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MCP Budget in Claude Code

Monthly envelopes you set and check inside the conversation. budget_set declares a category and its monthly cap, budget_spend records an amount against one, and budget_report answers what is left — computed in the chat, no spreadsheet to open; amounts carry through the money formatter so 400 stays 400.00 and the arithmetic never drifts.

Category state is per-session, so the practical shape is one project whose .mcp.json carries the budget server: a team's shared spending log for tools, APIs and hosting, checked with a question.

What you get in Claude Code

You say	Tool
Set a groceries budget at 400 a month.	`budget_set`
Log 62.40 on groceries.	`budget_spend`
How is the groceries budget doing?	`budget_report`

The contract suite drives the ledger over real stdio: budget_set then two budget_spend calls leave budget_report showing the remaining cap to the cent, an overspend is reported as a negative remainder rather than clamped, and categories are independent so spending on one does not move another.

Install it in Claude Code

The file is .mcp.json, and the key inside it is mcpServers.

Scope	Path
local (default)	`~/.claude.json, this project only`
project	`.mcp.json at the repository root`
user	`~/.claude.json, every project`

If you also run Claude Desktop, the shortest path there is one click: budget.mcpb from the latest release opens as an extension, with no JSON and no terminal. Claude Code reads its own config, so here it is:

From the terminal, against a built file:

claude mcp add --scope user budget -- node /absolute/path/to/mcp-servers/servers/budget/dist/index.js
claude mcp list    # health-check it before the first prompt

# or --scope project, committed to .mcp.json for the team

The node command above wants a built file. From a clone, once:

git clone https://github.com/theluckystrike/mcp-servers.git
cd mcp-servers && npm install
npm run build -w packages/mcp-license -w servers/budget

That writes servers/budget/dist/index.js, and its absolute path is the one argument the config needs.

The npm packages are not published yet, so the form below returns a 404 today. It is here because it is what the entry becomes the day the publish lands, with nothing else changed:

claude mcp add budget -- npx -y @theluckystrike/mcp-budget

No restart. The entry is picked up in the next session, and `/mcp` reconnects one on demand.

Nothing is published to npm yet, so the working install paths are the ones above: the .mcpb bundle from the latest release, a clone and build, or the hosted URL.

No install: the hosted endpoint

There is no hosted endpoint for this one yet. MCP Budget runs locally over stdio with the config above, which is also the only form in which it reads and writes files on your own disk. Thirty of the servers in this collection are served at https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/<name> over MCP streamable HTTP; https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/connect lists them and prints a ready URL for each.

Claude Code notes worth knowing first

The `--` is load-bearing: it separates Claude Code's own options, such as --transport, --env and --scope, from the command that runs the server. And the default scope is local, private to you and to the directory you ran it in, so adding it in the wrong folder leaves the tools absent with no error at all.

Free: Everything: three tools, no metering, no key. Pro is $19 once, verified offline.

Questions

Which scope should I use for MCP Budget?

Local, the default, writes ~/.claude.json and is private to you and that directory. --scope project writes .mcp.json at the repository root, shared through version control. --scope user loads it everywhere.

Why did my first prompt ignore the server?

Measured, not documented: of three fresh projects, one first prompt made zero tool calls although initialize answered in 1.05 seconds. Run claude mcp list once first: it prints Connected, and the next run used the tool.

Can I use MCP Budget without installing anything?

Not this one. The office suite starts every sibling server as its own child process, so it runs locally over stdio. Thirty of those children are hosted individually at https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/<name> if you want a no-install route; open https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/connect and it prints a ready URL for each.

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