manage-bills

name	manage-bills
description	Search, inspect, and manage vendor bills and invoices. Use when: 'find a bill', 'show me pending bills', 'bill details', 'look up a bill', 'draft bill details', 'bill attachments', 'what bills need my approval'. Do NOT use for: approving bills (use approval-dashboard), uploading vendor documents (use vendor-document-upload), or card transaction management (use transaction-cleanup).

Manage Bills

Search, inspect, and review vendor bills — submitted, draft, and pending approval — using the ramp CLI.

Non-Negotiables

• Pass --rationale on every command — it is a required field on these agent-tools (a non-empty string, max 1024 chars). With --json, supply it as a "rationale" key in the body. Omitting it returns HTTP 422 (DEVELOPER_INVALID_SCHEMA), in both agent and human modes.
• Deep links: If the response contains a bill_url field, always include it when presenting bill details — it lets the user click through to the Ramp web app. If the field is absent, direct the user to the Ramp bills page instead. Use the URL matching the active CLI environment: https://app.ramp.com/bills for production or https://demo.ramp.com/bills for sandbox. Run ramp env to check the current environment if unsure.
• Bill amounts are in cents. Divide by 100 for display (e.g., 350000 → $3,500.00).
• Bill IDs are UUIDs. Always confirm the correct bill before acting on it.
• Use --agent for machine-readable JSON output when parsing results programmatically.
• These are read-only commands. For approvals, use approval-dashboard. For write operations on drafts, use draft bill commands when available.
• When the agent cannot complete an action (e.g., editing complex bill fields, approving a bill), hand off to the user via the bill_url deep link (if present) or the Ramp bills page.

Workflow

Step 1: Find bills

Start by searching or listing bills to locate the ones the user needs.

# Search by vendor name, invoice number, or payment ID
ramp bills search --query "Acme Corp" --agent --rationale "Search bills for the user"

# List all bills (no query required)
ramp bills list --agent --limit 20 --rationale "List bills for the user"

# Paid bills are included by default; pass --no-include_paid to exclude them
ramp bills search --query "UPS" --agent --rationale "Search bills for the user"

# Paginate through results
ramp bills search --query "Acme" --page_cursor "{cursor_from_previous_response}" --agent --rationale "Search bills for the user"

If the response includes a bill_url field on each bill, present it alongside the bill summary.

Step 2: Get bill details

Once you have a bill ID, pull comprehensive details:

# Full bill details (submitted bills only)
ramp bills get --bill_id "{bill_id}" --agent --rationale "Review bill details"

# Draft bill details (not yet submitted)
ramp bills draft --bill_id "{bill_id}" --agent --rationale "Draft the bill"

The get response includes: amount, currency, vendor info, approval status, payment status, due date, invoice number, line items, accounting field codings, and more. Use this as your primary tool for investigating a bill — it covers status, amount breakdowns, and metadata in a single call.

If the response includes a bill_url field, it is a direct link to the bill in the Ramp web app. The URL routes to the correct page based on bill status (drafts, approvals, or paid).

Step 3: Retrieve bill attachments

# Get invoice file attachments
ramp bills attachments --bill_id "{bill_id}" --agent --rationale "Fetch bill attachments"

Step 4: Pending approvals

# Bills waiting for the current user's approval
ramp bills pending --agent --limit 20 --rationale "Review bills pending approval"

# Paginate through pending bills
ramp bills pending --page_cursor "{cursor}" --agent --rationale "Review bills pending approval"

How to Present Results

Bill search results

Include the deep link on each row when present:

Found 3 bills matching "Acme Corp":

  $3,500.00  Acme Corp       INV-2024-001  Approved   Due 2026-04-15  → <bill_url>
  $1,200.00  Acme Corp       INV-2024-002  Pending    Due 2026-04-30  → <bill_url>
  $  850.00  Acme Corp       INV-2023-012  Paid       Paid 2026-03-01 → <bill_url>

Bill details

When showing bill details, include the deep link if available:

Bill: INV-2024-001
Vendor: Acme Corp
Amount: $3,500.00 USD
Status: Approved — awaiting payment
Due: 2026-04-15
Created: 2026-03-20
Memo: Q1 office supplies
Open in Ramp: <bill_url>          ← include only if bill_url is in the response

Line items:
  1. Printer paper (500 reams)     $2,000.00
  2. Toner cartridges (50 units)   $1,500.00

Pending approvals

5 bills pending your approval ($12,450.00 total):

  $5,000.00  HighSpot        INV-4401    Due 2026-03-28  → <bill_url>
  $3,200.00  Cometeer        INV-882     Due 2026-04-01  → <bill_url>
  $2,500.00  UPS Store       INV-7722    Due 2026-04-05  → <bill_url>
  $1,200.00  Slack           INV-9001    Due 2026-04-10  → <bill_url>
  $  550.00  Canva           INV-3344    Due 2026-04-12  → <bill_url>

If bill_url is not present in the response, omit the link column — do not fabricate URLs.

Deep Link Handoff

When the agent cannot perform an action on a bill — such as approving, editing payment details, or modifying line items — direct the user to complete the action in the Ramp web app:

• If bill_url is present in the response, use it:

  I can't approve bills via the CLI. You can approve this bill directly in Ramp:
    $3,500 HighSpot Invoice #1234 → <bill_url>
  

• If bill_url is not present, direct the user to the environment-appropriate Ramp bills page (https://app.ramp.com/bills for production, https://demo.ramp.com/bills for sandbox):

  I can't approve bills via the CLI. You can find this bill in Ramp at:
    https://app.ramp.com/bills        ← use https://demo.ramp.com/bills for sandbox
  

Always prefer the bill_url from the API response when available — the response URL accounts for bill status and environment. Never fabricate a deep link URL.

Common handoff scenarios:

• Bill approval — not available via CLI
• Editing payment method or schedule — requires the bill pay UI
• Adding or editing line items — complex edits are best done in the app
• Uploading invoice attachments — use the Ramp web app

When NOT to Use

• Approving or rejecting bills — use approval-dashboard
• Uploading vendor documents (W-9, contracts) — use vendor-document-upload
• Transaction receipts — use receipt-compliance
• Editing transaction memos or categories — use transaction-cleanup
• Making payments or releasing funds — not available via CLI

Gotchas

Issue	Fix
Bill amounts are in cents	Divide by 100 for display
Paid bills are included by default	Pass --no-include_paid to exclude them
search returns only submitted bills	Use draft for provisional/unsubmitted bills
get returns 404 for a draft bill	Use ramp bills draft --bill_id instead
Pagination cursor is an encrypted token	Pass the exact next_page_cursor value from the response; never fabricate one
bill_url may be absent or null	Fall back to the environment-appropriate bills page (app.ramp.com/bills or demo.ramp.com/bills) — never fabricate a deep link

Example Session

User: What bills do we have from Acme?

Agent: Let me search for Acme bills.
> ramp bills search --query "Acme" --agent --rationale "Search bills for the user"

Found 2 bills from Acme Corp:
  $3,500.00  INV-2024-001  Approved   Due 2026-04-15  → <bill_url>
  $1,200.00  INV-2024-002  Pending    Due 2026-04-30  → <bill_url>

User: Show me the details on the first one.

Agent: > ramp bills get --bill_id "abc-123-def" --agent

Bill: INV-2024-001
Vendor: Acme Corp
Amount: $3,500.00 USD
Status: Approved — awaiting payment
Due: 2026-04-15
Memo: Q1 office supplies
Open in Ramp: <bill_url>
2 line items, 1 invoice attachment

User: Are there any attachments?

Agent: > ramp bills attachments --bill_id "abc-123-def" --agent

1 invoice attachment:
  acme-invoice-2024-001.pdf (uploaded 2026-03-20)

User: What bills need my approval?

Agent: > ramp bills pending --agent

3 bills pending your approval ($6,700.00 total):
  $3,200.00  Cometeer    INV-882     Due 2026-04-01  → <bill_url>
  $2,500.00  UPS Store   INV-7722    Due 2026-04-05  → <bill_url>
  $1,000.00  Canva       INV-3344    Due 2026-04-12  → <bill_url>

To approve these, use the approval-dashboard skill.

Command Reference

Command	Description	Key params
ramp bills search	Search bills by vendor, invoice number, or payment ID	--query, --limit, --include_paid, --page_cursor
ramp bills list	List bills without a search query	--limit, --include_paid, --page_cursor
ramp bills get	Full details for a submitted bill	--bill_id (required)
ramp bills draft	Details for an unsubmitted draft bill	--bill_id (required)
ramp bills attachments	Invoice file attachments	--bill_id (required)
ramp bills pending	Bills awaiting your approval	--limit, --page_cursor