Monarch Money MCP: Setup, Caps, and Gaps

Checked November 3, 2026. Monarch claims are from the MCP help article (updated October 29, 2026), the October 21, 2026 announcement, the November 2, 2026 product update, and monarch.com/pricing. FYN claims are from the MCP reference, pricing, and registry entry fyi.fyn/finance. If a page did not say it, it is not here.

Short answer. Monarch Money has an official MCP server at https://api.monarch.com/mcp. The October 21 post says the connector is back after a pause. Read is the default. Write is optional, and Monarch cannot undo it. Weekly caps apply on Core and Plus, and Plus gets significantly more usage. Unlimited usage for everyone ran through October 31, 2026. That window is closed. Finicity-connected accounts are left out, which particularly affects brokerage accounts through Fidelity. The assistant signs in to Monarch. It does not get a bank password.

What the Monarch Money MCP is

MCP (Model Context Protocol) lets an assistant call an app for one kind of data. Monarch's announcement says this server can answer from accounts, transactions, budgets, investments, and net worth history. The help article adds categories and balances. With write on, it can create or edit transactions, tags, and rules.

read returns that data. write can change it. Read-only is the default. Write is granted only if the client asks and you approve it. On the consent screen, uncheck Write and leave Read ticked. You do not share your Monarch password. Sign-in is OAuth in the browser: the required reporting to your data providers, then the scope. You cannot limit the grant to one account, category, or date range. Monarch says finer controls are not available yet, and it gives no date. A prompt that names restaurants narrows the question, not the permission. Other apps' servers are in Which budget apps have an MCP server.

How to connect it

1. Copy https://api.monarch.com/mcp.
2. Add it as a custom MCP connector.
3. Sign in to Monarch in the browser. Leave Write off the first time.
4. Ask a figure you can check in Monarch, such as last month's restaurant total.
5. Open Settings, then MCP Connector. Confirm the tool name, authorization time, last active time, and scopes.

The help article links a per-client setup guide for the current menu names. Gemini CLI is supported. Grok, Muse, and Perplexity are not. The same URL may work there. Monarch does not promise support for them.

ChatGPT

ChatGPT is web only, on a Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, or Education plan. The mobile apps are not the path Monarch documents. Add the URL, sign in, and leave Write unchecked if you do not want edits. This connector reads Monarch. It is separate from ChatGPT's own Finances feature. What to redact before an upload is in is it safe to connect ChatGPT to your bank.

Claude

Monarch supports Claude Desktop and Claude Code. Add the URL and finish the browser sign-in. If Desktop cannot reach the server, update it and try again. After a config edit, quit fully and reopen. Closing the window is not always a quit. In Claude Code, /mcp prints an authorization link and the status when the browser does not open, including over SSH. A missing-scope error means a write tool ran on a read grant. Revoke the connection and reconnect with write only if you mean to allow edits.

Cursor

Add the same URL, then quit Cursor fully and reopen it. Monarch groups Cursor with Claude Desktop on that restart. If the browser does not open, use the authorization URL in the client logs and pick Read unless you want edits. The URL has to be exact. A timeout is a retry. If a firewall blocks 127.0.0.1, the desktop redirect fails. Allow that loopback traffic and wait for the authorization-successful page.

What an answer can leave out

The connector returns what the assistant asked for, such as transactions, categories, or balances. It does not return Finicity-provided data. Monarch says AI-tool terms with Finicity are still open, and that it hopes to add those accounts later. An answer can omit an account that still shows in the Monarch app. That gap may particularly affect brokerage accounts through Fidelity. The incompatible list is at the top of the MCP integrations page.

A missing account is not a zero. Ask which accounts the connector can see before you trust a net worth or a category sum. Switching to another data provider can change the connection and the history, and Finicity may still be the better link, so a switch is not required. Long strings beside accounts are internal Monarch identifiers. Monarch stores the last four digits, not the full account number.

Weekly caps

The connector is on Core and Plus. Usage resets every week. Plus gets significantly more than Core, and Plus has no weekly cap on writes except safeguards against misuse. The help article does not publish the weekly number. The meter is in Settings, then MCP Connector. "Rate limit exceeded" means the week is used up. The increase Monarch names is Plus.

The November 2, 2026 update says usage was unlimited for everyone through October 31, 2026. Checked November 3, 2026, that window is over. Monarch does not retain prompts or replies through the connector. Returned data follows the AI provider's policies. Revoke stops later calls immediately and does not pull back data already sent. There is no customer-facing log of each request, only the tool name, authorization time, last active time, and scopes.

Monarch MCP vs FYN MCP

Monarch's column is the connector above. FYN's column is our product. The wider comparison is FYN vs Monarch Money and the Monarch compare page. Prices are monarch.com/pricing on November 3, 2026, in US dollars, plus tax where it applies: a 7-day trial, then the paid price. More price notes are in Monarch Money pricing.

The clocks differ. Monarch meters the week and does not print the number. FYN meters tool calls by the day. Neither number says how many plain-language questions fit. The assistant decides how many tool calls a question becomes.

Checklist

Before you rely on a total, run this list.

1. The URL is exactly https://api.monarch.com/mcp. You signed in to Monarch in the browser. The assistant does not have your Monarch password.
2. Write is off unless you want edits. Monarch cannot undo them. If the client can preview a bulk change, ask for the preview before it saves.
3. You asked which accounts it can see. Finicity accounts are absent, particularly Fidelity brokerage accounts. A missing account is not a zero.
4. You checked the weekly meter. Plus is the higher allowance. Unlimited usage ended October 31, 2026.
5. You can see the tool name, authorization time, last active time, and scopes. That screen is not a line for every request. Revoke is there, and it cuts the tool off immediately.

Where FYN fits

FYN publishes a read-only personal finance MCP server. Registry name fyi.fyn/finance, version 1.1.0, status active, updated November 2, 2026, at https://mcp.fyn.fyi. The reference lists 36 tools. The only scope is fyn.read. The tools read transactions, budgets, cash flow, net worth, investments, and itemized receipts. They do not create, change, or delete those records, and FYN never moves money.

Link each bank once, on Pro, up to 15 accounts. Agents then connect to FYN, never to your bank, and they do not receive a bank password. Agent Activity shows every time an agent reads your data, kept for 90 days. Disconnect anytime, from Agent Activity or from Settings, then Agent access.

In ChatGPT, FYN is a custom plugin. Open chatgpt.com/plugins, add a custom MCP server, and paste https://mcp.fyn.fyi. The clicks are in Connect your money to ChatGPT, Claude, or any AI agent. The same URL serves Cursor. ChatGPT, Claude, and Cursor are also on fyn.fyi/agents.

If you do not want bank sync, the free plan still pulls receipts from email and picks up Apple Pay and Google Wallet purchases, including on-device taps. A free account does not sync a bank. Pro adds the bank link.

Start free. The free plan does not expire and does not ask for a card. It includes the connection, at 500 tool calls a day. Pro is $9.99 a month, with bank sync and 10,000 tool calls a day.

FAQ

Sources

Checked November 3, 2026.

• Monarch help, updated October 29, 2026: MCP connector.
• Monarch, October 21, 2026: announcement.
• Monarch, November 2, 2026: product update.
• monarch.com/pricing, checked November 3, 2026.
• FYN: MCP reference, connect, pricing. Registry fyi.fyn/finance version 1.1.0, updated November 2, 2026: official MCP Registry.