What can you do with this server?

The YNAB MCP Server connects AI assistants to your YNAB budgeting data, enabling conversational access to financial information through natural language queries. Core Capabilities: * Budget Management: Retrieve all budgets with IDs and last modification dates, access detailed budget information including accounts, categories, and settings * Account Operations: List all accounts showing names, types, balances, and status; get specific account details * Category Analysis: View categories organized by groups with budgeted amounts and activity; get detailed information for specific categories including current month data * Transaction Queries: Search and filter transactions by date range, type (uncategorized/unapproved), category, payee, or account; retrieve specific transaction details * Scheduled Transactions: View all recurring and scheduled transactions to understand future financial commitments * Payee Information: Access complete list of payees associated with your budget * Monthly Reports: Get month-by-month summaries showing income, budgeted amounts, and activity totals; access detailed month information including all category balances Key Features: * Read-only access to all YNAB data (no modifications) * Support for multiple budgets with 'last-used' convenience shortcut * Comprehensive filtering and date-based analysis for historical data * Ability to analyze spending patterns and monitor budget health across time periods

How do I use YNAB MCP Server?

1. Click on "Install Server". 2. Wait a few minutes for the server to deploy. Once ready, it will show a "Started" state. 3. In the chat, type @ followed by the MCP server name and your instructions, e.g., "@YNAB MCP Server show me my recent transactions from last week" That's it! The server will respond to your query, and you can continue using it as needed. Here is a step-by-step guide with screenshots.

YNAB MCP Server

Talk to your finances.

What is this?

YNAB (You Need A Budget) is a popular budgeting app that helps you gain control of your money. This MCP server connects AI assistants to your YNAB data, giving you conversational access to:

Your budgets and accounts
Transaction history and patterns
Category balances and spending insights
Scheduled and recurring transactions
Creating and managing transactions
Updating category budgets
Creating accounts

Installation

Via npx (recommended)

No installation required. Configure your Claude client to use npx directly (see below).

Via npm (global)

npm install -g ynab-mcp-server

From source

git clone https://github.com/jeangnc/ynab-mcp-server.git cd ynab-mcp-server make install make build

Configuration

First, set your YNAB API token in your shell profile (~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc):

export YNAB_API_TOKEN="your-token-here"

Claude Code

claude mcp add ynab --scope user --env YNAB_API_TOKEN='${YNAB_API_TOKEN}' -- npx -y ynab-mcp-server

Claude Desktop

Add to ~/.config/claude/claude_desktop_config.json (Linux) or ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS):

{ "mcpServers": { "ynab": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "ynab-mcp-server"], "env": { "YNAB_API_TOKEN": "${YNAB_API_TOKEN}" } } } }

Manual usage

YNAB_API_TOKEN=$YNAB_API_TOKEN npx ynab-mcp-server

Available Tools

Read Tools

Tool	Description
`list_budgets`	Get all budgets for the authenticated user. Returns budget names, IDs, and last modified dates.
`get_budget`	Get detailed information about a specific budget including accounts, categories, and settings.
`list_accounts`	Get all accounts for a budget. Returns account names, types, balances, and status.
`get_account`	Get detailed information about a specific account.
`list_categories`	Get all categories for a budget, grouped by category group. Includes budgeted amounts and activity.
`get_category`	Get detailed information about a specific category including current month data.
`list_transactions`	Get transactions for a budget. Supports filtering by date, type, category, payee, and account.
`get_transaction`	Get detailed information about a specific transaction.
`list_payees`	Get all payees for a budget.
`list_scheduled_transactions`	Get all scheduled/recurring transactions for a budget.
`list_months`	Get all budget months. Returns month summaries with income, budgeted, and activity totals.
`get_month`	Get detailed budget information for a specific month including all category balances.

Write Tools

Tool	Description
`create_transaction`	Create a new transaction. Amount should be negative for expenses and positive for income.
`update_transaction`	Update an existing transaction. Only provide the fields you want to change.
`delete_transaction`	Delete an existing transaction.
`update_category_budget`	Update the budgeted amount for a category in a specific month.
`create_account`	Create a new account in the budget.
`get_scheduled_transaction`	Get detailed information about a specific scheduled transaction.
`create_scheduled_transaction`	Create a new scheduled/recurring transaction. Date must be in the future (max 5 years).
`update_scheduled_transaction`	Update an existing scheduled transaction. Only provide fields you want to change.
`delete_scheduled_transaction`	Delete an existing scheduled transaction.
`update_payee`	Update a payee's name. The name must be a maximum of 500 characters.

History Tools

Tool	Description
`list_history`	List recent write operations with their IDs for undo. Operations are listed in reverse chronological order (newest first).
`get_history_entry`	Get detailed information about a specific history entry including before/after state.
`undo_operation`	Revert a previous write operation by its history entry ID.

History & Undo

The server tracks all write operations (transactions, scheduled transactions, category budgets, payees, and accounts) and allows you to undo them.

How it works

All write operations are automatically recorded to ~/.ynab-mcp-history.json
History persists across server restarts
Up to 100 operations are retained (oldest are automatically removed)
Use list_history to see recent operations and their IDs
Use undo_operation with an entry ID to revert a change

Supported undo operations

Operation	Undo Action
Create transaction	Deletes the created transaction
Update transaction	Restores to previous state
Delete transaction	Recreates the transaction (new ID)
Create scheduled transaction	Deletes the created scheduled transaction
Update scheduled transaction	Restores to previous state
Delete scheduled transaction	Recreates the scheduled transaction (new ID)
Update category budget	Restores previous budgeted amount
Update payee	Restores previous name
Create account	Cannot be undone (YNAB API limitation)

Limitations

Account creation cannot be undone: The YNAB API does not support deleting accounts
Recreated transactions get new IDs: When undoing a delete, the transaction is recreated with a new ID
External changes: If data is modified outside the MCP server, undo may fail or produce unexpected results
Old history entries: Very old entries may reference entities that no longer exist

Makefile Commands

make install # Install dependencies make build # Compile TypeScript make run # Run compiled server make dev # Run TypeScript directly make clean # Remove build artifacts