Notion holds the documentation, OKRs, project plans, and ad-hoc knowledge for many teams. Connecting Notion to clariBI puts that content one question away.
Why connect Notion
Notion search is fine when you know the page name. Cross-database queries and unstructured "what do we know about X?" questions usually require human navigation.
With Notion connected, you can ask "Summarize the engineering OKRs for this quarter", "Find every meeting note that mentions pricing", or "Show me page activity in the design space last week" and get answers grounded in your workspace content.
How the connection works
clariBI talks to Notion through its hosted MCP server at https://mcp.notion.com/sse. Authentication uses an OAuth flow that clariBI registers itself for (no developer console setup on your side). Tokens stay encrypted server-side and never leave clariBI in clear form.
sequenceDiagram
actor U as You
participant C as clariBI
participant V as Notion
U->>C: Click Authorize with Notion
C->>V: Open OAuth authorization
V-->>U: Grant read access?
U->>V: Approve
V-->>C: Authorization code
C->>V: Exchange code for tokens
V-->>C: Access + refresh tokens
C->>C: Encrypt and store credentials
C-->>U: Connection ready
Available tools
clariBI exposes the read-only Notion tools that the vendor's MCP server publishes at connection time. Write operations (create, update, delete, send, refund) are filtered out by a name-pattern blocklist before any tool reaches the analysis engine, so connecting Notion cannot modify data on the vendor side.
The exact tool inventory depends on the Notion features your account has access to. After connecting, try a few natural-language questions to see what Notion data clariBI can pull.
Data flow during analysis
When you ask a question that maps to Notion, the AI engine routes to the right tool, reads the result, and pairs the answer with a chart you can pin to a dashboard.
sequenceDiagram
actor U as You
participant C as clariBI
participant AI as AI engine
participant V as Notion
U->>C: Ask a question about workspace pages and databases
C->>AI: Plan the analysis
AI->>V: Call the right tool
V-->>AI: Tool result
AI->>AI: Summarize and chart
C-->>U: Answer plus visual
Setting up the connection
- Open Data Sources in the clariBI sidebar.
- Click Add data source.
- Open the MCP Servers tab.
- Click the Notion card.
- Click Authorize with Notion.
- Sign in to Notion in the popup window and grant the requested read scopes.
- Back in clariBI, give your data source a name.
- Click Finish.
Permissions and data access
clariBI requests read access to pages, databases, blocks, and users in the workspaces you select during authorization. No pages, blocks, or database rows can be created or modified. Disconnect from Notion settings or from clariBI Settings.
Troubleshooting
| Error | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| "Page returned but content empty" | Notion access is page-by-page; the integration may not have access to a specific page. | Open the page in Notion, click Share, and confirm clariBI is listed. |