Ramp is corporate spend management with cards, bills, and reimbursements in one platform. Connecting Ramp to clariBI surfaces every dollar your team spends so finance questions get answered against the source of truth.
Why connect Ramp
Manual spend reports lag actual transactions by days or weeks. Ramp through clariBI is real-time. Ask "What is YTD travel spend by department?" or "Which vendors saw the biggest spend growth this quarter?" and the AI engine pulls the answer directly.
Spend categorization stays with Ramp. clariBI reads what Ramp has classified and folds it into broader analyses (revenue per dollar of spend, headcount-adjusted spend ratios, and so on).
How the connection works
clariBI talks to Ramp through its hosted MCP server at https://ramp-mcp-remote.ramp.com/mcp. 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 Ramp
U->>C: Click Authorize with Ramp
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 Ramp 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 Ramp cannot modify data on the vendor side.
The exact tool inventory depends on the Ramp features your account has access to. After connecting, try a few natural-language questions to see what Ramp data clariBI can pull.
Data flow during analysis
When you ask a question that maps to Ramp, 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 Ramp
U->>C: Ask a question about corporate spend data
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 Ramp card.
- Click Authorize with Ramp.
- Sign in to Ramp 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 transactions, users, departments, and balances. Cards cannot be issued, transactions cannot be created, and no money can move. Disconnect from your Ramp dashboard or from clariBI Settings.
Troubleshooting
| Error | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| "Insufficient permissions" | Your Ramp role does not include API access. | Ask your Ramp admin to grant your user the appropriate role, or have them complete the connection. |