Excel MCP Server (uses Excel App, 100% Compatibility)

# Excel MCP Server - AI-Powered Excel Automation [](https://github.com/sbroenne/mcp-server-excel) [](https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT) **Control Microsoft Excel with AI through GitHub Copilot - just ask in natural language!** **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. **🧪 LLM-Tested Quality** - Tool behavior validated with real LLM workflows using [pytest-aitest](https://github.com/sbroenne/pytest-aitest). We test that LLMs correctly understand and use our tools. ## Features The Excel MCP Server provides **23 specialized tools with 214 operations** for comprehensive Excel automation: - 🔄 **Power Query** (1 tool, 11 ops) - Atomic workflows, M code management, load destinations - 📊 **Data Model/DAX** (2 tools, 18 ops) - Measures, relationships, model structure - 🎨 **Excel Tables** (2 tools, 27 ops) - Lifecycle, filtering, sorting, structured references - 📈 **PivotTables** (3 tools, 30 ops) - Creation, fields, aggregations, calculated members/fields - 📉 **Charts** (2 tools, 26 ops) - Create, configure, series, formatting, data labels, trendlines - 📝 **VBA** (1 tool, 6 ops) - Modules, execution, version control - 📋 **Ranges** (4 tools, 42 ops) - Values, formulas, formatting, validation, protection - 📄 **Worksheets** (2 tools, 16 ops) - Lifecycle, colors, visibility, cross-workbook moves - 🔌 **Connections** (1 tool, 9 ops) - OLEDB/ODBC management and refresh - 🏷️ **Named Ranges** (1 tool, 6 ops) - Parameters and configuration - 📁 **Files** (1 tool, 6 ops) - Session management and workbook creation - �️ **Slicers** (1 tool, 8 ops) - Interactive filtering for PivotTables and Tables - �🎨 **Conditional Formatting** (1 tool, 2 ops) - Rules and clearing 📚 **[Complete Feature Reference →](https://github.com/sbroenne/mcp-server-excel/blob/main/FEATURES.md)** ### Agent Skills (Bundled) This extension includes **Agent Skills** following the [agentskills.io](https://agentskills.io) specification - providing domain-specific guidance for AI assistants. The skills enable GitHub Copilot to effectively understand Excel MCP Server capabilities, workflows, and best practices. 📚 **[View Agent Skills →](https://github.com/sbroenne/mcp-server-excel/blob/main/skills/excel-mcp/SKILL.md)** **VS Code setup:** Enable the preview setting `chat.useAgentSkills` to allow Copilot to load skills. This extension installs the skill to `~/.copilot/skills/excel-mcp` for discovery. ## 💬 Example Prompts **Create & Populate Data:** - *"Create a new Excel file called SalesTracker.xlsx with a table for Date, Product, Quantity, Unit Price, and Total"* - *"Put this data in A1:C4 - Name, Age, City / Alice, 30, Seattle / Bob, 25, Portland"* - *"Add sample data and a formula column for Quantity times Unit Price"* **Analysis & Visualization:** - *"Create a PivotTable from this data showing total sales by Product, then add a bar chart"* - *"Import products.csv with Power Query, load to Data Model, create a measure for Total Revenue"* - *"Create a slicer for the Region field so I can filter the PivotTable interactively"* **Formatting & Automation:** - *"Format the Price column as currency and highlight values over $500 in green"* - *"Export all Power Query M code to files for version control"* - *"Show me Excel while you work"* - watch changes in real-time ## Quick Start 1. **Install this extension** (you just did!) 2. **Ask Copilot** in the chat panel: - "List all Power Query queries in workbook.xlsx" - "Create a DAX measure for year-over-year revenue growth" - "Export all Powere Queires and VBA modules to .vba files for version control" **That's it!** The extension automatically installs .NET 10 runtime and includes a bundled MCP server. ➡️ **[Learn more and see examples](https://sbroenne.github.io/mcp-server-excel/)** ## Requirements - **Windows OS** - Excel COM automation requires Windows - **Microsoft Excel 2016+** - Must be installed on your system - **.NET 10 Runtime** - **Automatically installed** by the extension ## Potential Issues **"Excel is not installed" error:** - Ensure Microsoft Excel 2016+ is installed on your Windows machine - Try opening Excel manually to verify it works **"VBA access denied" error:** - VBA operations require one-time manual setup in Excel - Go to: File → Options → Trust Center → Trust Center Settings → Macro Settings - Check "Trust access to the VBA project object model" **Copilot doesn't see Excel tools:** - Restart VS Code after installing the extension - ### Troubleshooting - Check Output panel → "Excel MCP Server" for connection status ## Documentation & Support - **[Complete Documentation](https://github.com/sbroenne/mcp-server-excel)** - Full guides and examples - **[Report Issues](https://github.com/sbroenne/mcp-server-excel/issues)** - Bug reports and feature requests ## License & Privacy MIT License - see [LICENSE](https://github.com/sbroenne/mcp-server-excel/blob/main/LICENSE) Privacy Policy - see [PRIVACY.md](https://github.com/sbroenne/mcp-server-excel/blob/main/PRIVACY.md) --- **Built with GitHub Copilot** | **Powered by Model Context Protocol**