Ceviche MCP doesn't only return data. On the first call of every conversation it hands the assistant a short house guide: how to show Ceviche results to a person, and how to style anything built from them. The assistant is told to follow it in every answer. This page sets out what the guide asks for, so you know what to expect and what to push back on.
The assistant decides the final wording. The guide makes the right answer the easy one, but if an answer breaks a rule below, say so in the chat and the assistant will correct it.
In every answer
| Rule | What you see |
|---|---|
| Records by name, not ID | "Harbor Legal LLP · 30 Jun 2026 · $12,400.00", never an internal ID or code |
| Statuses in the app's words | "Ready to Invoice", "Pending Approval", "ManCo", never a raw code |
| A link back to the app | "Open in Ceviche", where the app has a page for the record (see below) |
| Money | Currency symbol, thousands separators, two decimals: $426,836.75 |
| Dates | 19 May 2026. Months as May 2026. Quarters as Q2 2026. |
| Totals say what they cover | The records, the dates, the filter and what was left out |
| Totals come from Ceviche | Computed by Ceviche, never added up by the assistant from a list |
| Partial lists say so | "Showing 25 of 103", or the assistant fetches the rest |
| Problems come first | If something doesn't tie, the answer says so before giving the number |
| No currency mixing | Amounts in different currencies are never added together or converted |
| Nothing found is said plainly | What was searched, and no quiet widening of your dates or amounts |
| No plumbing | No filter queries, tool names or field names in the answer |
Which records link to Ceviche
| Record | Link |
|---|---|
| Bill, and its lines, splits, approvals and attachments | The bill's page in Ceviche |
| Project | The project's page in Ceviche |
| Fund invoice, and approvals of an invoice | No link yet |
| Vendor, entity, deal, policy, member, correction | No link |
Bill links appear only for teams whose Ceviche has a bill page. Links always point at app.ceviche.ai, never anywhere else: the MCP removes any web address found inside your records before the assistant sees it.
Anything built from the data
When the assistant builds a dashboard, report, chart, spreadsheet, document or slide from Ceviche figures, the guide asks for:
- Ceviche's look. Ink-colored text and numbers, teal for data (darkest first), terracotta only for the exception and red only for errors and overdue items. The app's own typeface, Geist, where the format allows. No shadows, gradients, 3-D or dark backgrounds.
- An order that puts the point first. Title, then "Needs attention" (at most five items), then three or four headline figures, then charts, then detail tables.
- Tables an accountant can tie. Hairlines, no zebra stripes or vertical lines, money right-aligned, and a total row that ties to the chart.
- A footer on everything. "As of" with the time the data was read, then "Read-only, from Ceviche."
- Format-specific rules for print and PDF (page numbers, repeated headers), spreadsheets (one frozen header row, numbers as values, a totals row of formulas that tie, a Notes sheet), slides (one message per slide, the finding as the headline), documents and emails (the answer first, then one small table) and chat (the answer in a sentence or two, then a compact table).
Why the rules exist
Each one answers a question an accountant asks of any number: what does it cover, does it tie, where is the rest of the list, can I click through to the source. An answer that follows them can be ticked and tied against the app.