sbroenne/mcp-server-excel

ExcelMcp - MCP Server for Microsoft Excel

Automate Excel with AI - A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for comprehensive Excel automation through conversational AI.

ExcelMcp is a comprehensive Excel automation toolkit with two interfaces:

1. MCP Server: Enables AI assistants (GitHub Copilot, Claude, ChatGPT) to automate Excel through natural language commands
2. CLI Tool: Provides direct command-line control for scripting, RPA, and CI/CD workflows

Both share the same core functionality: automate Power Query, DAX measures, VBA macros, PivotTables, formatting, and data transformations. Choose MCP for AI-powered conversations or CLI for programmatic control - no Excel programming knowledge required. Built on Excel's native COM API for zero risk of file corruption.

💡 Interactive Development: Unlike file-based tools, ExcelMcp lets you see results instantly in Excel - create a query, run it, inspect the output, refine and repeat. Excel becomes your interactive workspace for rapid development and testing.

🤔 What is This?

Use natural language OR command-line to automate complex Excel tasks - your choice.

Stop manually clicking through Excel menus for repetitive tasks. Instead, describe what you want in plain English:

Data Transformation & Analysis:

• "Optimize all my Power Queries in this workbook for better performance"
• "Create a PivotTable from SalesData table showing top 10 products by region with sum and average"
• "Build a DAX measure calculating year-over-year growth with proper time intelligence"

Formatting & Styling (No Programming Required):

• "Format the revenue columns as currency, make headers bold with blue background, and add borders to the table"
• "Apply conditional formatting to highlight values above $10,000 in red and below $5,000 in yellow"
• "Convert this data range to an Excel Table with style TableStyleMedium2, add auto-filters, and create a totals row"

Workflow Automation:

• "Find all cells containing 'Q1 2024' and replace with 'Q1 2025', then sort the table by Date descending"
• "Add data validation dropdowns to the Status column with options: Active, Pending, Completed"
• "Merge the header cells, center-align them, and auto-fit all column widths to content"

The AI assistant analyzes your request, generates the proper Excel automation commands, and executes them directly in your Excel application - no formulas or programming knowledge required.

Real-World Example - Power Query Optimization:

You: "This Power Query is taking 5 minutes to refresh. Can you optimize it?"

AI Assistant (using ExcelMcp):
1. Exports the M code to analyze performance bottlenecks
2. Identifies queries that can use query folding
3. Refactors the M code to push operations to the data source
4. Updates the query in your workbook
5. Tests the refresh (now completes in 30 seconds)

Result: A professionally optimized Power Query with documented improvements

🛡️ 100% Safe - Uses Excel's Native COM API

Unlike third-party libraries that manipulate .xlsx files directly (risking file corruption), ExcelMcp uses Excel's official COM API. This ensures:

• ✅ Zero risk of document corruption - Excel handles all file operations safely
• ✅ Interactive development - See changes in real-time, create → test → refine → iterate instantly
• ✅ Timeout protection - Built-in safeguards prevent indefinite hangs (2-min default, 5-min max)
• ✅ Comprehensive automation - Currently supports 166 operations across 12 specialized tools covering Power Query, Data Model/DAX, VBA, PivotTables, Excel Tables, ranges, and more

💻 For Developers: Think of Excel as an AI-powered REPL - write code (Power Query M, DAX, VBA), execute instantly, inspect results visually in the live workbook. No more blind editing of .xlsx files.

🔧 Advanced Features:

• Batch Operations - Group multiple operations in a single Excel session for 75-90% faster execution
• Timeout Protection - Automatic timeout enforcement with rich error messages and LLM-friendly guidance ()
• Progress Logging - Real-time operation status updates via stderr (MCP protocol compatible)
• Error Recovery - Intelligent retry suggestions and operation-specific troubleshooting guidance

👥 Who Should Use This?

Perfect for:

• ✅ Data analysts automating repetitive Excel workflows
• ✅ Developers building Excel-based data solutions
• ✅ Business users managing complex Excel workbooks
• ✅ Teams maintaining Power Query/VBA/DAX code in Git

Not suitable for:

• ❌ Server-side data processing (use libraries like ClosedXML, EPPlus instead)
• ❌ Linux/macOS users (Windows + Excel installation required)
• ❌ High-volume batch operations (consider Excel-free alternatives)

🎯 What You Can Do

Development & Automation:

• 🔄 Power Query - 16 operations: atomic workflows (create, update-and-refresh, refresh-all), manage transformations, load configurations (worksheet, data model, connection only), error diagnostics, M code evaluation
• 📊 Power Pivot (Data Model) - 15 operations: build DAX measures, manage relationships, discover model structure (tables, columns), export to .dax files
• 🎨 Excel Tables - 26 operations: automate formatting, filtering, sorting, structured references, number formats, column management
• 📈 PivotTables - 20 operations: create and configure PivotTables for interactive analysis
• 📝 VBA Macros - 7 operations: export/import/run VBA code, integrate with version control
• 📋 Ranges & Data - 45 operations: values, formulas, copy/paste, find/replace, formatting, validation, merge, conditional formatting, cell protection
• 📄 Worksheets - 13 operations: lifecycle management, tab colors, visibility controls
• 🔌 Connections - 11 operations: manage OLEDB, ODBC, Text, Web data sources
• 🏷️ Named Ranges - 7 operations: named range management and bulk operations

🚀 Quick Start (2 Minutes)

Requirements: Windows OS + Microsoft Excel 2016+

⚠️ Important: Close all Excel files before using ExcelMcp. The server requires exclusive access to workbooks during automation (Excel COM limitation).

⭐ Recommended: VS Code Extension (One-Click Setup)

Fastest way to get started - everything configured automatically:

1. Install Extension

   • Open VS Code → Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X)
   • Search for "ExcelMcp"
   • Click Install

2. Automatic Setup (no manual steps!)

   • ✅ Installs .NET 8 runtime
   • ✅ Includes bundled MCP server
   • ✅ Registers with AI assistants
   • ✅ Shows quick start guide

3. Start Using It

   The extension opens automatically after installation with a quick start guide!

Manual Installation (Advanced Users)

For non-VS Code environments or manual setup:

# Install .NET 8 SDK
winget install Microsoft.DotNet.SDK.8

# Install ExcelMcp MCP server as a global tool
dotnet tool install --global Sbroenne.ExcelMcp.McpServer

# To update to the latest version later:
dotnet tool update --global Sbroenne.ExcelMcp.McpServer

Configure Your AI Assistant

For GitHub Copilot in VS Code - Create .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace:

{
  "servers": {
    "excel": {
      "command": "dotnet",
      "args": ["tool", "run", "mcp-excel"]
    }
  }
}

For GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio - Create .mcp.json in your solution directory or %USERPROFILE%\.mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "excel": {
      "command": "dotnet",
      "args": ["tool", "run", "mcp-excel"]
    }
  }
}

For Claude Desktop - Add to your MCP configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "excel": {
      "command": "dotnet",
      "args": ["tool", "run", "mcp-excel"]
    }
  }
}

Test It Out

Try a practical example - ask your AI assistant:

Create an empty Excel file called "test.xlsx" and add a Power Query that loads data from a CSV file

The AI will guide you through the process and execute the commands directly!

🔧 How It Works - COM Interop Architecture

ExcelMcp uses Windows COM automation to control the actual Excel application (not just .xlsx files).

This means you get:

• ✅ Full Excel Feature Access - Power Query engine, VBA runtime, Data Model, calculation engine, pivot tables
• ✅ True Compatibility - Works exactly like Excel UI, no feature limitations
• ✅ Live Data Operations - Refresh Power Query, connections, Data Model in real workbooks
• ✅ Interactive Development - Immediate Excel feedback as AI makes changes
• ✅ All File Formats - .xlsx, .xlsm, .xlsb, even legacy formats

Technical Requirements:

• ⚠️ Windows Only - COM interop is Windows-specific
• ⚠️ Excel Required - Microsoft Excel 2016 or later must be installed
• ⚠️ Desktop Environment - Controls actual Excel process (not for server-side processing)

🔟 MCP Tools Overview

12 specialized tools for comprehensive Excel automation:

1. excel_powerquery (16 actions) - Power Query M code: create, view, import, export, update, delete, manage load destinations, privacy levels, errors, eval, list Excel sources
2. excel_datamodel (15 actions) - Power Pivot (Data Model): CRUD DAX measures/relationships, discover structure (tables, columns), export to .dax files
3. excel_table (26 actions) - Excel Tables: lifecycle, columns, filters, sorts, structured references, totals, number formatting, Data Model integration
4. excel_pivottable (20 actions) - PivotTables: create from ranges/tables, field management (row/column/value/filter), aggregations, filters, sorting, extract data
5. excel_range (45 actions) - Ranges: get/set values/formulas, number formatting, visual formatting (font, fill, border, alignment), data validation, clear, copy, insert/delete, find/replace, sort, hyperlinks, merge, conditional formatting, cell protection
6. excel_vba (7 actions) - VBA: list, view, export, import, update, run, delete modules
7. excel_connection (11 actions) - Connections: OLEDB/ODBC/Text/Web management, properties, refresh, test
8. excel_worksheet (13 actions) - Worksheets: lifecycle (list, create, rename, copy, delete), tab colors (set-tab-color, get-tab-color, clear-tab-color), visibility (set-visibility, get-visibility, show, hide, very-hide)
9. excel_namedrange (7 actions) - Named ranges: list, get, set, create, create-bulk, delete, update
10. excel_file (3 actions) - File operations: create empty .xlsx/.xlsm workbooks, close workbook, test
11. excel_batch (3 actions) - Multi-operation performance: begin, commit, list

Total: 12 tools with 166 actions

📚 - Detailed tool documentation and examples

📋 Additional Information

Testing Philosophy

Why No Unit Tests? ExcelMcp uses integration tests exclusively because Excel COM cannot be meaningfully mocked. Our integration tests ARE our unit tests. See for full architectural rationale.

CLI for Direct Automation

ExcelMcp also provides a command-line interface for Excel automation (no AI required). See for complete documentation.

Project Information

License: MIT License - see file

Contributing: See for guidelines

Built With: This entire project was developed using GitHub Copilot AI assistance

Acknowledgments:

• Microsoft Excel Team - For comprehensive COM automation APIs
• Model Context Protocol community - For the AI integration standard
• Open Source Community - For inspiration and best practices

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