io.github.dosev-ai/mcp-office-excel

Official

by dosev-ai · Python

MCP Office Excel

65-tool Excel MCP server. Read, write, format, and export .xlsx files. Windows-first.

Reads, writes, formats, and exports Excel spreadsheets with full control.

Topics

ai-toolsautomationexcelmcpoffice-automationoutlookpowerpointpythonwindowswordfastmcpmicrosoft-officemodel-context-protocol

README.md6 KBView on GitHub

MCP Office

Local-first, governed MCP servers for Microsoft Office — built for developers who want to treat Office files the way they treat code.

What is this?

MCP Office is a suite of Model Context Protocol servers that expose Microsoft Office capabilities as governed, deterministic tool calls. Each server runs locally on Windows, connects to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, VS Code Copilot, or any MCP-compatible client), and gives you structured control over Office files — without an in-app AI assistant.

This is not a Copilot replacement. It is a developer-first execution layer for Office automation.

Packages

✅ Available now

Package	What it does	Install	Tools
`excelmcp`	Read, write, style, validate, and export Excel workbooks	`pip install mcp-office`	65
`pptmcp`	Build, edit, review, and export PowerPoint presentations. Output Contract framework for machine-verifiable slide specs	`pip install mcp-office`	46
`wordmcp`	Template assembly, tracked-changes support, and structural QA for Word documents	`pip install mcp-office`	50

🚧 Coming next

Package	Status
`mailmcp`	In development — Outlook email, calendar, contacts, and MailRepo search

New packages are added as they complete their proof cycle. See ROADMAP.md.

Quick start

Prerequisites

Windows 10 or 11
Python 3.11 or later (python --version)
Claude Desktop or VS Code with GitHub Copilot
Microsoft Office (Excel / PowerPoint / Word) — required for COM-backed tools (styling, PDF export, tracked-changes)

Install

PyPI note: excelmcp on PyPI is an unrelated third-party package. Do not pip install excelmcp — that ships you a stranger's code. The published suite package is mcp-office.

bash

pip install mcp-office

Or clone and install from source (for development / COM extras):

bash

git clone https://github.com/dosev-ai/mcp-office.git
cd mcp-office
python -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -e ./excelmcp
pip install -e ./wordmcp
pip install -e ./shared && pip install -e ./pptmcp

Configure Claude Desktop

Open %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (create it if it doesn't exist) and add the servers you installed:

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "excel-excelmcp": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["-m", "excelmcp.server"],
      "env": {
        "EXCEL_ALLOWLIST_ROOTS": "C:\\path\\to\\your\\files",
        "EXCEL_ENABLE_WRITE": "true"
      }
    },
    "powerpoint-pptmcp": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["-m", "pptmcp.server"],
      "env": {
        "PPT_ALLOWLIST_ROOTS": "C:\\path\\to\\your\\files",
        "PPT_ENABLE_WRITE": "true"
      }
    },
    "word-wordmcp": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["-m", "wordmcp.server"],
      "env": {
        "WORD_ALLOWLIST_ROOTS": "C:\\path\\to\\your\\files",
        "WORD_ENABLE_WRITE": "true"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace C:\\path\\to\\your\\files with the directory where your Office files live. Restart Claude Desktop after saving.

Verify

In Claude Desktop, send:

code

Call capabilities() on excel-excelmcp
Call capabilities() on powerpoint-pptmcp
Call capabilities() on word-wordmcp

Each should return a tool list (65 for Excel, 46 for PowerPoint, 50 for Word). If a server is missing, check that python resolves to the venv where you installed mcp-office.

Full per-package guides: excelmcp/README.md · pptmcp/README.md · wordmcp/README.md

Detailed step-by-step: docs/quickstart.md

Requirements

Requirement	Notes
Windows 10 or 11	COM automation requires Windows
Python 3.11+	`python --version` to confirm
Microsoft Office	Required for COM-dependent tools (styling, PDF export, tracked-changes). Read-only docx/xlsx/pptx tools work without Office.
MCP client	Claude Desktop or VS Code with Copilot

Architecture

code

Your MCP client (Claude Desktop / VS Code Copilot / other)
        │
        │  MCP stdio protocol
        ↓
  MCP Office servers (local Python processes)
   ├─ excelmcp    — Excel automation (live)
   ├─ pptmcp      — PowerPoint automation (live)
   ├─ wordmcp     — Word automation (live)
   └─ mailmcp     — Outlook + MailRepo (coming)
        │
        │  COM / openpyxl / python-pptx / python-docx
        ↓
  Microsoft Office (local installation)

Each server is a standalone stdio MCP server. No network calls. No cloud dependency. Your files stay local.

Contributing

This project is in active development. The best way to contribute right now:

Try any package (excelmcp, pptmcp, wordmcp) and open a First Run Report
Report bugs via GitHub Issues
Ask questions or share what you built in GitHub Discussions

See CONTRIBUTING.md for development guidelines.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

Install

Configuration

Environment variables

EXCEL_ALLOWLIST_ROOTSrequired

Comma-separated directory roots allowed for file access. Required — no files are accessible without this.

EXCEL_ENABLE_WRITE

Set to 'true' to enable write operations (cell writes, sheet creation, formatting).

EXCEL_ENABLE_COM

Set to 'true' to activate COM-backed tools: recalculate_workbook, export_as_pdf, hydrate_template, pivot_table, and evaluate_formula(live=True). Windows-only — requires pywin32 and Microsoft Excel.

EXCEL_MAX_ITEMS

Maximum number of rows/items returned per call. Default: 50.

Arguments

--fromdefault mcp-office

claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-office-excel": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "mcp-office"
      ],
      "env": {
        "EXCEL_ALLOWLIST_ROOTS": "<YOUR_EXCEL_ALLOWLIST_ROOTS>",
        "EXCEL_ENABLE_WRITE": "<YOUR_EXCEL_ENABLE_WRITE>",
        "EXCEL_ENABLE_COM": "<YOUR_EXCEL_ENABLE_COM>",
        "EXCEL_MAX_ITEMS": "<YOUR_EXCEL_MAX_ITEMS>"
      }
    }
  }
}