How to integrate with Rippling

If Rippling is your HRIS (Human Resources Information System) and you want Ravio to stay up to date automatically, SFTP is the way to do it. You build one report in Rippling, schedule it to send to Ravio, and your employee data refreshes on its own from then on.

This guide walks through the whole setup, from the Ravio side to the Rippling side. It takes around 30 minutes.

What is SFTP?

SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) is a secure way to move files between two systems over the internet.

📮Think of it like a locked post box. You drop a file in and lock it, and only someone with the right key can open it.

Once it's set up, it behaves like a live integration. Rippling sends a fresh file on your schedule, Ravio picks it up and processes it automatically, and new joiners are mapped to Ravio positions and levels without you doing anything.

Before you start

You'll need:

Admin permissions in Rippling. If you don't have them, share this guide with your Rippling administrator, who can complete the export side for you.
Access to your Ravio integration setup flow. You'll find this under Manage my data > HR system.
Automated exports with SFTP enabled on your Rippling plan. Most plans include it. If the option is greyed out or missing, see the troubleshooting section below.
About 30 minutes. Roughly five minutes on the Ravio side, the rest building the report in Rippling.

It's worth having your IT team on hand for the credentials step, particularly if you'd like to use key-based authentication or file encryption.

How the setup works

There are three stages:

Set up your SFTP connection in Ravio. This gives you the server details and credentials you'll need.
Build and schedule the report in Rippling. A custom employee report, delivered to Ravio's SFTP server on a repeating schedule.
Column mapping. Once your first file lands, Ravio maps your columns and puts the connection live.

Stage 1 – Set up your SFTP connection in Ravio

Step 1 – Choose which data to share

The first screen asks which data should be available in this integration. You can switch off Gender and Date of Birth if you'd rather not share them, though Gender is required for Ravio's Pay Equity module.

With SFTP you're in control of the file contents anyway, so you decide what goes in the export in Stage 2.

Step 2 – Choose your credential type

This is how Rippling will prove who it is when it connects. There are three options, and all three are secure and widely supported:

Password – you set a password, and Rippling uses it to authenticate. This is the simplest option, and it's what Rippling supports out of the box, so it's the one most Rippling customers choose.
RSA key pair – you share the public half of a public/private key pair, and keep the private key to make the connection. More secure than a password. If you ever paste a private key in by mistake, treat it as compromised and generate a new pair. See RFC 3447.

If you're using something not listed, choose Option not listed and we'll look at supporting it.

💡 Your IT team is best placed to decide which suits your business. Password is quickest to set up, but the least secure of the two.

Step 3 – Decide whether to encrypt the file (optional)

Your employee file holds sensitive data, so you may want to encrypt it before it leaves Rippling. Turning this on tells Ravio to expect encrypted data and decrypt it on arrival, and we'll give you a PGP public key to use.

This is optional and worth a conversation with your IT or Compliance team. Note that if you're scheduling the export directly from Rippling, Rippling won't encrypt the file for you, so most Rippling customers leave this switched off.

Step 4 – Save your connection details

On the next screen Ravio gives you everything Rippling needs:

Host: sftp.kombo.dev
Port: 22
Directory: the root directory (/)
Username: unique to your company
File name: employees.csv (or employees.json if you prefer JSON)

The host, port, and directory are the same for everyone. The username and your password or key are specific to you.

⚠️ Copy these details somewhere safe before you move on. Your credentials are hidden once setup is complete, and you'll need them in Stage 2 to configure the Rippling export.

Step 5 – Click Set up integration

This is the step that matters most, and the easiest one to miss. Clicking Set up integration adds your credentials to the SFTP server and starts Ravio listening for your file. Until you click it, nothing you send will be processed.

Stage 2 – Create the employee report in Rippling

Step 6 – Open Reports

Log in to Rippling with your admin credentials. From the dashboard, go to Reports. If you can't see it, use the search bar or look under Apps or Tools.

Step 7 – Create a new custom report

Click + Create report (or New report).
Choose a report type of Employee data.
Choose Custom report so you can pick your own fields and filters.

Step 8 – Choose your fields

Use the field selector to add the columns Ravio needs. The full list is in Ravio's data requirements article, and it's worth working through it as a checklist before you save.

A few fields to pay particular attention to:

Work location – ideally city and country, because benchmarks are location-specific.
Salary, pay currency, pay rate, and pay period – these four together let Ravio calculate an accurate annual salary. Currency and pay period are the two most commonly missed.
Manager ID – this builds your reporting hierarchy, which drives levelling. If Rippling doesn't hold it, talk to your Ravio contact about the alternatives.
Job level, or job grade and job track – however your framework is structured in Rippling.
Lifecycle status and termination date – so employees are removed from Ravio at the right time. Make sure the report includes terminated employees, not just active ones, or leavers will stay in Ravio as active.

Step 9 – Save the report

Click Save and give it a clear name, for example Ravio employees. You can now run it on demand or schedule it.

Stage 3 – Schedule the export to Ravio

Step 10 – Open the scheduling options

Find the report you just created, click the three-dot menu (⋯) next to it, and choose Schedule export, Schedule delivery, or Send report via SFTP. The exact label varies with your Rippling configuration.

Step 11 – Set the schedule

Daily or weekly works best. Daily keeps Ravio closest to your source of truth.
Pick a time of day. Overnight is a good choice, so the file is waiting for you each morning.

Step 12 – Set the delivery method and format

Select SFTP as the delivery method.
Enter the host, port, directory, username, and password from Stage 1.
Set the file format to CSV (or JSON), and tick Include headers.
Name the file employees.csv.

⚠️ Keep the file name the same every time. Ravio maps your columns against a file with a consistent name, so a changing name (employees_march.csv, employees_april.csv) will break the sync.

🧪 Use Test connection. It's the fastest way to confirm your credentials are right.

Step 13 – Activate

Review the schedule and delivery details, then click Activate or Save schedule.

That's the export live. Rippling will now send your report to Ravio automatically on the schedule you set. 🎉

Stage 4 – Column mapping and going live

When your first file arrives, Ravio maps your Rippling column names to the fields in the app. This happens once.

The connection goes through a quality assurance check before it goes live, so there's a short gap between your first file landing and your data appearing.
No action is needed from you. We'll get in touch if anything is unclear, for example if a column name is ambiguous and we need your help interpreting it.
Once mapping is done, your data syncs automatically on every export.

One thing to check in your file: the first row must be your column headers, starting in the very first cell. Extra title rows, blank rows, or blank leading columns above or beside your headers will stop the file being read.

After your file is processed you'll see an empty SFTP folder. That's expected. Files are moved to a processed folder as soon as they're picked up.

Troubleshooting

What you're seeing	What to do
SFTP isn't offered as a delivery option, or it's greyed out	This is usually a permissions or plan issue on the Rippling side. Check your Rippling app settings, or contact Rippling Support and ask them to enable automated exports with SFTP.
The export runs in Rippling, but nothing appears in Ravio	Check you clicked Set up integration at the end of the Ravio flow. This is the most common cause. Also confirm the file name matches the one Ravio gave you.
The file isn't being processed	Check your headers are in the first row, starting in the first cell, with no extra rows or columns above or beside them.
Employee names are showing as numbers in Ravio	The name column hasn't been mapped correctly. Let us know and we'll fix the mapping.
Authentication is failing with an RSA key	Double-check you shared the public key, not the private one, and that it was pasted in full with no line breaks lost. If it still fails, get in touch and we'll look at the server logs with you.
You've lost your username or password	Credentials are hidden once setup is complete, so we can't retrieve them for you. Get in touch and we'll recreate the connection.
Rippling doesn't hold Manager ID	You have two options: add it as a custom field in Rippling, or share your hierarchy with Ravio by manager name instead. Your Ravio contact can talk you through the trade-offs.
Terminated employees are still showing in Ravio	Check your Rippling report includes terminated employees and a termination date. If the report only returns active employees, leavers simply disappear from the file and Ravio never learns they've left.

Keeping things running

Once it's live there's nothing to maintain. Rippling sends a new file on your schedule, and Ravio processes it automatically.

Two things worth remembering:

If you add a new field to the Rippling report, tell us so we can map it.
If you rotate the password or key, update it in both Rippling and Ravio.