Finance · Do this yourself

Connect your YNAB budget to Claude Code.

✅ Claude reads the budget and analyzes spending.

Based on Jonathan Lewell on YouTube (opens in new tab)

Who it’s for

Business owners, freelancers, bookkeepers and anyone tracking money.

Adapt it to your industry

  • Restaurant: weekly food-cost summary from invoices
  • Freelancer: sort expenses for tax time
  • Agency: monthly profit per client in one sheet

Step by step

  1. Export the data you have (bank CSV, invoices, sales report) without account numbers.
  2. Open ChatGPT, Claude or Grok, upload or paste it, and paste the prompt below.
  3. Ask for categories, totals and a short summary of anything unusual.
  4. Spot-check 5 lines by hand; correct the AI where it is wrong.
  5. Ask for a Google Sheets template with formulas so you can repeat it monthly.
  6. Have an accountant check anything that affects taxes.

Ready-to-copy prompt

Using the YNAB API, show my top 5 overspent categories this quarter and what changed versus last quarter.

Start with AI

Opens the AI with this guide and the prompt filled in.

Open in ChatGPT (opens in new tab)Open in Claude (opens in new tab)Open in Grok (opens in new tab)
Cost
$0–20/month (free tiers or one AI plan)Our estimate
Time
1–2 weekendsOur estimate

How to make money from it

Pricing idea: Offer monthly bookkeeping or reporting for a fixed fee per client.

Finding your first 10 customers

  • Do one month for free for a business you know.
  • Ask for a testimonial with the time saved.
  • Partner with an accountant who needs help with small clients.

Ideas, not promises. Results vary.

Details: source, numbers and tags

What they did

Claude Code calls the YNAB API with his token.

How it went

Claude reads the budget and analyzes spending.

Worth knowing

Summarized from the video title and description only. Keep the API token private.

Difficulty
IntermediateOur rating
Time to build
Not reportedOur estimate
Monthly cost
Not reported
Revenue
Not reportedWe only show revenue the source states
Engagement
2,231 YouTube viewsfetched Oct 15, 2026

Posted · Added Oct 16, 2026

Original builder recipe

  • Claude Code
  • YNAB API
  1. Connect or export your financial data.
  2. Have the agent categorize and summarize it.
  3. Check the numbers against your statements.
  4. Schedule recurring reports.

Tags

Tool YNAB

Read the original

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