ynab-mcp

Checks how healthy the cash cushion is — Age of Money, near-term cash flow forecast, and whether the credit card float is quietly draining the buffer. Use when the user says "check my age of money", "am I living paycheck to paycheck", "how's my cash flow", "will I have enough before payday", or "is my credit card float catching up to me".

Helps give every dollar a job — assigns unallocated Ready to Assign money to categories, funds underfunded goals, and sets up new categories or category groups. Use when the user says "I have money to assign", "help me budget this month", "what should I fund", "help me set up a new category", "organize my budget categories", or "assign my leftover funds".

Helps plan and fund a large, specific, one-time savings goal with a dollar target and timeline — house down payment, car, wedding, sabbatical. Use when a user says "I'm saving for a house down payment", "how much do I need to save monthly for X", "help me set a savings target with a deadline", or "I want to buy a car in a year".

Helps build a sustainable debt-payoff plan that fits inside a real budget instead of fighting it. Use when a user says "help me pay off my credit cards", "snowball or avalanche, which should I do", "how do I set up a debt goal", "I keep going into debt for emergencies while paying off debt", or "what order should I attack my debts".

Guides building an emergency fund from zero, or strengthening a thin one, with staged achievable milestones. Use when a user says "I have no emergency fund", "how much should I have saved for emergencies", "help me build a safety net", "I keep raiding savings for car repairs", or "where do I start with an emergency fund".

Guides a brand-new YNAB user through structuring their first budget — category-group pattern, right level of detail, and avoiding beginner traps. Use when a user says "I just signed up for YNAB, where do I start", "how should I set up categories", "how many categories should I have", "should I track every subscription separately", or "I'm overwhelmed setting up my budget".

Helps prepare financially for a known or likely upcoming income change — parental leave, job-loss risk, retirement transition, return to school — before it happens. Use when a user says "I'm going on parental leave, how do I prepare", "I might get laid off", "I'm planning to retire in a year", "how do I prepare for a pay cut", or "help me plan for reduced income".

Teaches the budgeting approach for freelancers, commission earners, and gig workers with variable month-to-month income. Use when a user says "my income is different every month", "I'm a freelancer, how do I budget", "I don't know how much I'll make next month", "how do I stop overspending in good months", or "how does budgeting work without a steady paycheck".

Runs a complete end-of-month budget review — this month's performance vs. plan, goal progress, income/savings trend, net worth change, and suggested targets for next month. Use when the user says "let's do my monthly budget review", "end of month check-in", "how did this month go", "review my budget", "close out this month", or "help me plan next month's budget".

Finds where money is being overspent and helps roll with the punches — move funds from categories with slack, and surface discretionary cuts. Use when the user says "find places I'm overspending", "where did I overspend", "help me fix overspending", "roll with the punches", "where can I find extra money", or "help me cut back this month".

Gives a fast, at-a-glance snapshot of a YNAB budget — Ready to Assign, overspending flags, spending pace, and an overall health score. Use when the user asks "how am I doing this month", "how's my budget looking", "quick check on my finances", "am I on track", "give me a status update", or wants a fast gut-check without a full review.

Runs the weekly housekeeping pass — clears/flags uncleared transactions per account for reconciliation, and audits the budget for unused or overly-granular ("sprawl") categories worth merging or archiving. Use when the user says "let's reconcile my accounts", "clean up my budget", "find categories I don't use", "check for uncleared transactions", or "audit my budget for clutter".

Finds and plans for irregular or infrequent costs — annual subscriptions, car repairs, holiday spending, insurance premiums — and detects recurring bills that may be missing from the budget or scheduled transactions. Use when the user says "help me plan for an annual expense", "I have a big bill coming up", "make sure my recurring bills are captured", "set up a sinking fund", "did I forget any subscriptions", or "embrace my true expenses".

Helps decide what to do with a one-time lump sum — bonus, tax refund, inheritance, settlement, or side-hustle payout — before spending it reactively. Use when a user says "I just got a bonus, what should I do with it", "I'm getting a tax refund", "I inherited some money", or "I have extra cash, what's the smart move".

Explains the core philosophy behind zero-based/envelope budgeting and YNAB's Four Rules in plain language for someone new to budgeting or skeptical of it. Use when a user says "I don't get why budgeting works", "why can't I just track spending", "what is zero-based budgeting", "why does Give Every Dollar a Job matter", "I've tried budgets before and quit", or "explain the Four Rules like I'm new".