ynab-mcp

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for YNAB (You Need A Budget) that allows Claude to interact with your budgets.

Features

| Tool | Description | | --------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | list_budgets | List all budgets available to your YNAB account | | list_accounts | List all accounts within a specific budget | | get_transactions | Fetch transactions for an account with optional date filtering | | get_spending_by_category | Get aggregated spending totals by category | | get_categories | Get budget categories with allocated amounts, activity, and remaining balance | | get_category_transactions | Get transactions for a specific category |

Setup

1. Get your YNAB Personal Access Token

1. Go to YNAB Developer Settings
2. Click "New Token" and copy the generated token

2. Install dependencies

bun install

3. Configure Claude Desktop

Edit your Claude Desktop config file:

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

Add the YNAB MCP server:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ynab": {
      "command": "bun",
      "args": ["/path/to/ynab-mcp/index.ts"],
      "env": {
        "YNAB_ACCESS_TOKEN": "your-personal-access-token-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

4. Restart Claude Desktop

After saving the config, restart Claude Desktop to load the MCP server.

Usage

Once configured, you can ask Claude things like:

• "What budgets do I have in YNAB?"
• "Show me my accounts in my main budget"
• "What transactions have I made in my checking account this month?"
• "How much did I spend on groceries last month?"
• "What are my category balances for December?"
• "Show me all restaurant transactions this year"

Development

Run the server directly for testing:

YNAB_ACCESS_TOKEN=your-token bun index.ts