ynab-mcp-server
About
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server built with mcp-framework that provides tools for interacting with your YNAB budgets. It is intended for use with AI assistants to manage YNAB data via conversation.
Explore
- Lists all budgets on your YNAB account
- Summarizes underfunded categories and low accounts
- Retrieves all unapproved transactions
- Creates new transactions for a specified budget and account
- Supports prompt-based interaction for transaction creation
Setting up with Highlight
This MCP is not yet compatible with Highlight’s one-click setup. However, you can still use it with Highlight by following these steps:
- Download and install Highlight from highlightai.com/download
- Navigate to the plugins tab and select "Add Custom Plugin"
-
Configure the plugin with the settings below
Plugin Name
ynab-mcp-serverCommand (node, npx, python, etc.)Please refer to the README for specific instructions on how to obtain API keys or other required environment variables.
- Enable "Start Automatically" if you want the plugin to start when Highlight launches
From the repository
Specify env variables:
YNAP_API_TOKEN (required)
KNOWLEDGE_DIR (optional) - directory where knowledge file should be stored. Defaults to data directory where the server is running.
KNOWLEDGE_FILE (optional) - name of knowledge filed. Defaults to server-knowledge.json
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, SetBudget
npm install
mcp add tool data-processor
mcp add tool api-client
mcp add tool file-handler
Example tool structure:
import { MCPTool } from "mcp-framework";
import { z } from "zod";
interface MyToolInput {
message: string;
}
class MyTool extends MCPTool<MyToolInput> {
name = "my_tool";
description = "Describes what your tool does";
schema = {
message: {
type: z.string(),
description: "Description of this input parameter",
},
};
async execute(input: MyToolInput) {
// Your tool logic here
return Processed: ${input.message};
}
}
export default MyTool;
```
Claude Desktop / Cursor
Paste into your MCP client config file to install this server.
{
"mcpServers": {
"ynab-mcp-server": {
"ynab-mcp-server": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"ynab-mcp-server"
],
"env": {
"YNAP_API_TOKEN": ""
}
}
}
}
}McpServers
{
"ynab-mcp-server": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"ynab-mcp-server"
],
"env": {
"YNAP_API_TOKEN": ""
}
}
}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
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: YNAP_API_TOKEN (required) KNOWLEDGE_DIR (optional) - directory where knowledge file should be stored. Defaults todata directory where the server is running.
KNOWLEDGE_FILE (optional) - name of knowledge filed. Defaults to server-knowledge.json
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, SetBudgetManage overspent categories
Adding new transactions
Approving transactions
Check total monthly spending vs total income
Auto-distribute ready to assign funds based on category targets
Current state
Available tools: ListBudgets - lists available budgets on your account BudgetSummary - provides a summary of categories that are underfunded and accounts that are low GetUnapprovedTransactions - retrieve all unapproved transactions CreateTransaction - creates a transaction for a specified budget and account. example prompt:Add a transaction to my Ally account for $3.98 I spent at REI today
requires GetBudget to be called first so we know the account id
Next:
Quick Start
```bash
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