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sbroenne/excel-mcp

v0.0.0MIT

Let an AI assistant create and update Microsoft Excel workbooks: work with cells, formulas, Power Query, PivotTables, charts, and VBA in the desktop app. Requires Windows, desktop Excel 2016 or later, and Node.js 18 or later.

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Excel MCP Plugin

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Let your AI assistant create and update Microsoft Excel workbooks: work with cells, formulas, Power Query, PivotTables, charts, and VBA in the desktop app.

Ask your assistant to enter data, write formulas, refresh Power Query, build PivotTables and charts, work with DAX, or run VBA. ExcelMcp operates the actual Excel application, so Excel handles calculations and workbook features.

Requires Windows, desktop Excel 2016 or later, an MCP-compatible client, and Node.js 18 or later with npx. ExcelMcp runs in an interactive desktop session.

What you can ask your assistant to do

RequestResult
"Create a sales tracker with Date, Product, Quantity, Unit Price, and Total columns."A workbook with a table and formulas.
"Create a PivotTable showing revenue by region, then add a chart."A summary and chart built in Excel.
"Refresh the Power Query queries in this workbook and save it."Updated query results saved in the workbook.
"Show me Excel while you work."Excel is visible as the assistant makes changes.

The server provides 60 MCP tools across 31 feature areas, with 408 operations, including Power Query, DAX and the Data Model, PivotTables, tables, charts, worksheets, formulas, VBA, and more. See the complete feature reference.

Install

Install from Awesome Copilot, the default marketplace in current Copilot clients:

copilot plugin install excel-mcp@awesome-copilot

Or use the direct marketplace:

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

Choose one marketplace for this plugin; do not install both copies.

The plugin includes its MCP launch configuration and runs the published npm package through npx:

npx -y @sbroenne/mcp-server-excel@latest

You do not need to add a separate MCP server entry to ~/.copilot/mcp-config.json. For another MCP-compatible client, follow the MCP Server installation guide.

MCP or CLI?

The MCP Server and the CLI plugin give your assistant the same Excel features. You can install either or both; the difference is only technical:

InterfaceWorks withContext
MCP ServerAny MCP-compatible client60 tool schemas loaded into context
CLI (excelcli)Agents that can run terminal commandsBuilt-in help, read only when needed

Coding agents can use either one. The CLI usually uses fewer AI tokens because the agent does not load every tool definition up front. In one comparison using the same task and AI model, the CLI used about 59,000 AI tokens and MCP used 163,000 (about 64% fewer with CLI). This is one measured result, not a promise; results vary by task, model, and AI client. See the benchmark context.

More features

  • Workbooks and data: create or open workbooks, edit ranges and tables, and work with formulas.
  • Analysis: refresh Power Query, query the Data Model with DAX, and build PivotTables and slicers.
  • Reports: create and format charts, worksheets, and conditional formatting.
  • Automation: manage connections, run VBA, and automate Excel windows.
  • Protected workbooks: detect IRM/AIP protection and open Excel visibly for sign-in.

M and DAX code stays on your computer by default. If you enable formatMCode=true or formatDax=true, the corresponding code is sent to powerqueryformatter.com or daxformatter.com for formatting. Only enable these options when you want to send code to those services.

Supported clients

  • GitHub Copilot
  • Claude Desktop
  • Cursor
  • Cline
  • Windsurf
  • Other MCP-compatible clients

Support