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sbroenne/excel-cli

v0.0.0MIT

Windows-only Excel automation plugin that bootstraps the latest excelcli runtime on first use.

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Excel CLI Plugin

Command-line Excel automation for coding agents — 64% more token-efficient than MCP Server

This plugin provides the excel-cli skill plus a lightweight runtime bootstrap for GitHub Copilot CLI agents. The skill guides agents to use excelcli commands for Power Query, DAX, PivotTables, Tables, Charts, VBA, and more — all through Windows Excel COM automation.

Best for: Coding agents (GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Windsurf) that need Excel automation without loading large tool schemas into context.

Prerequisites

  • Windows with Microsoft Excel 2016 or later (COM interop required)

Installation

Step 1: Register Plugin Marketplace and Install

copilot plugin marketplace add sbroenne/mcp-server-excel-plugins
copilot plugin install excel-cli@mcp-server-excel-plugins

Step 2: Install the Optional Global Shim

If you want excelcli on PATH for shell usage outside plugin-driven flows, install the plugin-provided shim:

pwsh -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File `
  "$env:USERPROFILE\.copilot\installed-plugins\mcp-server-excel-plugins\excel-cli\com.github.copilot\bin\install-global.ps1"

This writes excelcli.cmd / excelcli.ps1 to ~/.copilot/bin and adds that directory to your user PATH if needed.

Step 3: First Use Bootstraps excelcli

The plugin ships wrapper/download logic instead of a bundled executable. On first real invocation it:

  1. Uses the host-managed persistent plugin data directory (PLUGIN_DATA\runtime) for its cache
  2. Queries the newest GitHub Release from sbroenne/mcp-server-excel
  3. Downloads the self-contained Windows CLI asset if needed
  4. Reuses that runtime for the rest of the chat session without repeated freshness checks

The optional global shim runs outside an Agent Plugins host and uses ~\.copilot\plugin-runtime\mcp-server-excel\excel-cli as its standalone cache. Standalone shim use checks for updates at most once every 24 hours.

You do not need a separate standalone install just to use the plugin.

Step 4: Optional Standalone CLI Install

If you still prefer a fully separate non-plugin install, you can use the normal release channels:

Option A: Standalone Executable

  1. Download ExcelMcp-CLI-{version}-windows.zip from Releases
  2. Extract excelcli.exe to a permanent folder (for example C:\Tools\ExcelMcp\)
  3. Add that folder to your PATH

Option B: .NET Global Tool

dotnet tool install --global Sbroenne.ExcelMcp.CLI
# Requires .NET 10 Runtime

What You Can Do

31 feature command categories with 325 operations for comprehensive Excel automation:

  • Power Query (12 ops) — Create, update, refresh queries; M code management
  • Data Model/DAX (20 ops) — Measures, relationships, source metadata, EVALUATE queries
  • PivotTables (35 ops) — Fields, grouping, cache options, drill-through
  • Excel Tables (27 ops) — Lifecycle, filtering, sorting, DAX-backed tables
  • Charts and Chart Config (33 ops) — Combo series, plotting, placement, formatting
  • Ranges (51 ops) — Values, formulas, hyperlinks, threaded comments, formatting
  • Worksheets (33 ops) — Lifecycle, outlines, protection, notes, images, shapes
  • Workbooks (15 ops) — Metadata, properties, Save As/copy, PDF/XPS, external links
  • VBA (6 ops) — Module management and execution
  • Connections (11 ops) — OLEDB/ODBC management and refresh control
  • QueryTables (9 ops) — Text/CSV and legacy HTML imports
  • Drawing Objects (14 ops) — Shapes, Forms controls, and sparklines
  • What-If Analysis (8 ops) — Goal Seek, scenarios, summaries, data tables
  • XML Maps (6 ops) — Schemas, XPath mapping, secure import/export
  • Conditional Formatting (4 ops) — Add, list, delete, and clear rules
  • Slicers (8 ops) — Interactive filtering for PivotTables and Tables
  • Named Ranges (6 ops) — Create, update, delete named ranges
  • Calculation Mode (3 ops) — Get/set mode, trigger recalculation
  • Python in Excel (2 ops) — Set/get Python formulas and results
  • Screenshot (2 ops) — Capture ranges/sheets as PNG
  • File Operations (5 ops) — Create, open, close, list, and test files
  • Window Management (15 ops) — Show/hide, panes, zoom, display options, positioning

Complete documentation: Full Feature Reference

Why CLI Over MCP Server?

InterfaceBest ForToken Efficiency
CLI (excelcli)Coding agents64% fewer tokens — single tool + skill
MCP ServerConversational AI (Claude Desktop)31 tool schemas loaded into context

Use CLI when: Your agent needs to script Excel operations without consuming context with large tool definitions.

Quick Start Example

# Create new workbook
excelcli -q session create C:\Reports\Sales.xlsx

# Write headers
excelcli -q range set-values --session <id> --sheet Sheet1 `
  --range A1:C1 `
  --values '[["Date","Product","Revenue"]]'

# Write data rows
excelcli -q range set-values --session <id> --sheet Sheet1 `
  --range A2:C3 `
  --values '[["2024-01-15","Widget",1500],["2024-01-16","Gadget",2300]]'

# Create Excel Table
excelcli -q table create --session <id> --sheet Sheet1 `
  --table-name SalesData --range A1:C3

# Save and close
excelcli -q session close --session <id> --save

Key Features

  • Real Excel Engine — Drives the actual Excel application via COM, so live operations run for real and existing workbooks stay intact
  • Session Management — Open once, run many operations, close cleanly
  • Quiet Mode (-q) — JSON output only, perfect for scripting
  • Built-in Help — excelcli --help and excelcli <command> --help
  • Runtime Bootstrap — Uses the persistent plugin cache and resolves release freshness once per Copilot chat session
  • IRM/AIP Support — Auto-detects protected files, opens with Excel visible for sign-in

Support