YNAB CLI

A command-line interface for YNAB designed for LLMs and developers. JSON output by default with built-in filtering.

Installation

Requires Bun.

bun install -g @stephendolan/ynab-cli

# Or run without installing
bunx @stephendolan/ynab-cli budgets list

sudo apt-get install libsecret-1-dev  # Ubuntu/Debian
sudo dnf install libsecret-devel      # Fedora/RHEL
sudo pacman -S libsecret              # Arch

Without libsecret, use YNAB_API_KEY environment variable instead.

Authentication

ynab auth login    # Store token in OS keychain
ynab auth status   # Check authentication
ynab auth logout   # Remove credentials

Or set YNAB_API_KEY environment variable.

Commands

Budgets

ynab budgets list
ynab budgets view [id]
ynab budgets settings [id]
ynab budgets set-default <id>

Accounts

ynab accounts list
ynab accounts view <id>
ynab accounts transactions <id>

Categories

ynab categories list
ynab categories view <id>
ynab categories update <id> [--name <name>] [--note <note>] [--category-group-id <id>] [--goal-target <amount>]
ynab categories budget <id> --month <YYYY-MM> --amount <amount>
ynab categories transactions <id>

Transactions

# List with filters
ynab transactions list --account <id> --since <YYYY-MM-DD>
ynab transactions list --approved=false --min-amount 100
ynab transactions list --fields id,date,amount,memo

# Search
ynab transactions search --memo "coffee"
ynab transactions search --payee-name "Amazon"

# CRUD
ynab transactions view <id>
ynab transactions create --account <id> --amount <amount> --date <YYYY-MM-DD>
ynab transactions update <id> --amount <amount>
ynab transactions delete <id>
ynab transactions split <id> --splits '[{"amount": -50.00, "category_id": "xxx"}]'

Payees

ynab payees list
ynab payees view <id>
ynab payees update <id> --name <name>
ynab payees locations <id>
ynab payees transactions <id>

Months

ynab months list
ynab months view <YYYY-MM>

Scheduled Transactions

ynab scheduled list
ynab scheduled view <id>
ynab scheduled delete <id>

Raw API Access

ynab api GET /budgets
ynab api POST /budgets/{budget_id}/transactions --data '{"transaction": {...}}'

MCP Server

Run as an MCP server for AI agent integration:

ynab mcp

Output

All commands return JSON. Use --compact for minified output.

Amounts are in dollars (not YNAB's internal milliunits). --min-amount 100 means $100.

API Limitations

The YNAB API does not support creating categories, category groups, or payees. Use the web or mobile app for these.

Rate limit: 200 requests/hour per token. If exceeded, wait 5-10 minutes.

References

• YNAB API Documentation
• Specification

License

MIT