YNAB MCP Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that enables Claude to interact with your YNAB budget through natural conversation.

Features

Read your budget: View budget summary, accounts, categories, transactions, payees
Create transactions: Add new transactions with smart payee matching
Create scheduled transactions: Set up recurring transactions
Delete transactions: Remove transactions (with confirmation)
Human-friendly inputs: Use category/account/payee names (not IDs), dollar amounts, flexible dates

Setup

1. Get Your YNAB API Token

Go to YNAB → Account Settings → Developer Settings
Create a new Personal Access Token
Copy the token

2. Install Dependencies

npm install
npm run build

3. Configure Claude Code

Add to ~/.claude/mcp_servers.json:

{
  "ynab": {
    "command": "node",
    "args": ["/path/to/ynab-mcp/dist/index.js"],
    "env": {
      "YNAB_API_TOKEN": "your-token-here"
    }
  }
}

Replace /path/to/ynab-mcp with the actual path to this directory.

Available Tools

Read Tools

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | get_budget_summary | Overview: ready to assign, budgeted, activity, account balances | | get_accounts | List all accounts with balances | | get_categories | All categories with budgeted/spent/available amounts | | get_category | Details for a specific category by name | | get_transactions | Recent transactions with optional filters | | get_payees | List all payees | | get_monthly_budget | Budget summary for a specific month |

Write Tools

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | create_transaction | Add a new transaction with smart payee matching | | create_scheduled_transaction | Create a recurring transaction |

Delete Tools

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | delete_transaction | Permanently delete a transaction by ID |

Usage Examples

Check your budget:

"What's my budget looking like?"

View spending:

"How much have I spent on groceries this month?"

Add a transaction:

"I spent $45 at Whole Foods for groceries"

Check account balances:

"What are my account balances?"

Smart Features

Payee Matching

Fuzzy matches existing payees ("Amazon" finds "Amazon.com")
Asks for clarification when multiple matches exist
Confirms before creating new payees

Flexible Dates

"today", "yesterday", "tomorrow"
YYYY-MM-DD format

Dollar Amounts

Enter amounts in dollars (e.g., -50.00)
Negative = spending, Positive = income
Automatically converted to YNAB's milliunits

Environment Variables

| Variable | Required | Description | |----------|----------|-------------| | YNAB_API_TOKEN | Yes | Your YNAB Personal Access Token | | YNAB_BUDGET_ID | No | Override auto-detected budget |

Rate Limits

YNAB API allows 200 requests per hour. The server caches accounts, categories, and payees to minimize API calls.

License

ISC

MCP Servers