Actual Budget MCP Server

MCP server exposing Actual Budget accounts, transactions, budgets and reporting to LLM assistants. Its 36 documented tools cover category, payee, custom, dashboard. It runs locally over stdio via the published package.

People who work with category, payee and custom and want it reachable from Claude, Cursor, VS Code, or another MCP client. The project is written in TypeScript.

VERIFIED ACTIVE

LAST COMMIT 2026-09-18 · ★ 232 · #21 OF 278 MAINTAINED API INTEGRATION · VERIFIED 2026-09-18

MIT · TypeScript servers · how we verify → /methodology

01 · Install Actual Budget MCP Server

before you install - you'll need

Set ACTUAL_PASSWORD, ACTUAL_BUDGET_SYNC_ID, ACTUAL_SYNC_TTL_MS, ACTUAL_BUDGET_ENCRYPTION_PASSWORD, BEARER_TOKEN before connecting. ACTUAL_DATA_DIR, ACTUAL_SERVER_URL are optional or environment-specific per the README.

Claude Code

claude mcp add s-stefanov-actual-mcp -- npx -y actual-mcp

Claude Desktop / Cursor / VS Code - add to config

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "s-stefanov-actual-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "actual-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Same JSON for Cursor. For VS Code, rename the top-level key from `mcpServers` to `servers`.

Using another client? Same JSON, different key

Claude Desktop · mcpServers

Cursor · mcpServers

VS Code · servers

Windsurf · mcpServers

Zed · context_servers

Cline · mcpServers

Roo Code · mcpServers

Continue · mcpServers

LibreChat · mcpServers

Gemini CLI · mcpServers

Codex CLI · mcp_servers

Full setup guides: every client.

02 · Evidence

Security posture

What to check before giving this server access to your agent - from the registry, GitHub, and our own probes. We don't score safety; we show what's verifiable.

runs as local process (stdio) - runs on your machine with your user's permissions

license MIT - declared in the repository

npm package actual-mcp - unscoped; check the name against the project README before installing

registry namespace io.github.s-stefanov is GitHub-verified and matches the repo owner

03 · What Actual Budget MCP Server can do

Prose above is summarized from the project's README and registry record - no invented capabilities.

What you can build

With this server connected, an agent can retrieve and filter transactions by account, date, amount, category, or payee, create a new transaction in an account with optional category, payee, and notes, update an existing transaction with new category, payee, notes, or amount, and view account balance changes over time.

Capability map

Tools grouped from the project's README - what Actual Budget MCP Server lets an agent do.

Category

7 tools - e.g. See how spending in each category moves month over month, with trend direction; Create a new category within a category group; Update an existing category's name or group

category-trends · create-category · update-category · delete-category · create-category-group · update-category-group…

read & search

6 tools - e.g. Retrieve and filter transactions by account, date, amount, category, or payee; Retrieve a list of all accounts with their current balance and ID; Retrieve every dashboard page and the widgets laid out on…

get-transactions · get-accounts · get-dashboards · get-grouped-categories · get-payees · get-rules

Custom

4 tools - e.g. Retrieve every saved custom report from the Reports section; Create a saved custom report; Update fields on a saved custom report, leaving the rest unchanged

get-custom-reports · create-custom-report · update-custom-report · delete-custom-report

Dashboard

4 tools - e.g. Add a widget to a dashboard page; Update a widget's configuration, position, or size; Remove a widget from its page

add-dashboard-widget · update-dashboard-widget · remove-dashboard-widget · organize-dashboard

Payee

3 tools - e.g. Create a new payee; Update an existing payee's details; Delete a payee

create-payee · update-payee · delete-payee

Rule

3 tools - e.g. Create a new transaction rule with conditions and actions; Update an existing transaction rule; Delete a transaction rule

create-rule · update-rule · delete-rule

Transaction

2 tools - e.g. Create a new transaction in an account with optional category, payee, and notes; Update an existing transaction with new category, payee, notes, or amount

create-transaction · update-transaction

Spending

2 tools - e.g. Generate spending breakdowns categorized by type; Rank payees by how much was spent with (or received from) each one

spending-by-category · spending-by-payee

Latest releases

v1.14.0 · 2026-09-14

1.14.0 (2026-09-14) · Fix report correctness: balances, income classification, refunds, dates · Own the Actual connection lifecycle end-to-end · update dependency zod to v4.6.4 · keep release-please tags as…

v1.13.0 · 2026-09-12

1.13.0 (2026-09-12) · add budget endpoints (getBudgetMonths, getBudgetMonth, setBudgetAmount, setBudgetCarryover, holdBudgetForNextMonth, resetBudgetHold) · add create-transaction tool · add five analysis report tools…

v1.12.1 · 2026-08-11

1.12.1 (2026-08-11) · update dependency @actual-app/api to v26.8.1 · update dependency @actual-app/core to v26.8.1 · update dependency zod to v4.4.3 · re-sync with the server instead of serving the startup snapshot…

04 · Who maintains Actual Budget MCP Server

Actual Budget MCP Server is maintained by s-stefanov. It's the only MCP server we track from this author; the repo dates to Mar 2025.

05 · Facts

category
API integration - ranked #21 of 278 actively-maintained API integration servers as of 2026-09-18.
release cadence
4 releases in the last 90 days (latest 2026-09-14)
registry
io.github.s-stefanov/actual-mcp (active, first published 2026-09-12 · 2 versions)
packages
npm:actual-mcp · npm:actual-mcp

06 · Actual Budget MCP Server FAQ

Is Actual Budget MCP Server still maintained?

Yes - as of 2026-09-18, its last commit was 2026-09-18 and it shipped 4 releases in the last 90 days. We re-verify nightly.

What can Actual Budget MCP Server do?

With this server connected, an agent can retrieve and filter transactions by account, date, amount, category, or payee, create a new transaction in an account with optional category, payee, and notes, update an existing transaction with new category, payee, notes, or amount, and view account balance changes over time.

How do I install Actual Budget MCP Server?

Run `npx -y actual-mcp`. The README documents 7 environment variables (ACTUAL_DATA_DIR, ACTUAL_PASSWORD, ACTUAL_SERVER_URL…) to set first. Set ACTUAL_PASSWORD, ACTUAL_BUDGET_SYNC_ID, ACTUAL_SYNC_TTL_MS, ACTUAL_BUDGET_ENCRYPTION_PASSWORD, BEARER_TOKEN before connecting. ACTUAL_DATA_DIR, ACTUAL_SERVER_URL are optional or environment-specific per the README. You can also paste the ready-made client config above.

Does Actual Budget MCP Server run locally?

Yes - it's a stdio server: it runs on your machine (via npx) with your user's permissions. Your data stays local unless the server itself calls external APIs.

07 · Alternatives to Actual Budget MCP Server

More API integration MCP servers · CatchDoms - Expired Domains API · Banco Inter · Laserfiche MCP · Qcad MCP · Ecb MCP

More TypeScript MCP servers · Threadline MCP · Moltbridge · Frappe Dev MCP Server · App CN · Keenetic MCP · see all