How to connect Ynab to Claude Cowork

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Introduction

Cowork is Anthropic's AI agent for knowledge work. Think of it as Claude Code for everything else. It works autonomously with your computer, local files, and applications to accomplish complex tasks.

This guide walks you through the easiest and most secure way to connect your Ynab account to Cowork via Composio Connect, enabling it to show your spending by category this week, add a new expense to groceries, list upcoming scheduled transactions, and more such actions on your behalf without compromising your account security.

Also integrate Ynab with

Connecting Ynab to Claude Cowork

1. Open Customize

In Claude Desktop, click Customize in the left sidebar, then select Connectors and click the + icon at the top.

Claude Desktop connectors screen with Add custom connector selected

2. Add the Composio MCP server

Click Add custom connector and paste in the Composio MCP server URL:

bash
https://connect.composio.dev/mcp
Add custom connector dialog with Composio MCP server URL

3. Authorize in your browser

Click Connect. You'll be redirected to a browser window where you can authorize Composio to continue.

Composio authorization screen for Claude Cowork

4. Connect your Ynab account

Back in Cowork, ask the agent to connect to Ynab or give it any Ynab-related task.

For example, ask Cowork to:

  • "Show your spending by category this week"
  • "Add a new expense to groceries"
  • "List upcoming scheduled transactions"

It will prompt you to authenticate and authorize access.

That's it. Composio's tools are now available in Cowork, and your Ynab account is ready to use.

What is Claude Cowork?

Claude Cowork is Anthropic's agent for general knowledge work. It can use your computer, files, and connected applications to complete longer-running tasks across your work tools.

With Composio Connect, Cowork can securely access apps like Ynab through MCP without you sharing account credentials directly with the agent.

What is the Ynab MCP server, and what's possible with it?

The Ynab MCP server is an implementation of the Model Context Protocol that connects your AI agent and assistants like Claude, Cursor, etc directly to your Ynab account. It provides structured and secure access to your budgeting data, so your agent can perform actions like tracking expenses, creating and adjusting budgets, fetching transaction history, and analyzing spending patterns on your behalf.

  • Automated transaction tracking: Let your agent fetch, categorize, or summarize recent transactions to keep your spending up to date.
  • Budget creation and adjustment: Instruct your agent to set up new budgets, update existing categories, or reallocate funds between envelopes as your needs change.
  • Spending analysis and reporting: Have your agent analyze your expenses, highlight trends, or generate summaries to help you understand where your money goes.
  • Goal monitoring and progress updates: Ask your agent to track progress toward savings or debt payoff goals, and notify you of milestones or needed adjustments.
  • Account and balance synchronization: Enable your agent to pull up-to-date balances from multiple accounts, ensuring your budget always reflects the latest financial picture.

Supported Tools & Triggers

Tools
Create a new account in a budgetTool to create a new account in a budget.
Create Scheduled TransactionCreates a scheduled (recurring) transaction in a YNAB budget.
Delete Scheduled TransactionPermanently deletes a scheduled transaction from a YNAB budget.
Get Account by IDTool to retrieve a single account resource.
Get Budget By IDRetrieve a complete budget export by ID, including all accounts, categories, payees, and transactions.
Get Budget MonthTool to retrieve a specific budget month.
Get Budget SettingsTool to retrieve budget-level settings.
Get Category by IDRetrieve a single YNAB budget category by its ID.
Get Month Category By IDTool to retrieve a single category for a specific budget month.
Get Payee by IDTool to retrieve a single payee by its ID.
Get Scheduled Transaction by IDTool to retrieve a single scheduled transaction.
Get Transaction by IDTool to retrieve a single transaction by its ID.
Get Authorized UserTool to retrieve the authorized user's information.
List AccountsRetrieves all accounts for a specified YNAB budget.
List BudgetsRetrieves all budgets accessible to the authenticated YNAB user.
List CategoriesTool to list all category groups and their categories for a budget.
List Budget MonthsTool to list months for a budget with summary information.
List Payee LocationsRetrieves all GPS locations associated with payees in a budget.
List Payee Locations by PayeeRetrieves all GPS locations associated with a specific payee in a budget.
List payees in a budgetTool to list payees in a budget.
List Scheduled TransactionsList all scheduled (recurring) transactions for a YNAB budget.
List TransactionsTool to list transactions in a budget.
List Transactions by AccountTool to list transactions for a specific account.
List Transactions by CategoryTool to list transactions for a specific category (excludes pending).
List Transactions by PayeeTool to list transactions for a specific payee in a budget.
Update PayeeTool to update a payee.
Update Scheduled TransactionUpdate an existing scheduled transaction in YNAB.

How to build Ynab MCP Agent with another framework

FAQ

What are the differences in Tool Router MCP and Ynab MCP?

With a standalone Ynab MCP server, the agents and LLMs can only access a fixed set of Ynab tools tied to that server. However, with the Composio Tool Router, agents can dynamically load tools from Ynab and many other apps based on the task at hand, all through a single MCP endpoint.

Can I use Tool Router MCP with Claude Cowork?

Yes, you can. Claude Cowork fully supports MCP integration. You get structured tool calling, message history handling, and model orchestration while Tool Router takes care of discovering and serving the right Ynab tools.

Can I manage the permissions and scopes for Ynab while using Tool Router?

Yes, absolutely. You can configure which Ynab scopes and actions are allowed when connecting your account to Composio. You can also bring your own OAuth credentials or API configuration so you keep full control over what the agent can do.

How safe is my data with Composio Tool Router?

All sensitive data such as tokens, keys, and configuration is fully encrypted at rest and in transit. Composio is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant and follows strict security practices so your Ynab data and credentials are handled as safely as possible.

Used by agents from

Context
Letta
glean
HubSpot
Agent.ai
Altera
DataStax
Entelligence
Rolai
Context
Letta
glean
HubSpot
Agent.ai
Altera
DataStax
Entelligence
Rolai
Context
Letta
glean
HubSpot
Agent.ai
Altera
DataStax
Entelligence
Rolai

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