Connect an AI assistant to EnvelopeBudget—with scoped access

A useful budget question rarely fits in one number. “Can I fund a trip this fall?” depends on account balances, envelope targets, recent spending, upcoming obligations, and the difference between money you have and money you already gave a job.

You can explain all of that to an AI assistant by hand. Or the assistant can read the same structured budget context—with your permission—and help you review it.

EnvelopeBudget now has a remote Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for that second option. Every API key is read-only by default. Version 1.2 adds separate, narrowly scoped permissions for provider suggestions and agent-native inbox categorization.

What EnvelopeBudget MCP can do #

Connect a compatible client and the assistant can use tools to:

• List budgets you are authorized to access
• Review accounts, envelopes, balances, and targets
• Search bounded pages of transactions
• Summarize spending and cashflow across bounded date ranges
• Review the current AI disclosure and existing categorization jobs or suggestions
• With an explicitly enabled key, approve or reject selected pending categorization suggestions
• With a separately enabled key, assign recently reviewed inbox transactions directly to explicit envelopes

That is enough context for questions such as:

Compare this month's spending by envelope with my current envelope balances. Where should I adjust next month's funding?

Or:

Show uncategorized transactions from the last 14 days. Do not include memo text.

The server also includes prompts for reviewing a budget, triaging a transaction inbox, and planning monthly envelope funding.

A narrow write boundary #

MCP v1.2 still cannot create arbitrary transactions or edit their amounts, dates, payees, memos, or accounts. It cannot move money, change an envelope target, modify an account, record disclosure consent, or categorize a transaction without a current signed state token.

Read-only keys retain the original behavior. Provider-suggestion decisions and direct agent categorization use separate permissions. Direct assignment requires a short-lived signed token from the transaction read, so a changed amount, payee, date, memo, account, split, or inbox state stops the entire batch instead of applying an outdated decision.

This is not a request for the model to behave. The server enforces the key scope, validates bounded inputs, and does not expose general transaction or fund-movement tools.

How access works #

The production endpoint is:

https://envelopebudget.com/mcp

It uses Streamable HTTP and a dedicated EnvelopeBudget developer API key in an Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY header.

OAuth is not supported in version 1. A client that only supports OAuth login, cannot attach a static header, or only supports legacy SSE cannot connect directly.

The server is listed in the official MCP Registry as com.envelopebudget/mcp, version 1.2.0. The Registry entry publishes discovery metadata; it does not grant access or host your financial data.

Set it up in three steps #

1. In EnvelopeBudget, open Developer → API Keys and create a dedicated key. Give it an expiration date. Leave both categorization permissions off unless this client needs one of those workflows.
2. Add https://envelopebudget.com/mcp to a compatible client, using the client's password prompt, environment interpolation, or secret store when available.
3. Restart or reconnect the client, list your budgets, and begin with a bounded question.

We have configuration examples for Cursor, VS Code, Claude Desktop through mcp-remote, Hermes Agent, and other Streamable HTTP clients in the EnvelopeBudget MCP setup guide. Client formats change, so the guide also links you to current client documentation.

Treat the connection like financial access #

MCP responses may contain sensitive budget and transaction data. Your chosen client and AI provider can process the data returned by tools, so review that provider's policies before connecting.

A few practical rules:

• Never paste your API key into a prompt, issue, screenshot, or source-controlled file.
• Use a dedicated, expiring key and revoke it immediately if exposed.
• Memo text is omitted unless you explicitly request it.
• Imported payee and memo text should be treated as untrusted content.
• Budget membership and role still determine which data the key can read.
• Rotate or delete the key in EnvelopeBudget when you want to disconnect a client.

Amounts are returned as integer milliunits with currency metadata. 1000 milliunits equals one currency unit. That detail prevents floating-point surprises, but it is worth including when you ask an assistant to show its math.

Start with a review, then add only the permission you need #

Start with a read-only key. Ask for a summary. Compare a plan with actual spending. Look for uncategorized transactions. Have the assistant explain its reasoning.

If inbox categorization becomes repetitive, create a separate key with only direct transaction categorization enabled. The agent you already chose makes the decision; EnvelopeBudget validates the observed state, applies the bounded batch once, records attribution, and gives you one Undo action. It still cannot rewrite the rest of your budget.

See what EnvelopeBudget MCP can review and how to connect it, go directly to the client setup guide, or use the public documentation and issue tracker.