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ynab-mcp-server

MCP.Pizza Chef: calebl

YNAB is a budgeting app with a lot of screens. This connects it to an assistant so you can just ask: what is left in a category, how much went on eating out, whether anything is overspent. Answers come back in plain words rather than as a report you have to read. It works in Claude Desktop and Cursor, installs by pasting a short config entry, and needs a personal access token from your YNAB account.

Data
Spreadsheets

Use This MCP server To

Check how much is left in a category See where I overspent this month Find out what I spent on groceries Get a plain summary of my budget Check my balance across accounts Compare this month to last month

README

ynab-mcp-server

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A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server built with mcp-framework. This MCP provides tools for interacting with your YNAB budgets setup at https://ynab.com

YNAB Server MCP server

In order to have an AI interact with this tool, you will need to get your Personal Access Token from YNAB: https://api.ynab.com/#personal-access-tokens. When adding this MCP server to any client, you will need to provide your personal access token as YNAB_API_TOKEN. This token is never directly sent to the LLM. It is stored privately in an environment variable for use with the YNAB api.

Setup

Specify env variables:

  • YNAB_API_TOKEN (required)
  • YNAB_BUDGET_ID (optional)

Goal

The goal of the project is to be able to interact with my YNAB budget via an AI conversation. There are a few primary workflows I want to enable:

Workflows:

First time setup

  • be prompted to select your budget from your available budgets. If you try to use another tool first, this prompt should happen asking you to set your default budget.
    • Tools needed: ListBudgets

Manage overspent categories

ynab-mcp-server FAQ

Can I use this to check my budget without opening YNAB?
Yes — you ask in plain words and get the number back directly.
Do I need a token?
Yes, a personal access token from your own YNAB account, which you generate in their settings.
Which apps does it work with?
It is documented for Claude Desktop and Cursor.
Can I use this to see where I overspent?
Yes — you can ask which categories are over and by how much.
How hard is it to set up?
You paste a short config entry and add your token, so no coding is needed.