You Need an Advisor MCP

Not just API coverage -- a YNAB budgeting advisor powered by embedded methodology knowledge.

An MCP server that connects AI assistants like Claude to your YNAB budget. Ask questions about your finances in natural language and get answers backed by real data from the YNAB API, informed by YNAB's budgeting methodology.

Features

• Full YNAB API coverage -- Budgets, accounts, categories, transactions, payees, months, scheduled transactions
• YNAB methodology built-in -- Embedded knowledge of the Four Rules, overspending, credit cards, reconciliation, and Age of Money
• Analysis & workflow prompts -- Spending trends, budget health, debt payoff planning, and more
• Secure -- Your Personal Access Token stays on your machine; no data stored or forwarded

Quick start

1. Get a YNAB Personal Access Token

2. Add to your Claude Desktop config (claude_desktop_config.json):

With uvx (recommended):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ynab": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--from", "you-need-an-advisor-mcp", "ynaa-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "YNAB_PAT": "your-token-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

With Docker:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ynab": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "-i",
        "--rm",
        "-e",
        "YNAB_PAT",
        "ghcr.io/senivel/you-need-an-advisor-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "YNAB_PAT": "your-token-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

3. Ask Claude about your budget.

Documentation

Full documentation: senivel.github.io/you-need-an-advisor-mcp

Links

• Contributing
• Changelog
• License