Where does agent reasoning live in a Ramp or Brex AP flow?
Ramp and Brex are the default AP and corporate card stack for tech companies. They auto-code transactions, run policy at swipe time, route bills to approvers. The hard part is where the AP team's reasoning lives once an agent gets involved. Right now it scatters across approver threads, controller DMs, and a spreadsheet FP&A keeps open in a second monitor. The agent that drafted the GL recode is in none of those places.
Dock sits next to Ramp and Brex and gives the agent a row. Ramp and Brex stay source of truth for cards, transactions, invoices, vendors. Dock holds agent OUTPUT: routing recommendations, policy break reviews, vendor onboarding drafts. Each row carries a ramp_transaction_id or brex_transaction_id pointer. Agents read fresh from the APIs at draft time. The consent gate fires the approval or payment call back ONLY after a human signs off.
One workflow: invoice routing with a multi-approver chain
A vendor invoice lands in Ramp's bill inbox. The policy agent reads it: vendor, amount, the GL code Ramp suggested, the PO it should match. The agent opens a Dock row with columns for the proposed approver chain, the policy checks it ran, and the contract clause it pulled from the vendor file. It writes under its own name. The department head edits the GL code and signs. The controller sees the agent draft and the first signature, and signs the two-key handshake. Only then does Dock call Ramp's approve-bill endpoint with the controller's credential.
Five-step data flow
- Ramp or Brex webhook fires on a new bill. Dock spawns a triage row tagged with the transaction ID.
- Agent reads the transaction, vendor file, and PO via the API. Drafts GL code, approver chain, policy notes.
- Department approver edits and signs. The edit is attributed to the human; the draft stays attributed to the agent.
- Controller reviews the chain and signs the consent gate.
- Dock calls Ramp or Brex with the human credential to post approval or release payment. The row freezes as the audit record.
Why Ramp and Brex specifically
The multi-approver chain is load-bearing. Ramp and Brex model approver routing, but the agent that drafted the recommendation has no seat at that table. Dock gives the agent the seat, with its name on the draft and a column per human signature. Ramp and Brex run hard policy at swipe time. The agent handles soft rules: "this vendor's contract caps monthly spend at 40k, the swipe is fine but cumulative is close." Same pattern as QuickBooks and month-end close.
FAQ
Multi-approver chain? A column per approver stage. The agent drafts. Each human signs their own column. Dock will not hit the approve endpoint until every required signature lands.
Receipt OCR? Ramp and Brex do receipt match. The agent layers on top: pulling line items from the OCR, matching against the PO, flagging mismatches.
GL coding lift? The agent drafts a GL code on every bill from vendor history and the chart of accounts. AP accepts or edits. Bill review goes from minutes to seconds.
Vendor onboarding? The highest-risk gate. Agent drafts the record from the W-9 and contract. Controller signs before Dock pushes the new vendor. No agent creates a vendor unilaterally.
Try the AP workspace
See the accounting overview for the full stack. Open a Dock workspace and point it at your Ramp or Brex account.
Sources: Ramp Developer API v1, Brex Developer Documentation.