YNAB MCP Server

Instructions

Args:
    budget_id: The ID of the budget (use 'last-used' for default budget)

Returns:
    JSON string with list of unapproved transactions

Implementation Reference

• src/ynab_mcp/server.py:417-429 (handler)

  MCP tool handler: decorated with @mcp.tool(), fetches unapproved transactions using YNABClient and serializes to JSON string.

  @mcp.tool()
  async def get_unapproved_transactions(budget_id: str) -> str:
      """Get all unapproved transactions that need review.
  
      Args:
          budget_id: The ID of the budget (use 'last-used' for default budget)
  
      Returns:
          JSON string with list of unapproved transactions
      """
      client = get_ynab_client()
      result = await client.get_unapproved_transactions(budget_id)
      return json.dumps(result, indent=2)

• src/ynab_mcp/ynab_client.py:1217-1251 (helper)

  Core implementation in YNABClient: retrieves all transactions via SDK, filters for unapproved and non-deleted, formats and returns list.

  async def get_unapproved_transactions(self, budget_id: str) -> list[dict[str, Any]]:
      """Get all unapproved transactions.
  
      Args:
          budget_id: The budget ID or 'last-used'
  
      Returns:
          List of unapproved transaction dictionaries
      """
      try:
          response = self.client.transactions.get_transactions(budget_id)
  
          transactions = []
          for txn in response.data.transactions:
              if not txn.approved and not txn.deleted:
                  transactions.append(
                      {
                          "id": txn.id,
                          "date": str(txn.date),
                          "amount": txn.amount / 1000 if txn.amount else 0,
                          "memo": txn.memo,
                          "cleared": txn.cleared,
                          "account_id": txn.account_id,
                          "account_name": txn.account_name,
                          "payee_id": txn.payee_id,
                          "payee_name": txn.payee_name,
                          "category_id": txn.category_id,
                          "category_name": txn.category_name,
                      }
                  )
  
          return transactions
      except Exception as e:
          raise Exception(f"Failed to get unapproved transactions: {e}") from e