YNAB Skill

Interact with YNAB (You Need A Budget) to check balances, view transactions, and manage budgets.

Setup

•
Get your YNAB Personal Access Token:
- •Go to YNAB → Account Settings → Developer Settings
- •Create a new Personal Access Token
- •Copy the token (you won't see it again!)

•

Configure the token (choose one):

bash

# Option 1: Environment variable
export YNAB_TOKEN=your_token_here

# Option 2: Clawdbot config
clawdbot config set ynab.token your_token_here

# Option 3: Local .env file (gitignored)
echo 'YNAB_TOKEN=your_token_here' > skills/ynab/.env

Usage

Run commands via the wrapper script:

bash

bash skills/ynab/ynab.sh <command> [args]

Commands

Command	Description
`budgets`	List all budgets (shows ID and name)
`accounts [budget]`	List open accounts with balances
`categories [budget]`	List categories with available balances
`transactions [budget] [since]`	Recent transactions (default: last 30 days)
`budget-summary [budget]`	Quick overview: accounts + ready to assign
`add <budget> <account_id> <amount> <payee> [category_id]`	Add a transaction
`raw <endpoint>`	Raw API call for debugging

Note: Use last-used as budget ID to target the most recently accessed budget.

Examples

bash

# See all budgets
bash skills/ynab/ynab.sh budgets

# Quick budget overview
bash skills/ynab/ynab.sh budget-summary

# Check account balances
bash skills/ynab/ynab.sh accounts

# Recent transactions
bash skills/ynab/ynab.sh transactions

# Transactions from the last 7 days
bash skills/ynab/ynab.sh transactions last-used 2026-01-23

# Add a $25 expense (negative = outflow)
bash skills/ynab/ynab.sh add last-used <account_id> -25 "Coffee Shop"

When to Use

•User asks about budget, money, spending, balances
•User wants to log a purchase or transaction
•User asks "how much do I have" or "what did I spend on X"
•User wants category breakdowns or spending summaries

Response Style

•Format money as dollars (the API returns milliunits, script converts)
•Keep responses concise — use bullet points for lists
•Offer to add transactions when user mentions purchases
•Be mindful that budget data is sensitive — don't share in group chats

API Reference

•YNAB API Docs
•Rate limit: 200 requests/hour per token

Troubleshooting

"YNAB_TOKEN not set" error: Make sure you've configured your token using one of the methods above.

Empty results:

•Check that your budget has data
•Try budgets first to confirm the token works
•Use raw /budgets to see the raw API response

Privacy Note

This skill accesses your personal financial data. Keep your token secure and don't share it. The .env file is gitignored by default.