YNAB MCP Server

Connect YNAB to any AI assistant. Manage your budget in plain English.

---

Demo

---

What you can do

Workflow	Example prompt
Receipt split	"Create a split transaction for this receipt and allocate tax."
Bank reconciliation	"Reconcile my checking account using this CSV."
Spending analysis	"What did I spend on takeout this month?"
Scheduled cash flow	"What scheduled bills and income are due this month?"
Transaction creation	"Create a transaction: $42.18 at Trader Joe's yesterday."
Month overview	"Show my budget summary for January."

---

How it works

graph LR
    U(You) -->|Plain English| C[Claude Desktop<br/>or any MCP client]
    C -->|MCP protocol| S[YNAB MCP Server<br/>35 tools]
    S -->|YNAB API| Y[(Your Budget)]

    style S fill:#2563EB,color:#fff,stroke:#1d4ed8
    style Y fill:#16a34a,color:#fff,stroke:#15803d
    style C fill:#7c3aed,color:#fff,stroke:#6d28d9

---

Features

• Receipt itemization — Paste a receipt, get an itemized split transaction with tax allocation automatically distributed across line items.
• Bank reconciliation (beta) — Import a bank CSV, fuzzy-match against YNAB, detect missing or mismatched transactions, and apply bulk fixes.
• 35 YNAB tools — Full coverage plus scheduled transactions and deterministic period analytics.
• Write safety by default — Preview mode requires a short-lived, single-use confirmation bound to the exact validated request.
• Smaller tool profiles — Choose core, read-only, or full at startup without dynamic registration.
• Delta sync — Fetches only changed data since the last request, keeping things fast.
• Markdown or JSON — All read tools support response_format: human-readable markdown tables (default) or structured JSON.
• MCP-native — Structured outputs, annotations, completions API, and resource templates.

---

How reconciliation works

sequenceDiagram
    participant You
    participant Claude
    participant MCP as YNAB MCP Server
    participant YNAB

    You->>Claude: "Reconcile my checking<br/>with this CSV"
    Claude->>MCP: reconcile_account(csv_data)
    MCP->>YNAB: Fetch transactions
    YNAB-->>MCP: YNAB transactions
    MCP->>MCP: Parse CSV<br/>Fuzzy-match payees & dates<br/>Detect missing / mismatched
    MCP-->>Claude: Matches + recommendations
    Claude->>You: "Found 47 matches, 3 missing.<br/>Apply changes?"
    You->>Claude: "Yes"
    Claude->>MCP: Apply recommended changes
    MCP->>YNAB: Create / update transactions
    MCP-->>Claude: Done
    Claude->>You: "3 transactions created,<br/>account reconciled."

---

Setup (2 minutes)

1 — Get a YNAB token

1. Open YNAB Web App
2. Go to Account Settings → Developer Settings → New Token
3. Copy it (shown once only)

2 — Install

1. Download the latest .mcpb from Releases
2. Drag it into Claude Desktop
3. Enter your YNAB_ACCESS_TOKEN when prompted
4. Restart Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ynab": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@dizzlkheinz/ynab-mcpb@latest"],
      "env": {
        "YNAB_ACCESS_TOKEN": "your-token-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ynab": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@dizzlkheinz/ynab-mcpb@latest"],
      "env": {
        "YNAB_ACCESS_TOKEN": "your-token-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

[mcp_servers.ynab-mcpb]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "@dizzlkheinz/ynab-mcpb@latest"]
env = {"YNAB_ACCESS_TOKEN" = "your-token-here"}
startup_timeout_sec = 120

• Command: npx
• Args: ["-y", "@dizzlkheinz/ynab-mcpb@latest"]
• Env: YNAB_ACCESS_TOKEN=<your token>

3 — Try these prompts

List my budgets and set the default to my main budget.
Show recent transactions in my checking account.
How much did I spend on groceries in the last 30 days?
Create a transaction: $42.18 at Trader Joe's yesterday.

---

Tools (35)

Category	Tools
Budgets	list_budgets get_budget get_default_budget set_default_budget
Accounts	list_accounts get_account create_account
Transactions	list_transactions get_transaction create_transaction create_transactions update_transaction update_transactions delete_transaction export_transactions compare_transactions create_receipt_split_transaction
Categories	list_categories get_category update_category
Payees	list_payees get_payee
Months	list_months get_month
Reconciliation	reconcile_account
Scheduled transactions	list_scheduled_transactions get_scheduled_transaction create_scheduled_transaction update_scheduled_transaction delete_scheduled_transaction
Analytics	analyze_spending compare_spending_periods
Utilities	get_user diagnostic_info clear_cache

All read tools accept response_format ("markdown" or "json", default: "markdown").

Full reference: docs/reference/API.md

---

Configuration

Variable	Default	Description
YNAB_ACCESS_TOKEN	—	Required. Your YNAB personal access token.
YNAB_EXPORT_PATH	~/Downloads	Directory for exported transaction files.
YNAB_MCP_ENABLE_DELTA	false	Set to true to enable delta sync (only fetch changed data). Must be exactly true or false.
YNAB_MCP_WRITE_MODE	preview	read-only hides YNAB mutations; preview requires exact confirmation; enabled permits direct writes.
YNAB_MCP_TOOL_PROFILE	full	core, read-only, or full startup tool surface.
YNAB_MCP_CACHE_DEFAULT_TTL_MS	300000	Cache TTL in milliseconds (5 min).
YNAB_MCP_CACHE_MAX_ENTRIES	1000	Maximum cache entries before LRU eviction.

See .env.example for all options.

Write modes and compatibility

preview is the conservative default. A mutation call first runs its existing dry_run path and returns a confirmation token. That token expires after two minutes, can be used once, and only authorizes the same canonical tool name and validated arguments. read-only does not register YNAB mutation tools. enabled preserves the pre-safety direct-write behavior for users who explicitly opt in.

Transaction amounts now prefer amount_decimal (for example, -12.34) or the explicit raw field amount_milliunits (-12340). Category funding similarly prefers budgeted_decimal or budgeted_milliunits. The old amount and budgeted fields remain accepted as deprecated milliunit aliases for backward compatibility; their meaning is never guessed.

Tool profiles

Profiles are selected once at server startup, so clients receive a stable tools/list response:

• core keeps common reads, transaction safety workflows, reconciliation, receipt splitting, scheduled review, and spending analytics.
• read-only exposes every tool explicitly annotated read-only.
• full exposes the complete 35-tool surface, subject to the selected write mode.

Privacy and trust

• The server process runs locally and communicates with YNAB over YNAB's API.
• Your YNAB personal access token is sensitive. Store it in your MCP client's secret configuration and never paste it into a conversation, issue, fixture, or log.
• Financial data returned by tools and included in a conversation may be processed by the AI provider selected in your MCP client. Review that provider's data controls before sharing sensitive details.
• Transaction exports remain on local disk at YNAB_EXPORT_PATH (or the platform default). The server does not upload exported files elsewhere.
• Use read-only for no YNAB writes, preview for exact request confirmation, or enabled only when direct writes are an intentional compatibility choice.
• This independent open-source project is not affiliated with or endorsed by YNAB.

---

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
npx fails	Install Node.js 24+, then restart your MCP client.
Auth errors	Regenerate your YNAB token and update YNAB_ACCESS_TOKEN.
Tools not detected	Restart the MCP client after any config change.
Reconciliation issues	Open an issue with an anonymized CSV sample.

---

For developers

git clone https://github.com/dizzlkheinz/ynab-mcpb.git
cd ynab-mcpb
npm ci --ignore-scripts
npm run build
npm test
npm run test:integration

The build and offline tests require no YNAB credentials. npm test runs unit and performance tests; test:integration runs mocked integration tests. Use test:all, test:coverage, or test:watch for the combined suite, coverage, or watch mode. Pass file/test-name filters directly, for example npm run test:integration -- transactionTools.

To start the server locally, copy .env.example to .env, add your token, and run npm start. Live smoke tests require an explicit RUN_LIVE_YNAB_TESTS=true and run through npm run test:live; SKIP_E2E_TESTS=true disables them.

Builds do not package or install global tools. To create a Claude Desktop bundle, install the official CLI once (npm install --global @anthropic-ai/mcpb), then run npm run build and npm run package:mcpb. Review npm package contents with npm pack --dry-run --ignore-scripts.

Architecture and contributor guidance: CLAUDE.md

Reconciliation architecture: docs/technical/reconciliation-system-architecture.md

---

Contributing

Bug reports and CSV edge-case repros are very welcome, especially for bank reconciliation: Open an issue

PRs welcome — run npm test and npm run lint before submitting.

---

License

AGPL-3.0