Despite Guo's high status, little is firmly established about his background or career except for the years that he served as chancellor—as, unusual for a chancellor, he did not have a biography in either the Old Book of Tang or the New Book of Tang.
According to the table of chancellors in the New Book of Tang, his father was Guo Chufan (郭處範), who at one point served as the secretary general of Zhucheng County (諸城, in modern Weifang, Shandong).
[2] As of 682, late in the reign of Emperor Gaozong, Guo was Huangmen Shilang (黃門侍郎), the deputy head of the examination bureau of government (門下省, Menxia Sheng), when he was given the designation Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingchangshi (同中書門下平章事), making him a chancellor de facto.
After Pei's death, there were a series of official movements involving officials who had tried to defend Pei, and as part of these movements, Guo was stripped of his status as chancellor and made a member of the staff of Emperor Ruizong's crown prince Li Chengqi, but just a month later, he was further demoted to the post of prefect of Yue Prefecture (岳州, roughly modern Yueyang, Henan).
Nothing further about him was recorded in history, although the table of chancellors in the New Book of Tang indicated his grandsons Guo Run (郭潤) and Guo Na (郭納) later served as imperial officials.