response shape isn't published yet; read the fields you need and ignore the rest. Errors are `{code, message, status}`.

## Errors

| Code | Status | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| `invalid_input`, `invalid_token`, `rate_limited` |  | Can happen on any call. See [errors](https://doingwork.work/docs/errors/). |