Reference: Transactions

The largest group — browsing, creating, updating, and deleting the individual money movements on an account. A few tools are worth calling out:

• Splits. create_transaction and bulk_create_transactions accept a subtransactions array to split one transaction across several categories (e.g. a Target run that’s half groceries, half household). Set the parent category_id to null and make the leg amounts sum to the parent amount. YNAB only supports splitting on create — there’s no API to change a split’s legs after the fact.
• Duplicates. find_duplicate_transactions finds candidates (same account, amount, and date) and returns them for review. It never deletes anything; pair it with delete_transaction once you’ve confirmed which one is the duplicate.
• Bulk operations. bulk_update_transactions and bulk_create_transactions do many transactions in one API call — prefer them over a loop of single calls, both for speed and because the YNAB API is rate-limited to 200 requests/hour.
• Import. import_transactions triggers a refresh on accounts already bank-linked in the YNAB app. It cannot create that link — see Accounts.

Tools

bulk_create_transactions WRITE

Create MANY transactions in one call (POST array). Each item needs account_id, date, amount; optional category_id, payee, memo, import_id, and subtransactions[] for splits. Returns created ids + any duplicate_import_ids.

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
budget_id	string		Budget id or alias (“last-used”, “default”). Defaults to YNAB_BUDGET_ID.
transactions	array of object (account_id, date, amount, import_id, subtransactions, payee_id, payee_name, category_id, memo, cleared, approved, flag_color)	✓

YNAB API

• POST /budgets/{budget_id}/transactions → Transactions/createTransaction

bulk_update_transactions WRITE

Update many transactions in ONE call (the efficient way to categorize and/or approve a batch). Each update needs an id.

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
budget_id	string		Budget id or alias (“last-used”, “default”). Defaults to YNAB_BUDGET_ID.
updates	array of object (id, payee_id, payee_name, category_id, memo, cleared, approved, flag_color)	✓	Per-transaction updates; each item needs id plus the fields to change.

YNAB API

• PATCH /budgets/{budget_id}/transactions → Transactions/updateTransactions

category_transactions READ

Transaction history for one category (drill-down for spending habits).

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
budget_id	string		Budget id or alias (“last-used”, “default”). Defaults to YNAB_BUDGET_ID.
category_id	string	✓
since_date	string
until_date	string
type	enum: uncategorized | unapproved
last_knowledge_of_server	number

YNAB API

• GET /budgets/{budget_id}/categories/{category_id}/transactions → Transactions/getTransactionsByCategory

create_transaction WRITE

Create a transaction. amount is milliunits (negative = outflow). For a SPLIT across categories (e.g. a mixed Walmart/Target/Amazon receipt), set category_id to null and pass subtransactions whose amounts sum to amount; optionally set import_id so it matches the later bank-imported transaction. YNAB supports splits only on create — the leg breakdown of an existing split cannot be edited via the API.

**Milliunits:** `amount` — 1000 = one currency unit.

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
budget_id	string		Budget id or alias (“last-used”, “default”). Defaults to YNAB_BUDGET_ID.
account_id	string	✓
date	string	✓	ISO date, e.g. 2026-06-08.
amount	number	✓	Milliunits; negative outflow, positive inflow.
import_id	string		Optional dedupe/match key so a later bank import reconciles to this txn.
subtransactions	array of object (amount, category_id, payee_id, payee_name, memo)		Split legs. Set the parent category_id to null; leg amounts must sum to amount.
payee_id	string
payee_name	string
category_id	string		null clears the category (uncategorize).
memo	string
cleared	enum: cleared | uncleared | reconciled
approved	boolean
flag_color	enum: red | orange | yellow | green | blue | purple

YNAB API

• POST /budgets/{budget_id}/transactions → Transactions/createTransaction

delete_transaction WRITE

Delete a transaction by id (use after confirming a duplicate).

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
budget_id	string		Budget id or alias (“last-used”, “default”). Defaults to YNAB_BUDGET_ID.
transaction_id	string	✓

YNAB API

• DELETE /budgets/{budget_id}/transactions/{transaction_id} → Transactions/deleteTransaction

find_duplicate_transactions READ

Find candidate duplicate transactions (same account + amount + date). Returns clusters for review — does NOT delete. Pair with delete_transaction.

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
budget_id	string		Budget id or alias (“last-used”, “default”). Defaults to YNAB_BUDGET_ID.
account_id	string
since_date	string

YNAB API

• GET /budgets/{budget_id}/transactions → Transactions/getTransactions

get_transaction READ

Get one transaction by id.

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
budget_id	string		Budget id or alias (“last-used”, “default”). Defaults to YNAB_BUDGET_ID.
transaction_id	string	✓

YNAB API

• GET /budgets/{budget_id}/transactions/{transaction_id} → Transactions/getTransactionById

import_transactions WRITE

Trigger direct import on accounts already bank-linked in the YNAB app (pull latest bank activity). Returns newly imported transaction ids. Cannot create the link itself.

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
budget_id	string		Budget id or alias (“last-used”, “default”). Defaults to YNAB_BUDGET_ID.

YNAB API

• POST /budgets/{budget_id}/transactions/import → Transactions/importTransactions

list_transactions READ

List transactions. Optionally scope to an account, a since_date, or a type filter (uncategorized/unapproved).

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
budget_id	string		Budget id or alias (“last-used”, “default”). Defaults to YNAB_BUDGET_ID.
account_id	string
since_date	string
until_date	string
type	enum: uncategorized | unapproved
last_knowledge_of_server	number
max_results	number

YNAB API

• GET /budgets/{budget_id}/transactions → Transactions/getTransactions
• GET /budgets/{budget_id}/accounts/{account_id}/transactions → Transactions/getTransactionsByAccount

month_transactions READ

List transactions for a specific budget month.

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
budget_id	string		Budget id or alias (“last-used”, “default”). Defaults to YNAB_BUDGET_ID.
month	string		ISO month or “current”. Defaults to current.
since_date	string
until_date	string
type	enum: uncategorized | unapproved
last_knowledge_of_server	number

YNAB API

• GET /budgets/{budget_id}/months/{month}/transactions → Transactions/getTransactionsByMonth

payee_transactions READ

Transaction history for one payee (drill-down for spending habits).

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
budget_id	string		Budget id or alias (“last-used”, “default”). Defaults to YNAB_BUDGET_ID.
payee_id	string	✓
since_date	string
until_date	string
type	enum: uncategorized | unapproved
last_knowledge_of_server	number

YNAB API

• GET /budgets/{budget_id}/payees/{payee_id}/transactions → Transactions/getTransactionsByPayee

spending_summary READ

Aggregate spending by category or payee over a date range — totals, units, and counts per group. Cheaper than listing every row.

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
budget_id	string		Budget id or alias (“last-used”, “default”). Defaults to YNAB_BUDGET_ID.
group_by	enum: category | payee
account_id	string
since_date	string
until_date	string

YNAB API

• GET /budgets/{budget_id}/transactions → Transactions/getTransactions

update_transaction WRITE

Update fields on an existing transaction (only provided fields change).

**Milliunits:** `amount` — 1000 = one currency unit.

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
budget_id	string		Budget id or alias (“last-used”, “default”). Defaults to YNAB_BUDGET_ID.
transaction_id	string	✓
date	string
amount	number		Milliunits.
payee_id	string
payee_name	string
category_id	string		null clears the category (uncategorize).
memo	string
cleared	enum: cleared | uncleared | reconciled
approved	boolean
flag_color	enum: red | orange | yellow | green | blue | purple

YNAB API

• PUT /budgets/{budget_id}/transactions/{transaction_id} → Transactions/updateTransaction