Getting Started

Requirements

• Windows (Excel COM automation is Windows-only)
• Microsoft Excel installed
• Python 3.10+

Installation

With uvx (recommended)

No installation needed. The MCP client runs it automatically:

uvx mcp-server-xlwings

With pip

pip install mcp-server-xlwings

Quick Start

1. Install the server (or use uvx)
2. Add the configuration to your MCP client (see Configuration)
3. Open an Excel file
4. Ask your AI agent to read or modify the spreadsheet

The server connects to the running Excel process via COM automation. Excel must be running for the tools to work.

How It Works

AI Agent  <-->  MCP Client  <-->  mcp-server-xlwings  <-->  Excel (COM)

Unlike file-based libraries (openpyxl, pandas), this server talks to the live Excel process. This means:

• DRM-protected files work seamlessly
• Formulas return calculated values
• VBA macros can be executed
• The user's current selection is accessible
• Changes appear in real-time in the Excel window