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.
budget_spend writes to the in-memory ledger only, so auto-approve all three; the worst a wrong call does is a wrong number in a report you can re-ask.
| 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.
The file is mcp.json, and the key inside it is mcpServers.
| Scope | Path |
|---|---|
| Cline CLI | ~/.cline/mcp.json |
| The editor extension | opened from the Cline panel, not by path; the documentation deliberately calls it the MCP settings JSON used by the extension |
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.
Cline reads its own config, so here it is:
The config block:
{
"mcpServers": {
"budget": {
"command": "node",
"args": ["/absolute/path/to/mcp-servers/servers/budget/dist/index.js"],
"disabled": false,
"autoApprove": []
}
}
}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/budgetThat 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:
{
"mcpServers": {
"budget": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@theluckystrike/mcp-budget"]
}
}
}No full-app restart. The MCP settings actions include restarting an unresponsive server if its tools do not appear.
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.
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.
Cline is the one client here with an unsafe transport default. `type` selects it, and omitting `type` falls back to the legacy sse transport, so a streamable HTTP endpoint needs it written in or you will debug a server that is fine. Local entries carry "disabled" and an "autoApprove" array.
Free: Everything: three tools, no metering, no key. Pro is $19 once, verified offline.
The CLI reads ~/.cline/mcp.json. For the extension, do not hunt for a path: MCP Servers icon, Configure tab, Configure MCP Servers. cline mcp opens a wizard, and cline config mcp --json is the non-interactive form.
Set the transport explicitly. Omitting type falls back to the legacy sse transport, so streamable HTTP needs "type": "streamableHttp" written in. It is the one default here that sends you debugging a server that works.
Approve the read-only ones and leave the writing ones behind a click: each entry carries an autoApprove array and a disabled flag.
MCP Budget in detail · The same server in Windsurf and Claude.ai and Claude Desktop connectors · Every server in Cline · Guides · Cline docs · Buy Pro