YNAB

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for interacting with YNAB (You Need A Budget). Provides tools for accessing budget data through MCP-enabled clients like Claude Desktop.

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4

GitHub Stars

python

Language

4 months ago

First Indexed

3 weeks ago

Catalog Refreshed

Documentation & install

Readme and setup notes from the catalogue, plus a client-ready config you can copy for your MCP host.

Installation

Add the following to your MCP client configuration file.

Configuration

View docs

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ethankang1-ynab-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "ynab-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "YNAB_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

You can use this MCP server to access YNAB data from MCP-enabled clients. It exposes tools to retrieve user info, budgets, budget details, categories, and settings, enabling you to build prompts and automations that read your YNAB data securely and efficiently.

How to use

You connect an MCP client to the YNAB MCP Server by configuring an MCP server entry in your client’s settings and then invoking the available tools to fetch user data, budgets, and budget details. Start the server with a runtime that supports MCP, provide your YNAB API key, and use the client’s tools to query for information such as your user info, budgets, and specific budget contents.

How to install

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ynab-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["run", "ynab-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "YNAB_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

If you are running from a specific directory, you can point the MCP runtime to that directory and then run the server with the uv runtime. The key idea is to provide the same environment variable with your API key.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ynab-mcp": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["--directory", "/path/to/ynab-mcp", "run", "ynab-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "YNAB_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

To debug with the MCP Inspector, install the inspector globally, then adjust your client configuration to route through the inspector before starting the MCP server.

Additional sections

Configuration notes: Always provide your YNAB API key in the environment variable YNAB_API_KEY. The MCP client will pass this key to the server to authenticate requests against YNAB.

Security: Treat your API key as a secret. Do not share your configuration containing the API key, and rotate keys if you suspect exposure. Use least-privilege keys if your YNAB integration supports scopes.

Troubleshooting: If you don’t see responses, verify that the server process is running, the API key is correct, and the MCP client is configured to point at the correct runtime (uvx or uv). Check real-time logs if you enable the MCP Inspector during debugging.

Available tools

GetUser

Retrieves information about the authenticated YNAB user, including user ID and email.

ListBudgets

Lists all budgets accessible to the authenticated user, including budget IDs and names.

GetBudget

Retrieves detailed information about a specific budget, including transactions, categories, and balances. Supports optional date filtering and transaction limiting.

GetBudgetCategories

Retrieves all categories defined in the specified budget, including category groups, names, and IDs.

GetBudgetSettings

Retrieves settings for the specified budget, including currency format, date format, and other preferences.