Monarch MCP Server MCP Server

<!-- mcp-name: io.github.jamiew/monarch-mcp -->

Monarch Money MCP Server

Use an AI assistant to read and update your Monarch Money accounts, transactions, and budgets through MCP.

Why this fork?

This FastMCP rewrite adds these tools to colvint's original server:

• Search and bulk edits: search_transactions finds merchants or keywords; update_transactions_bulk edits transactions in parallel with per-item results.
• Spending analysis: get_spending_summary groups totals by category, account, or month; analyze_spending_patterns compares months.
• One-call overview: get_complete_financial_overview combines accounts, budgets, cashflow, transactions, and categories.
• Splits and recurring schedules: read and replace transaction splits, view scheduled occurrences, and edit merchant-wide recurrence.

Unlike the original and keithah's enhanced Python fork, this server also provides:

• Typed results: structured output with outputSchema, plus a text fallback.
• MCP resources and prompts: account/category/institution resources, per-account holdings/history templates, and guided prompts with argument completion.
• Assistant-friendly calls: compact transaction/category records, natural-language dates, read/write labels, and progress on batch analysis.

Comparison checked September 14, 2026. Other forks overlap on financial tools; the enhanced Python fork exposes a broader library API. This project focuses on analysis workflows and MCP integration, not exposing every API method. See the tool catalog.

Setup

Install uv, then configure your MCP client to run uvx monarch-mcp-jamiew. You'll need your Monarch email and password, plus an MFA secret for TOTP-based 2FA.

These features are included in 0.5.2, available through PyPI.

Standard config

For clients with an mcpServers config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "monarch-money": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["monarch-mcp-jamiew"],
      "env": {
        "MONARCH_EMAIL": "your-email@example.com",
        "MONARCH_PASSWORD": "your-password",
        "MONARCH_MFA_SECRET": "your-mfa-secret-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

<details> <summary><b>Claude Desktop</b></summary>

Add the monarch-money entry from the standard config to your config file's mcpServers object (create the file if needed):

• macOS: ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Then fully quit and reopen Claude Desktop.

</details> <details> <summary><b>Claude Code</b></summary>

claude mcp add monarch-money \
  -e MONARCH_EMAIL=your-email@example.com \
  -e MONARCH_PASSWORD=your-password \
  -e MONARCH_MFA_SECRET=your-mfa-secret-key \
  -- uvx monarch-mcp-jamiew

Add -s user to make it available across all your projects. Verify with claude mcp list.

</details> <details> <summary><b>Codex CLI</b></summary>

codex mcp add monarch-money \
  --env MONARCH_EMAIL=your-email@example.com \
  --env MONARCH_PASSWORD=your-password \
  --env MONARCH_MFA_SECRET=your-mfa-secret-key \
  -- uvx monarch-mcp-jamiew

Or add the equivalent block to ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.monarch-money]
command = "uvx"
args = ["monarch-mcp-jamiew"]
env = { MONARCH_EMAIL = "your-email@example.com", MONARCH_PASSWORD = "your-password", MONARCH_MFA_SECRET = "your-mfa-secret-key" }

</details> <details> <summary><b><code>.mcp.json</code> (project-scoped)</b></summary>

For Claude Code's project scope, save the standard config as .mcp.json in your project root. Keep credential-bearing files out of version control.

</details> <details> <summary><b>Hermes</b></summary>

Add to ~/.hermes/config.yaml under mcp_servers:, then /reload-mcp (or restart Hermes):

mcp_servers:
  monarch-money:
    command: uvx
    args: ["monarch-mcp-jamiew"]
    env:
      MONARCH_EMAIL: "your-email@example.com"
      MONARCH_PASSWORD: "your-password"
      MONARCH_MFA_SECRET: "your-mfa-secret-key"

</details> <details> <summary><b>OpenClaw</b></summary>

Add the standard config to ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json under mcpServers, then restart the gateway.

</details> <details> <summary><b>Any other MCP client (Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, Cline, Zed, …)</b></summary>

Set up a local stdio MCP server with command uvx, argument monarch-mcp-jamiew, and the credentials above. Follow your client's config format.

Not sure how? Tell your agent:

Install the Monarch Money MCP server from https://github.com/jamiew/monarch-mcp. The PyPI package is monarch-mcp-jamiew, run via uvx monarch-mcp-jamiew. It needs MONARCH_EMAIL, MONARCH_PASSWORD, and MONARCH_MFA_SECRET for TOTP-based 2FA.

</details> <details> <summary id="from-source-development"><b>From source (development)</b></summary>

Source installs use a pinned monarchmoneycommunity commit:

git clone https://github.com/jamiew/monarch-mcp
cd monarch-mcp
uv sync --locked

Then point your client at the local copy with absolute paths (find them with which uv and pwd):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "monarch-money": {
      "command": "/abs/path/to/uv",
      "args": ["--directory", "/abs/path/to/monarch-mcp", "run", "python", "server.py"],
      "env": {
        "MONARCH_EMAIL": "your-email@example.com",
        "MONARCH_PASSWORD": "your-password",
        "MONARCH_MFA_SECRET": "your-mfa-secret-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

</details>

[!NOTE] The claude mcp add and codex mcp add commands can save credentials in shell history. Edit the client's config directly to avoid that, and protect the config file.

Getting your MFA secret

1. Go to Monarch Money settings and enable 2FA
2. When shown the QR code, look for "Can't scan?" or "Enter manually"
3. Copy the TOTP secret key, not the rotating six-digit code
4. Use this as your MONARCH_MFA_SECRET

Tools

The server exposes these 29 tools.

Tool	Description
get_accounts	List accounts with balances
get_transactions	Transactions with date/account/category and pending/posted filtering
search_transactions	Search by merchant name or keyword, optionally pending/posted only
get_transaction_categories	Category list (compact by default)
get_transaction_rules	Page through compact automation rules in priority order
create_transaction_rule	Create a rule that matches merchant, statement text, or amount
update_transaction_rule	Edit a rule, and optionally run it on past transactions
delete_transaction_rule	Delete a rule; transactions it already changed stay as they are
get_household_members	Household members and IDs for ownership updates
create_transaction	Create a manual transaction
update_transaction	Update transaction fields or assign ownership
update_transactions_bulk	Update fields or owners with per-item success/failure
get_transaction_splits	Read a transaction's splits
get_transaction_details	Resolve split parent and leg IDs; return split flags, category ID, and resolved transaction ID
update_transaction_splits	Replace all splits; an empty list removes them
get_budgets	Budget data and spending analysis
get_cashflow	Income and expense analysis
get_account_holdings	Investment holdings for an account (requires account_id)
get_all_holdings	Holdings grouped by brokerage account; excludes other account types
get_account_history	Paginated balance history with inclusive, locally applied ISO date bounds
get_institutions	Linked financial institutions
get_recurring_transactions	Scheduled occurrences within a date range
update_recurring_transaction	Change a merchant's recurring schedule
set_budget_amount	Set a budget category amount
create_manual_account	Create a manually tracked account
refresh_accounts	Trigger account data refresh
get_spending_summary	Spending aggregated by category, account, or month
get_complete_financial_overview	Compact account, transaction, budget, and cashflow summaries; full sections opt-in
analyze_spending_patterns	Monthly trends and forecasts, with compact budgets and explicit upstream errors

Use is_pending=True for pending transactions or False for posted ones; omit it for both. Single and bulk updates accept owner_user_id from get_household_members. An empty string sets Shared ownership; omitted/null leaves ownership unchanged. Assignments override inherited ownership. Inspect ownedByUser with verbose=True; the update response does not include it.

Rules default to 25 per page (maximum 100); history defaults to 100 (maximum 1,000). Use limit, offset, and returned next_offset to continue; total_count covers all matching records. Rule details remain available with verbose=True.

A rule can set a category, merchant name, tags, or review status. It can also hide transactions from reports. Each rule must look for a merchant name, statement text, or amount. Monarch ignores edits to rules that don't.

When you edit a rule, anything you leave out stays the same. To clear a value, pass [] or "". Monarch replaces the whole rule on every edit, so the server sends back the full rule with your changes. That keeps settings the tools can't edit, such as owners, goals, and splits.

apply_to_existing_transactions=True also changes past transactions that match. That is hard to undo, so check what matches with search_transactions first.

Overviews and spending analysis default to compact summaries; verbose=True restores full sections. Transaction samples are capped at 500 and 2,000 respectively, even in verbose mode. Check batch_metadata.transactions_truncated before treating totals as complete; null means the upstream count was unavailable.

Recurring transactions

get_recurring_transactions(start_date, end_date) returns a forecast, not posted history. Dates accept ISO or natural language. No dates selects this month; one date fills the missing bound from that month.

Occurrences include stream, account, category, and a matched transactionId when available. isPast does not mean paid. Use get_transactions(is_recurring=True) for recorded transactions; do not count forecasts and posted matches twice.

update_recurring_transaction changes a merchant-wide schedule, not one occurrence. Use stream.merchant.id, not stream.id or transactionId, and the current merchant name to avoid renaming it. Pass only settings to change: frequency, base_date, amount, is_recurring, or is_active. Omitted settings stay unchanged. Use Monarch's frequency and signed amount. This does not cancel subscriptions, move money, or create posted transactions.

Transaction format

get_transactions and search_transactions return compact records by default:

{
  "id": "txn_123",
  "date": "2025-03-15",
  "amount": -12.50,
  "merchant": "Corner Deli",
  "plaidName": "CORNER DELI NYC",
  "category": "Restaurants & Bars",
  "categoryId": "cat_001",
  "account": "Main Credit Card",
  "needsReview": true
}

pending appears only when true; notes appears only when nonempty. Set verbose=True on get_transactions or search_transactions for full transaction details, or on get_transaction_categories for full category details.

Session management

Sessions are cached in ~/.monarch-mcp/ for faster subsequent logins (override the location with the MONARCH_SESSION_DIR env var). If you hit auth issues:

• Delete ~/.monarch-mcp/session.pickle to clear the cached session
• Set MONARCH_FORCE_LOGIN=true in your env config to force a fresh login
• Make sure your system clock is accurate (required for TOTP)

Development

Local setup

For live checks, create a .env file (git-ignored) and load it explicitly with uv --env-file:

MONARCH_EMAIL="your-email@example.com"
MONARCH_PASSWORD="your-password"
MONARCH_MFA_SECRET="YOUR_TOTP_SECRET_KEY"

Tests

uv run pytest tests/ -v                          # offline; live tests are skipped
MONARCH_RUN_INTEGRATION=true uv run --env-file .env pytest tests/test_integration.py -v
uv run --env-file .env scripts/health_check.py    # live API connectivity check

Integration tests share one fresh login to avoid MFA reuse and login throttling. They never load .env themselves or read/write saved sessions.

CI checks

Run the same checks as CI:

uv run python scripts/ci.py

Releasing

Use /release to bump pyproject.toml, commit, tag vX.Y.Z, push, and create a GitHub release. The publish workflow publishes to PyPI and the MCP Registry through OIDC, setting server.json versions from the tag.

Log analysis

Measure tool calls and output sizes:

uv run scripts/analyze_logs.py                    # full report
uv run scripts/analyze_logs.py --json             # JSON output
uv run scripts/eval_session.py snapshot           # mark log position
# ... use tools in Claude ...
uv run scripts/eval_session.py analyze            # analyze new entries

Security

Warning: This server uses unofficial Monarch Money API access. Your credentials grant full account access, including writes.

• The server runs locally and returns requested financial data to your MCP client. Review the client's privacy settings and tool approvals.
• Protect your password and MFA secret. The TOTP secret enables ongoing code generation.
• Session files in ~/.monarch-mcp/ contain auth tokens. Protect them and any custom MONARCH_SESSION_DIR.
• Logs can include financial input values and error details. Review them before sharing.
• Never commit credential-bearing .env, .mcp.json, or client config files.
• Monarch Money may change or restrict unofficial API access at any time.

Credits

Forked from colvint/monarch-money-mcp. API access uses bradleyseanf/monarchmoneycommunity, based on hammem/monarchmoney. Source installs pin a commit; PyPI installs use the published library.

Contributors: @caseypugh (transaction splits), @seanperkins (spending summary pagination), @rajatbhagat (setup docs), @samyk (transaction rules), and @prerak-proof (transaction details).