Excel MCP Server

A comprehensive Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides Excel file manipulation capabilities. This project includes both a standalone Excel library and an MCP server that exposes Excel operations as tools for AI assistants like Claude.

✨ Features

📊 Excel Operations

• Read Excel Files: Extract data from .xlsx and .xls files with range and sheet selection

• Write Excel Files: Create new Excel files with structured data and headers

• Worksheet Management: Add, remove, and manage multiple worksheets

• Cell Operations: Update individual cells and ranges with values or formulas

• Formula Support: Apply and calculate Excel formulas including cross-sheet references

• Formatting: Apply styling, fonts, colors, and advanced formatting options

• Charts: Create various chart types (line, bar, pie, scatter) with customization

🔧 MCP Integration

• FastMCP Server: High-performance MCP server implementation using the official MCP SDK

• Resource Endpoints: Built-in help documentation and usage examples

• Tool Definitions: All Excel operations exposed as MCP tools with full type hints

• Error Handling: Comprehensive error reporting and logging throughout

Related MCP server: ironcalc-mcp

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Python 3.8 or higher

• pip package manager

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/amanarneja/XSpreadsheet.git
   cd XSpreadsheet

2. Create a virtual environment:

   python -m venv venv

3. Activate the virtual environment:

   # Windows
   venv\Scripts\activate
   
   # macOS/Linux
   source venv/bin/activate

4. Install dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt

Usage

Running the MCP Server

cd src/excel_mcp_server
python server.py

The server will start and listen for MCP protocol messages on standard input/output.

Using the Excel Library

from src.excel_mcp_server.excel_library import ExcelLibrary

# Initialize the library
excel_lib = ExcelLibrary()

# Read an Excel file
data = excel_lib.read_excel_file("example.xlsx", "Sheet1")

# Write data to Excel
excel_lib.write_excel_file("output.xlsx", [
    ["Name", "Age", "City"],
    ["John", 30, "New York"],
    ["Jane", 25, "Boston"]
], headers=["Name", "Age", "City"])

Available MCP Tools

Core Operations

• read_excel_file

  • Read data from Excel files

  • Parameters: file_path, sheet_name (optional), range (optional)

• write_excel_file

  • Write data to Excel files

  • Parameters: file_path, data, sheet_name (optional), headers (optional)

• get_worksheet_info

  • Get information about worksheets

  • Parameters: file_path

Worksheet Management

• add_worksheet

  • Add new worksheets

  • Parameters: file_path, sheet_name

Cell Operations

• update_cell

  • Update specific cells

  • Parameters: file_path, sheet_name, cell, value

• apply_formula

  • Apply Excel formulas

  • Parameters: file_path, sheet_name, cell, formula

Formatting and Charts

• format_cells

  • Apply cell formatting

  • Parameters: file_path, sheet_name, range, format_options

• create_chart

  • Create charts and graphs

  • Parameters: file_path, sheet_name, data_range, chart_type, title (optional), position (optional)

MCP Resources

• excel://help - Comprehensive help documentation

• excel://examples - Usage examples and code snippets

Configuration

VS Code Integration

The project includes VS Code configuration for MCP debugging:

{
  "servers": {
    "excel-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["src/excel_mcp_server/server.py"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop Integration

To use with Claude Desktop, add this to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "excel-mcp-server": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["path/to/XSpreadsheet/src/excel_mcp_server/server.py"],
      "cwd": "path/to/XSpreadsheet"
    }
  }
}

Windows example:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "excel-mcp-server": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["C:\\projects\\XSpreadsheet\\src\\excel_mcp_server\\server.py"],
      "cwd": "C:\\projects\\XSpreadsheet"
    }
  }
}

Alternative: Module Execution

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "excel-mcp-server": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["-m", "src.excel_mcp_server.server"],
      "cwd": "path/to/XSpreadsheet"
    }
  }
}

Project Structure

Xpreadsheet/
├── src/
│   └── excel_mcp_server/
│       ├── __init__.py
│       ├── server.py           # MCP Server implementation
│       └── excel_library.py    # Core Excel functionality
├── .vscode/
│   └── mcp.json               # VS Code MCP configuration
├── .github/
│   └── copilot-instructions.md # Copilot development guidelines
├── requirements.txt           # Python dependencies
└── README.md                 # This file

Dependencies

• mcp: Model Context Protocol SDK

• openpyxl: Excel file manipulation

• pandas: Data processing and analysis

• anyio: Async I/O support

Development

Adding New Features

1. Excel Library: Add new methods to excel_library.py

2. MCP Tools: Expose new methods as MCP tools in server.py

3. Documentation: Update help resources and README

🧪 Testing & Demo

Run the Demo

python demo.py

This creates sample Excel files demonstrating all features.

Verify Installation

python verify.py

Test Individual Components

# Test the Excel library
python -c "from src.excel_mcp_server.excel_library import ExcelLibrary; print('✅ Library works!')"

# Test the MCP server (press Ctrl+C to stop)
python src/excel_mcp_server/server.py

📖 Usage Examples

Reading Excel Data with Claude

Once configured, you can ask Claude:

"Read the data from my sales.xlsx file, sheet called 'Q1 Data', range A1:D10"

Claude will use the read_excel_file tool:

{
  "file_path": "sales.xlsx",
  "sheet_name": "Q1 Data", 
  "range": "A1:D10"
}

Creating Charts with Claude

"Create a line chart from my data.xlsx file showing the sales trend. Use data from A1:B12 on the 'Sales' sheet"

Claude will use the create_chart tool:

{
  "file_path": "data.xlsx",
  "sheet_name": "Sales",
  "data_range": "A1:B12",
  "chart_type": "line",
  "title": "Sales Trend"
}

Writing Excel Files

"Create a new Excel file called 'report.xlsx' with this data: [['Name', 'Score'], ['Alice', 95], ['Bob', 87]]"

Claude will use the write_excel_file tool:

{
  "file_path": "report.xlsx",
  "data": [["Alice", 95], ["Bob", 87]],
  "headers": ["Name", "Score"]
}

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Here's how to get started:

1. Fork the repository on GitHub

2. Clone your fork locally:

   git clone https://github.com/amanarneja/XSpreadsheet.git

3. Create a feature branch:

   git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature

4. Make your changes and add tests

5. Run the verification:

   python verify.py
   python demo.py

6. Commit your changes:

   git commit -m "Add amazing feature"

7. Push to your branch:

   git push origin feature/amazing-feature

8. Open a Pull Request on GitHub

Development Guidelines

• Follow the existing code style and patterns

• Add type hints to all functions

• Include docstrings for new methods

• Update tests and documentation

• Ensure all demo scripts still work

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🆘 Support & Resources

• Issues: GitHub Issues

• MCP Documentation: Model Context Protocol

• Claude Desktop: Anthropic Claude

• Excel Library: Built with openpyxl

🌟 Acknowledgments

• Built using the Model Context Protocol (MCP)

• Excel manipulation powered by openpyxl

• Data processing with pandas

🚀 Ready to supercharge your Excel workflows with AI? Get started today!