ExcelMcp - MCP Server for Microsoft Excel

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

MCP Server for Excel enables AI assistants (GitHub Copilot, Claude, ChatGPT) to automate Excel through natural language commands. Automate Power Query, DAX measures, VBA macros, PivotTables, Charts, formatting, and data transformations - no Excel programming knowledge required.

🛡️ 100% Safe - Uses Excel's Native COM API - Zero risk of file corruption. Unlike third-party libraries that manipulate .xlsx files directly, this project uses Excel's official API ensuring complete safety and compatibility.

💡 Interactive Development - See results instantly in Excel. Create a query, run it, inspect the output, refine and repeat. Excel becomes your AI-powered workspace for rapid development and testing.

Optional CLI Tool: For advanced users who prefer command-line scripting, ExcelMcp includes a CLI interface for RPA workflows, CI/CD pipelines, and batch automation. Both interfaces share the same 172 operations.

🚀 Quick Start (1 Minute)

Requirements: Windows OS + Microsoft Excel 2016+

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

Fastest way to get started - everything configured automatically: Install from Marketplace

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

For Visual Studio, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, or other MCP clients:

📖 Complete Installation Guide → - Step-by-step setup for all AI assistants with ready-to-use config files

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

🎯 What You Can Do

12 specialized tools with 172 operations:

• 🔄 Power Query (9 ops) - Atomic workflows, M code management, load destinations
• 📊 Data Model/DAX (14 ops) - Measures, relationships, model structure
• 🎨 Excel Tables (24 ops) - Lifecycle, filtering, sorting, structured references
• 📈 PivotTables (25 ops) - Creation, fields, aggregations, data extraction
• 📉 Charts (14 ops) - Create, configure, manage series and formatting
• 📝 VBA (6 ops) - Modules, execution, version control
• 📋 Ranges (42 ops) - Values, formulas, formatting, validation, protection
• 📄 Worksheets (16 ops) - Lifecycle, colors, visibility, cross-workbook moves
• 🔌 Connections (9 ops) - OLEDB/ODBC management and refresh
• 🏷️ Named Ranges (6 ops) - Parameters and configuration
• 📁 Files (5 ops) - Session management and workbook creation
• 🎨 Conditional Formatting (2 ops) - Rules and clearing

📚 Complete Feature Reference → - Detailed documentation of all 172 operations

💬 Example Prompts

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"
• "Create a data model from the following tables ... "
• "Build a DAX measure calculating year-over-year growth with proper time intelligence"
• "Filter this table by Column Product = Sushi"
• *"Create a treemap chart from this table".

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"

👥 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)

📋 Additional Information

CLI for Direct Automation

xcelMcp includes a CLI interface for Excel automation without AI assistance. This is useful for RPA workflows, CI/CD pipelines, or batch processing scripts. Run excelcli --help for a categorized list of commands, or excelcli sheet --help (replace sheet) to view action-specific options. Always follow the session pattern: excelcli session open <file> → run commands with --session <id> → excelcli session save/close <id>. See CLI Guide for complete documentation.

🔧 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)

📚 Complete MCP Server Guide → - Detailed tool documentation and examples

Project Information

License: MIT License - see LICENSE file

Contributing: See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines

Built With: This entire project was developed using GitHub Copilot AI assistance - mainly with Claude but lately with Auto-mode.

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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