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layout: default
title: "Automate Power Query, DAX & VBA with AI"
description: "Control Microsoft Excel with natural language through AI assistants like GitHub Copilot and Claude. Automate Power Query, DAX, VBA, PivotTables, and more. One-click install for Visual Studio Code."
keywords: "Excel automation, MCP server, AI Excel, Power Query, DAX measures, VBA macros, GitHub Copilot Excel, Claude Excel, Excel CLI, M code, REPL"
canonical_url: "https://excelmcpserver.dev/"
---
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<h1 class="hero-title">Excel MCP Server</h1>
<p class="hero-subtitle">Automate Excel with AI via GitHub Copilot, Claude, and other MCP clients β including Power Query, DAX, VBA, PowerPivot, and Tables.</p>
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## π€ What is This?
**Automate Excel with AI - A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for comprehensive Excel automation through conversational AI.**
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<p><strong>VS Code / GitHub Copilot</strong></p>
<a href="https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=sbroenne.excel-mcp" class="button-link">Install Extension</a>
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<p><strong>Claude Desktop</strong></p>
<a href="https://github.com/sbroenne/mcp-server-excel/releases/latest" class="button-link">One-Click Install</a>
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<p><strong>Cursor, Windsurf, etc.</strong></p>
<a href="/installation/" class="button-link">Installation Guide</a>
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**MCP Server for Excel** enables AI assistants (GitHub Copilot, Claude, ChatGPT) to automate Excel through natural language commands, including Power Query & M, PowerPivot & DAX, VBA macros, PivotTables, Charts, formatting & much more β no Excel programming knowledge required.
It works with any MCP-compatible AI assistant like GitHub Copilot, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.
**π‘οΈ 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.
**π‘ Interactive Development** - Watch Excel update in real-time as AI works. Say "Show me Excel while you work" and see every change live - create a query, watch it populate, refine and repeat. Excel becomes your AI-powered workspace for rapid development and testing.
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<a href="https://youtu.be/B6eIQ5BIbNc" target="_blank" title="Watch Excel MCP Server intro video">
<img src="https://img.youtube.com/vi/B6eIQ5BIbNc/maxresdefault.jpg" alt="Excel MCP Server intro video thumbnail" style="max-width: 560px; width: 100%; border-radius: 8px; box-shadow: 0 4px 12px rgba(0,0,0,0.15);">
<p style="text-align: center; margin-top: 8px;">βΆοΈ Watch the intro video (1 min)</p>
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## Key Features
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<h3>Power Query & M Code</h3>
<p>Create, edit, and optimize M code. Import from files, databases, APIs. Refresh queries and manage load destinations.</p>
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<h3>Power Pivot & DAX</h3>
<p>Build Data Models, create DAX measures, manage table relationships. Full Power Pivot automation.</p>
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<h3>PivotTables & Charts</h3>
<p>Create PivotTables from ranges, tables, or Data Model. Build charts and PivotCharts with full formatting control.</p>
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<h3>Tables & Ranges</h3>
<p>Read/write data, formulas, formatting. Filter, sort, validate. Manage Excel Tables with structured references.</p>
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<h3>VBA Macros</h3>
<p>View, import, update, and execute VBA code. Export modules for version control.</p>
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<h3>Worksheets & Connections</h3>
<p>Manage sheets, named ranges, data connections. Copy/move sheets between workbooks.</p>
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<h3>π§ͺ LLM-Tested Quality</h3>
<p>Tool behavior validated with real LLM workflows using <a href="https://github.com/sbroenne/pytest-aitest">pytest-aitest</a>. We test that LLMs correctly understand and use our tools.</p>
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<p><a href="/features/">See all 23 tools and 214 operations β</a></p>
## What Can You Do With It?
Ask your AI assistant to automate Excel tasks using natural language:
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<h4>οΏ½ Create & Populate Data</h4>
<p><strong>You:</strong> "Create a new Excel file with a table for tracking sales - include Date, Product, Quantity, Unit Price, and Total with sample data and formulas."</p>
<p>AI creates the workbook, adds headers, enters sample data, and builds formulas automatically.</p>
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<h4>π PivotTables & Charts</h4>
<p><strong>You:</strong> "Create a PivotTable showing total sales by Product, then add a bar chart to visualize the results."</p>
<p>AI creates the PivotTable with proper field configuration and adds a linked chart.</p>
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<h4>π Power Query & Data Model</h4>
<p><strong>You:</strong> "Use Power Query to import products.csv, load it to the Data Model, and create measures for Total Revenue and Average Rating."</p>
<p>AI imports the data, adds it to Power Pivot, and creates DAX measures ready for analysis.</p>
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<h4>ποΈ Interactive Filtering</h4>
<p><strong>You:</strong> "Create a slicer for the Region field so I can filter the PivotTable interactively."</p>
<p>AI adds a slicer connected to your PivotTable for point-and-click filtering.</p>
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<h4>π¨ Formatting & Tables</h4>
<p><strong>You:</strong> "Format the Price column as currency, highlight values over $500 in green, and convert this to an Excel Table."</p>
<p>AI applies number formats, conditional formatting, and structured table styling.</p>
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## CLI vs MCP Server
This package provides both **CLI** and **MCP Server** interfaces. Choose based on your use case:
| Interface | Best For | Why |
|-----------|----------|-----|
| **CLI** (`excelcli`) | Coding agents (Copilot, Cursor, Windsurf) | **64% fewer tokens** - single tool, no large schemas. Better for cost-sensitive, high-throughput automation. |
| **MCP Server** | Conversational AI (Claude Desktop, VS Code Chat) | Rich tool discovery, persistent connection. Better for interactive, exploratory workflows. |
<details>
<summary>π Benchmark Results (same task, same model)</summary>
| Metric | CLI | MCP Server | Winner |
|--------|-----|------------|--------|
| **Tokens** | ~59K | ~163K | π CLI (64% fewer) |
**Key insight:** MCP sends 23 tool schemas to the LLM on each request (~100K+ tokens). CLI wraps everything in one `excel_execute` tool and offloads guidance to a skill file.
</details>
## CLI Tool (Optional)
```powershell
dotnet tool install -g Sbroenne.ExcelMcp.CLI
```
```powershell
# Session-based workflow (keeps Excel open between commands)
excelcli -q session open report.xlsx # Returns session ID
excelcli -q range set-values --session 1 --sheet Sheet1 --range A1 --values '[["Hello","World"]]'
excelcli -q session close --session 1 --save
```
**Background Daemon:** A system tray icon appears when the CLI is running. Right-click to view active sessions, close files, or stop the daemon.
π **[CLI Documentation](https://github.com/sbroenne/mcp-server-excel/blob/main/src/ExcelMcp.CLI/README.md)** β Full command reference and examples
## Documentation
π **[Complete Feature Reference](/features/)** β All 23 tools and 214 operations
π₯ **[Installation Guide](/installation/)** β Setup for VS Code, Claude Desktop, other MCP clients, and CLI
π€ **[Agent Skills](https://github.com/sbroenne/mcp-server-excel/blob/main/skills/README.md)** β Cross-platform AI guidance for Copilot, Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf
π **[Changelog](/changelog/)** β Release notes and version history
## Agent Skills
Skills are auto-installed by the VS Code extension. For other platforms:
```powershell
# CLI skill (for coding agents - Copilot, Cursor, Windsurf, Codex, Gemini, etc.)
npx skills add sbroenne/mcp-server-excel --skill excel-cli
# MCP skill (for conversational AI - Claude Desktop, VS Code Chat)
npx skills add sbroenne/mcp-server-excel --skill excel-mcp
```
**Supports 43+ agents** including claude-code, github-copilot, cursor, windsurf, gemini-cli, codex, and more.
π **[More details β](https://github.com/sbroenne/mcp-server-excel/blob/main/skills/README.md)**
## More Information
- [GitHub Repository](https://github.com/sbroenne/mcp-server-excel) β Source code, issues, and contributions
- [Contributing Guide](https://github.com/sbroenne/mcp-server-excel/blob/main/docs/CONTRIBUTING.md) β How to contribute
## Related Projects
Other projects by the author:
- [Windows MCP Server](https://windowsmcpserver.dev/) β AI-powered Windows automation via GitHub Copilot, Claude, and other MCP clients β including mouse, keyboard, windows, and screenshots
- [OBS Studio MCP Server](https://github.com/sbroenne/mcp-server-obs) β AI-powered OBS Studio automation for recording, streaming, and window capture
- [HeyGen MCP Server](https://github.com/sbroenne/heygen-mcp) β MCP server for HeyGen AI video generation
- [RVToolsMerge](https://github.com/sbroenne/RvToolsMerge) β Merge and anonymize VMware RVTools exports.
- [Azure Retail Prices Exporter](https://github.com/sbroenne/azureretailprices-exporter) β Daily automated Azure pricing data exports with FX rates
- [AWS CUR Anonymize](https://github.com/sbroenne/aws-cur-anonymize) β Anonymize AWS Cost & Usage Reports for secure sharing
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<p><strong>Excel MCP Server</strong> β MIT License β Β© 2024-2025</p>
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