YNAB MCP server for AI agents

This MCP server provides tools for interacting with your YNAB (You Need A Budget) budgets through AI conversations. It allows you to manage transactions, check budget status, and perform other budget-related tasks conversationally.

Installation

Prerequisites

You'll need a YNAB account with a Personal Access Token to use this MCP server. The token can be obtained from the YNAB API documentation.

Setup Steps

Install the package using npm:

npm install ynab-mcp-server

Build the project:

npm run build

Configure environment variables:

# Required
export YNAB_API_TOKEN=your_personal_access_token

# Optional
export YNAB_BUDGET_ID=your_budget_id

Using with Claude Desktop

Installing via Smithery

The easiest way to install YNAB Budget Assistant for Claude Desktop is via Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install @calebl/ynab-mcp-server --client claude

Manual Configuration

Add this configuration to your Claude Desktop config file:

MacOS: Located at ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: Located at %APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ynab-mcp-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["ynab-mcp-server"]
    }
  }
}

Available Tools and Workflows

First-Time Setup

When using the MCP server for the first time, you'll be prompted to select your default budget using the ListBudgets tool.

Budget Management Tools

ListBudgets: Lists all available budgets on your account
BudgetSummary: Provides a summary of underfunded categories and low account balances
GetUnapprovedTransactions: Retrieves all unapproved transactions from your budget

Transaction Management

CreateTransaction: Creates a new transaction in your YNAB budget

Example prompt: "Add a transaction to my Ally account for $3.98 I spent at REI today"

ApproveTransaction: Approves an existing transaction in your budget

Example prompt: "Approve the transaction for $6.95 on the Apple Card"

Example Usage Workflows

Adding and Approving Transactions

Ask the AI to list your unapproved transactions:
```
"Show me my unapproved transactions"
```

Create a new transaction:

"Add a transaction for $15.75 at Starbucks from yesterday on my Chase card"

Approve a pending transaction:

"Approve the $25.50 transaction from Target"

Checking Budget Status

Request a summary of your budget:

"Give me a summary of my budget status"

This will show categories that need attention and account balances that are running low.

Security Notes

Your YNAB API token is stored as an environment variable and is never directly sent to the AI model. It's used securely to authenticate API requests to YNAB.

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "ynab-mcp-server" '{"command":"npx","args":["ynab-mcp-server"]}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "ynab-mcp-server": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "ynab-mcp-server"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "ynab-mcp-server": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "ynab-mcp-server"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect