Excel MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that reads and writes MS Excel data.

Features

• Read text values from MS Excel file
• Write text values to MS Excel file
• Read formulas from MS Excel file
• Write formulas to MS Excel file
• Capture screen image from MS Excel file (Windows only)

For more details, see the tools section.

Requirements

• Node.js 20.x or later

Supported file formats

• xlsx (Excel book)
• xlsm (Excel macro-enabled book)
• xltx (Excel template)
• xltm (Excel macro-enabled template)

Installation

Installing via NPM

excel-mcp-server is automatically installed by adding the following configuration to the MCP servers configuration.

Using stdio transport (default)

For Windows:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "excel": {
            "command": "cmd",
            "args": ["/c", "npx", "--yes", "@fbeawels/excel-mcp-server"],
            "env": {
                "EXCEL_MCP_PAGING_CELLS_LIMIT": "4000"
            }
        }
    }
}

For other platforms:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "excel": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": ["--yes", "@fbeawels/excel-mcp-server"],
            "env": {
                "EXCEL_MCP_PAGING_CELLS_LIMIT": "4000"
            }
        }
    }
}

Using SSE transport

For Windows:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "excel": {
            "command": "cmd",
            "args": ["/c", "npx", "--yes", "@fbeawels/excel-mcp-server"],
            "env": {
                "EXCEL_MCP_PAGING_CELLS_LIMIT": "4000",
                "EXCEL_MCP_TRANSPORT": "sse",
                "EXCEL_MCP_HOST": "0.0.0.0",
                "EXCEL_MCP_PORT": "8000"
            }
        }
    }
}

For other platforms:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "excel": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": ["--yes", "@fbeawels/excel-mcp-server"],
            "env": {
                "EXCEL_MCP_PAGING_CELLS_LIMIT": "4000",
                "EXCEL_MCP_TRANSPORT": "sse",
                "EXCEL_MCP_HOST": "0.0.0.0",
                "EXCEL_MCP_PORT": "8000"
            }
        }
    }
}

When using SSE transport, the server will start an HTTP server with the following endpoints:

• /sse - SSE endpoint for receiving events from the server
• /command - POST endpoint for sending commands to the server
• /status - GET endpoint for checking server status

Installing via Smithery

To install Excel MCP Server for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install @fbeawels/excel-mcp-server --client claude

Tools

read_sheet_names

List all sheet names in an Excel file.

Arguments:

• fileAbsolutePath
  • Absolute path to the Excel file

read_sheet_data

Read data from Excel sheet with pagination.

Arguments:

• fileAbsolutePath
  • Absolute path to the Excel file
• sheetName
  • Sheet name in the Excel file
• range
  • Range of cells to read in the Excel sheet (e.g., "A1:C10"). [default: first paging range]
• knownPagingRanges
  • List of already read paging ranges

read_sheet_formula

Read formulas from Excel sheet with pagination.

Arguments:

• fileAbsolutePath
  • Absolute path to the Excel file
• sheetName
  • Sheet name in the Excel file
• range
  • Range of cells to read in the Excel sheet (e.g., "A1:C10"). [default: first paging range]
• knownPagingRanges
  • List of already read paging ranges

read_sheet_image

[Windows only] Read data as an image from the Excel sheet with pagination.

Arguments:

• fileAbsolutePath
  • Absolute path to the Excel file
• sheetName
  • Sheet name in the Excel file
• range
  • Range of cells to read in the Excel sheet (e.g., "A1:C10"). [default: first paging range]
• knownPagingRanges
  • List of already read paging ranges

write_sheet_data

Write data to the Excel sheet.

Arguments:

• fileAbsolutePath
  • Absolute path to the Excel file
• sheetName
  • Sheet name in the Excel file
• range
  • Range of cells to read in the Excel sheet (e.g., "A1:C10").
• data
  • Data to write to the Excel sheet

write_sheet_formula

Write formulas to the Excel sheet.

Arguments:

• fileAbsolutePath
  • Absolute path to the Excel file
• sheetName
  • Sheet name in the Excel file
• range
  • Range of cells to read in the Excel sheet (e.g., "A1:C10").
• formulas
  • Formulas to write to the Excel sheet (e.g., "=A1+B1")

Configuration

Command-line Arguments

The following command-line arguments are available:

--transport <type>   Transport type (stdio or sse)
--host <address>     Host address to listen on for SSE transport (default: all interfaces)
--port <number>      Port for SSE transport (default: 8000)

Example usage:

npx @fbeawels/excel-mcp-server --transport sse --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000

Environment Variables

You can also change the MCP Server behaviors by the following environment variables:

EXCEL_MCP_PAGING_CELLS_LIMIT

The maximum number of cells to read in a single paging operation.
[default: 4000]

EXCEL_MCP_TRANSPORT

The transport mechanism to use for communication.
Possible values: stdio, sse
[default: stdio]

EXCEL_MCP_HOST

The host address to bind to when using SSE transport.
[default: ""] (all interfaces)

EXCEL_MCP_PORT

The port to use for the HTTP server when using SSE transport.
[default: 8000]

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Franck Besnard

excel-mcp-server is released under the MIT License