Best Practices

Recommended setup

Use a dedicated read-only API token

Generate a Brex API token scoped to read-only access for each resource you need. Avoid reusing tokens across tools — if a token is compromised, a dedicated one limits exposure.

Join Transactions with Users and Departments

Transactions alone don't tell the full story. Use Coupler.io's Join transformation to enrich transaction data with user names and department names for meaningful cost center reporting.

Append data from multiple Brex accounts

If your organization runs more than one Brex account, create a separate source for each API key and use the Append transformation to consolidate everything into one destination table.

Start with a focused date range

For Transactions and Expenses, begin with the current quarter rather than pulling all historical data at once. This keeps your first run fast and lets you validate the data before expanding the range.

Data refresh and scheduling

Refresh Transactions daily

Pending transactions settle over time and amounts can change. A daily refresh ensures your reports reflect settled values and capture new spend promptly.

Refresh Budgets at least weekly

Budget remaining amounts are point-in-time snapshots. For active budget periods, weekly refreshes keep your budget vs. actual reports accurate enough for most finance reviews.

Sync Users and Departments less frequently

These entities change rarely — new hires, offboarding, or restructuring. A weekly or monthly refresh is usually sufficient, saving API calls for the entities that matter more.

Performance optimization

Filter by status in your destination

Rather than filtering at the source, pull all transaction statuses and filter in your spreadsheet or BI tool. This gives you flexibility to switch between pending and settled views without re-running the data flow.

Use Aggregate for summary reporting

If you're building a high-level spend dashboard, use Coupler.io's Aggregate transformation to pre-summarize spend by department, category, or month — reducing the data volume hitting your destination.

Common pitfalls

Don't build reports on pending transactions. Pending amounts are estimates and will change once the transaction settles. Always flag status in your reports and base financial conclusions on settled data only.

Do

• Use separate API tokens for Coupler.io and other integrations

• Join Transactions with Departments for cost center attribution

• Validate your first run before scheduling

• Pull a short date range first to confirm data looks correct

Don't

• Use a single broad-scope admin token across all tools

• Rely on Budget remaining amounts without checking the last sync time

• Set the start date to a year ago on your first run without testing a shorter range first

• Treat draft expenses as final — they may be rejected or edited