Model Context Protocol server for YNAB
Point an AI agent at your budget. Nothing moves without you asking.
ynab-mcp gives an AI agent read access to your YNAB accounts, categories, and transactions — and, if you choose, the ability to categorize, create, and reconcile them. It talks to the real YNAB API, not a simulation, and it cannot link a bank account: that's YNAB-app-only, by YNAB's own design.
YNAB_DEMO=1 npx @redlinelabs/ynab-mcpWrites are an explicit choice
OAuth connections start read-only — writing needs a deliberate scope elevation at login. Token mode inherits the token's own YNAB access; settingYNAB_READ_ONLY=true is the one-line way to get the same guarantee.
Can't touch your bank
Linking a bank account is impossible through the YNAB API — YNAB reserves that to its own app. This server can create manual accounts and refresh already-linked ones, nothing more.
Your own credentials
Your own YNAB login through OAuth when you're connecting to a server (recommended), or a Personal Access Token you generate yourself if you'd rather run nothing. No shared account, ever.
Three ways to run it
Try it instantly, then pick the real setup — connecting to a server over OAuth is recommended, with a Personal Access Token as the zero-infrastructure alternate. All three are covered on every Connect your agentpage.
OAuth to a server — recommended
Run the server yourself with Docker (or connect to one someone in your household already runs); anyone who can reach it logs in with their own YNAB account over OAuth and gets an isolated, read-only-by-default grant.
Set up an OAuth server for your household →Demo mode — try it now
YNAB_DEMO=1 npx @redlinelabs/ynab-mcp. No YNAB account, no token, nothing to host. Runs against a fictional in-memory budget so you can see the tools work before deciding on a real setup.
Personal Access Token — alternate
npx @redlinelabs/ynab-mcp with a token from your own YNAB account. Real budget access, nothing to host, for one person who doesn't want to run a server.
46 tools, 8 toolsets
Every tool wraps one YNAB API operation with a backlink to it — enable only thetoolsets a given agent needs to keep its context lean.