Ynab MCP server

Connect Ynab to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, Gemini, GitHub Copilot and any other MCP client, for your whole team. Metorial adds security, governance, and tracing, and gives everyone one Magic MCP URL to connect.

What you can do with the Ynab MCP server

Ask your agent in plain language. Each of these maps to a real tool on the server.

  • Use the manage scheduled transaction tool in Ynab
  • Use the get budget tool in Ynab
  • Use the update payee tool in Ynab
  • Use the list budgets tool in Ynab
  • Use the list scheduled transactions tool in Ynab
  • Use the list transactions tool in Ynab

Supported Tools

manage_scheduled_transaction

Manage Scheduled Transaction

Create, read, update, or delete a scheduled transaction. Partial updates read fresh details and preserve omitted fields. Dates use UTC and must be in the next five years. The API does not create scheduled splits; this tool protects existing split parts by requiring a non-split record for updates.

get_budget

Get Budget

Retrieve detailed information about a specific budget, including date/currency format, summary, and provider budget records for delta merging. Use "last-used" or "default" as shortcuts for the budget ID.

update_payee

Update Payee

Rename an existing payee.

list_budgets

List Budgets

Retrieve all budgets belonging to the authenticated YNAB user. Returns budget names, IDs, date ranges, and format settings. Use the returned budget IDs for other YNAB operations.

list_scheduled_transactions

List Scheduled Transactions

Retrieve all scheduled (recurring) transactions in a budget. Includes frequency, next occurrence date, and transaction details.

list_transactions

List Transactions

Retrieve transactions from a budget with flexible filtering. Filter by account, category, payee, month, date, or type (uncategorized/unapproved). Amounts are in milliunits (e.g., -10000 = -$10.00 outflow).

create_account

Create Account

Create a new financial account in a budget. Specify the account name, type, and starting balance. The balance is in milliunits (e.g., $100.00 = 100000).

list_payees

List Payees

Retrieve all payees for a budget. Payees that represent account transfers include the linked account ID.

list_months

List Budget Months

Retrieve all budget months with summary data including income, assigned, activity, "Ready to Assign", and Age of Money.

create_transaction

Create Transaction

Create one or more transactions, including splits. Amounts are integer milliunits. Import IDs deduplicate within an account and may match existing transactions; returned IDs are saved records, not proof of new ownership.

list_categories

List Categories

Retrieve all category groups and their categories for a budget. Includes budgeted amounts, activity, available balances, and goal information.

import_transactions

Import Bank Transactions

Trigger an import of transactions from all linked bank accounts in a budget. This is equivalent to clicking "Import" in the YNAB app. Only works for accounts that have direct import enabled.

get_month

Get Budget Month

Retrieve detailed budget data for a specific month, including income, total assigned, total activity, "Ready to Assign" amount, and per-category breakdowns. Use "current" for the current month.

update_transaction

Update Transaction

Update supplied transaction fields, or convert a non-split transaction into a split. Existing split parts cannot be replaced. YNAB ignores changes to a split parent’s date, amount, or category; these changes are rejected.

delete_transaction

Delete Transaction

Delete a transaction by its ID. The transaction will be marked as deleted.

manage_category_group

Manage Category Group

Create or rename a category group. Groups organize categories in the budget.

get_transaction

Get Transaction

Retrieve detailed information about a single transaction, including subtransactions (splits), transfer details, and import metadata.

list_accounts

List Accounts

List all financial accounts in a budget, including balances and account type. Accounts include checking, savings, credit cards, loans, and other asset/liability types.

manage_category

Manage Category

Create or update a category, or set its assigned amount for a month. Amounts are integer milliunits. Targets use supported target amount, date, cadence, and rollover fields; legacy goalType and goalDay writes are rejected because YNAB does not accept them.

get_current_user

Get Current User

Get the YNAB user ID associated with this connection.

create_payee

Create Payee

Create a payee in a budget. Payees are retained because the API does not provide payee deletion.

Connect Ynab to your AI client

Every client uses the same Magic MCP URL, and so does any other MCP client. Add it once and sign in with SSO.

  1. Enable Ynab in Metorial. In your Metorial portal, enable the Ynab MCP server and sign in with the account that owns the data. Access stays governed by your team policies.
  2. Add a custom connector. Open Customize, then Connectors. Select Add, then Custom, then Web.
  3. Paste your Metorial MCP URL. Name it Metorial, paste your Magic MCP URL (<your-magic-mcp-url>) and continue.
  4. Sign in. Select Add and sign in to load Ynab tools.

Run Ynab through the Metorial gateway

One governed layer for every app your agents reach, not a separate connector per tool.

  • Give Ynab and every other app to your whole team through one MCP gateway, behind your SSO.
  • Scope which teams and agents can use Ynab tools with role-based access control, and trace every call.
  • Prefer to run it yourself? Metorial is open source and self-hostable.

More integrations teams use with Ynab

Zoho

Manage Zoho CRM, Bigin, Books, Inventory, Invoice, Desk, Mail, People, and Projects from one connection. Discover organizations and accounts, manage records and financial documents, work with support tickets and email, and organize employee and project data.

Quickbooks

Manage business finances and accounting in QuickBooks Online. Create, send, and track invoices. Manage bills and accounts payable, record bill payments. Create and update customer and vendor records with contact details and hierarchies. Record payments against invoices and credit memos. Create estimates, sales receipts, and journal entries. Track expenses and categorize against the chart of accounts. Manage items, products, services, and inventory levels. Query entities using SQL-like syntax and sync incremental changes via Change Data Capture. Generate financial reports including profit and loss, balance sheet, and cash flow. Process credit card and bank account (ACH) payments via the Payments API. Manage the chart of accounts for tracking income, expenses, assets, and liabilities.

Square

Process payments, manage orders, and handle invoices for online, in-app, and in-person commerce. Create and manage customer profiles, catalog items, inventory counts, and locations. Issue refunds, manage disputes, and track payouts. Create bookings and appointments, manage team members and timecards, handle gift cards and loyalty programs, and manage subscriptions. Save cards on file, generate checkout links, connect and control Square Terminal devices, and manage vendor/supplier information. Extend Square objects with custom attributes. Receive webhook notifications for payments, orders, customers, inventory, invoices, bookings, disputes, team changes, and more.

Gumroad

Manage digital and physical product sales on Gumroad. View and update product metadata, create and manage variant categories and options, and configure discount offer codes. Retrieve and filter sales data by date range for reporting. Manage subscribers and subscription lifecycles for recurring products. Refund sales, revoke or restore buyer access, and track payouts. Verify, enable, disable, and decrement license keys for purchase validation. Draft, schedule, and send audience emails to customers and followers. Read product reviews and access authenticated user profile information.

Stripe

Process payments, manage subscriptions, and handle invoices. Create and manage customers, payment methods, and product catalogs. Issue refunds, handle disputes, and submit chargeback evidence. Create checkout sessions and payment links. Manage connected accounts and platform fund flows via Stripe Connect. Configure payouts to bank accounts and debit cards. Apply coupons and promotion codes to subscriptions and invoices. Calculate and collect taxes automatically. Access balance information and transaction history. Upload files for dispute evidence and identity verification. Create and manage virtual and physical payment cards via Issuing. Receive real-time webhook notifications for payment, subscription, invoice, and account events.

Shopify

Manage e-commerce stores including products, orders, customers, inventory, and fulfillment. Create and update products with variants, images, and metafields. Process and track orders, draft orders, refunds, and transactions. Manage customer records, addresses, and marketing consent. Track and adjust inventory levels across multiple locations. Handle fulfillment workflows including routing to warehouses and third-party logistics. Create and manage discount codes, price rules, and automatic discounts. Configure shipping rates, carrier services, and delivery profiles. Build custom storefronts with cart management and checkout via the Storefront API. Manage content including pages, blogs, articles, and themes. Support B2B commerce with company profiles, catalogs, and custom pricing. Receive webhooks for events across orders, products, customers, inventory, fulfillment, collections, carts, checkouts, disputes, and more.

Technical notes for Ynab

Read YNAB budgets, accounts, transactions, categories, payees, and monthly summaries. Create supported accounts and payees, manage transaction and category metadata, schedule recurring transactions, and import linked-bank transactions. Use integer milliunits for monetary values and server knowledge for delta sync. Existing split parts must be edited in the YNAB app; account, category, group, and payee records cannot be deleted through the API.

Frequently asked questions

Common questions about connecting Ynab to AI agents with Metorial.

  1. How many tools does the Ynab MCP server have?
    The Ynab MCP server exposes 21 tools, including Manage Scheduled Transaction, Get Budget, Update Payee. Each one is governed and traced through Metorial.
  2. Ynab exposes tools your agents call on demand; it does not publish event triggers yet. Everything still runs through one governed MCP URL.
  3. Any MCP client, including VS Code, Windsurf, Zed, OpenCode and Grok. Each one reaches the Ynab MCP server through the same Metorial URL.
  4. Use role-based access control to decide which teams, users, and agents can use Ynab and which of its tools they can call.
  5. Yes. Metorial is open source, so you can run the Ynab MCP server yourself or use the hosted gateway.

Connect Ynab to production AI agents

See how Metorial gives your team governed access to Ynab, with tracing and security controls built in.