Excel MCP Server

MCP server that gives Claude full read/write/analyze power over Excel and CSV files. 37 tools — from basic cell reads to financial modeling.

Install

Option 1: npm (Recommended)

npm install -g excel-csv-mcp-server

Then add to your MCP client:

Claude Code:

claude mcp remove excel-csv  # if previously added
claude mcp add excel-csv --transport stdio excel-csv-mcp-server

Claude Desktop / Cursor — add to your MCP config (claude_desktop_config.json or Cursor's mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "excel-csv": {
      "command": "excel-csv-mcp-server"
    }
  }
}

Option 2: npx (No Install)

No global install needed — runs directly:

Claude Code:

claude mcp add excel-csv stdio npx -- excel-csv-mcp-server

Claude Desktop / Cursor:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "excel-csv": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "excel-csv-mcp-server"]
    }
  }
}

Option 3: From Source

git clone https://github.com/ishayoyo/excel-mcp.git
cd excel-mcp
npm install
npm run build

Claude Code:

claude mcp add excel-csv stdio node /path/to/excel-mcp/dist/index.js

Claude Desktop / Cursor:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "excel-csv": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/excel-mcp/dist/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Related MCP server: mcp-data-lens

What It Can Do

AI Providers (Optional)

For AI-powered tools (parse_natural_language, explain_formula, smart_data_analysis), create a .env file:

cp .env.example .env

ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your-key
OPENAI_API_KEY=your-key
DEEPSEEK_API_KEY=your-key
GEMINI_API_KEY=your-key

Any single provider is enough. A local fallback works without any keys.

Data leaves your machine when a provider key is set. The AI tools send the spreadsheet content they are analysing to whichever provider you configured (Anthropic, OpenAI, DeepSeek, or Gemini). Leave the keys unset to keep every operation local -- the built-in fallback provider makes no network calls.

Security

The server reads and writes only .csv, .xlsx, and .xls files, and runs over stdio as a local process with your own user's permissions.

Restricting file access

By default any path you name is allowed, because opening a spreadsheet anywhere on your disk is the point of the tool. If you expose the server to callers you do not fully trust -- or want a guardrail against a malicious spreadsheet talking the model into writing somewhere unexpected -- confine it to one directory:

EXCEL_MCP_WORKSPACE_ROOT=/path/to/your/data

Every read and write then resolves inside that directory, and anything escaping it is rejected. Unset the variable to restore the default behaviour.

Note that containment is checked after the path is resolved, so .. traversal is handled, but symlinks are not followed: a symlink inside the root that points outside it will still resolve. Avoid placing untrusted symlinks in the workspace.

CSV formula injection

Spreadsheet applications evaluate a cell beginning with =, +, -, @, tab, or carriage return as a formula. When writing CSV, this server prefixes such values with a single quote so they stay literal text (CWE-1236). Plain numbers like -5 and +1.5 are recognised and left alone, so numeric data round-trips unchanged.

This guard is on by default. To emit raw values instead:

EXCEL_MCP_CSV_FORMULA_GUARD=off

Excel output is unaffected -- .xlsx cells are written as typed strings, which are never evaluated as formulas.

License

MIT