Installation Guide

Complete installation instructions for Excel MCP Server - VS Code Extension, MCP Server, and CLI tool

Complete installation instructions for the ExcelMcp MCP Server and CLI tool.

System Requirements

Required

.NET runtime is NOT required for any installation method — all distributions are self-contained.

Optional (for specific features)

Use this order to avoid setup confusion:

  1. Choose one primary setup path:
    • VS Code Extension (Copilot users)
    • Claude Desktop MCPB
    • Manual MCP setup (all other MCP clients)
  2. Validate MCP setup (run the quick test prompt in Step 4 of manual setup, or test in your client after extension/MCPB install)
  3. Optional: install CLI (excelcli) for scripting/RPA
  4. Optional: install agent skills for non-extension environments

VS Code Extension (Easiest - One-Click Setup)

Best for: GitHub Copilot users, beginners, anyone wanting automatic configuration

  1. Install the Extension
    • Open VS Code
    • Press Ctrl+Shift+X (Extensions)
    • Search for “ExcelMcp”
    • Click Install
  2. That’s It!
    • Bundles self-contained MCP server and CLI (no .NET runtime needed)
    • Auto-configures GitHub Copilot
    • Registers agent skills (excel-mcp + excel-cli) via chatSkills
    • Shows quick start guide on first launch

Marketplace Link: Excel MCP VS Code Extension

Claude Desktop (One-Click Install)

Best for: Claude Desktop users who want the simplest installation

  1. Download excel-mcp-{version}.mcpb from the latest release
  2. Double-click the .mcpb file (or drag-and-drop onto Claude Desktop)
  3. Restart Claude Desktop

That’s it! The MCPB bundle includes everything needed - no .NET installation required.

Manual MCP Setup (All MCP Clients)

Best for: Other MCP clients (Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, Claude Code, Codex), advanced users

Step 1: Download MCP Server

  1. Go to the latest release
  2. Download ExcelMcp-MCP-Server-{version}-windows.zip
  3. Extract the ZIP to a permanent location (e.g., C:\Tools\ExcelMcp\)
# Example extraction
Expand-Archive "ExcelMcp-MCP-Server-1.x.x-windows.zip" -DestinationPath "C:\Tools\ExcelMcp"

The ZIP contains mcp-excel.exe — a fully self-contained executable (no .NET runtime needed).

To use mcp-excel as a command without specifying the full path:

# Add to user PATH (persistent)
$toolsDir = "C:\Tools\ExcelMcp"
$userPath = [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("PATH", "User")
if ($userPath -notlike "*$toolsDir*") {
    [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("PATH", "$userPath;$toolsDir", "User")
    Write-Host "Added $toolsDir to user PATH. Restart your terminal to apply."
}

Or manually: Settings → System → About → Advanced system settings → Environment Variables → User variables → Path → Edit → New → add C:\Tools\ExcelMcp

Step 3: Configure Your MCP Client

Use add-mcp to configure all detected coding agents with a single command:

npx add-mcp "mcp-excel" --name excel-mcp

This auto-detects and configures Cursor, VS Code, Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Codex, Zed, Gemini CLI, and more. Use flags to customize:

# Configure specific agents only
npx add-mcp "mcp-excel" --name excel-mcp -a cursor -a claude-code

# Configure globally (user-wide, all projects)
npx add-mcp "mcp-excel" --name excel-mcp -g

# Non-interactive (skip prompts)
npx add-mcp "mcp-excel" --name excel-mcp --all -y

Requires: Node.js for npx. Install with winget install OpenJS.NodeJS.LTS if not already available. No permanent add-mcp installation needed — npx downloads, runs, and cleans up automatically.

Note: If mcp-excel is not on your PATH, use the full path instead: npx add-mcp "C:\Tools\ExcelMcp\mcp-excel.exe" --name excel-mcp

Option B: Manual Configuration

Quick Start: Ready-to-use config files for all clients are available in examples/mcp-configs/

For GitHub Copilot (VS Code):

Create .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace:

{
  "servers": {
    "excel-mcp": {
      "command": "mcp-excel"
    }
  }
}

If mcp-excel is not on PATH, use the full path: "command": "C:\\Tools\\ExcelMcp\\mcp-excel.exe"

For GitHub Copilot (Visual Studio):

Create .mcp.json in your solution directory or %USERPROFILE%\.mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "excel-mcp": {
      "command": "mcp-excel"
    }
  }
}

For Claude Desktop:

  1. Locate config file: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
  2. If file doesn’t exist, create it with the content below
  3. If file exists, merge the excel-mcp entry into your existing mcpServers section
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "excel-mcp": {
      "command": "mcp-excel",
      "args": [],
      "env": {}
    }
  }
}
  1. Save and restart Claude Desktop

For Cursor:

  1. Open Cursor Settings (Ctrl+,)
  2. Search for “MCP” in settings
  3. Click “Edit in settings.json” or create config at: %APPDATA%\Cursor\User\globalStorage\mcp\mcp.json
  4. Add this configuration:
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "excel-mcp": {
      "command": "mcp-excel",
      "args": [],
      "env": {}
    }
  }
}
  1. Save and restart Cursor

For Cline (VS Code Extension):

  1. Install Cline extension in VS Code
  2. Open Cline panel and click the MCP settings gear icon
  3. Add this configuration:
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "excel-mcp": {
      "command": "mcp-excel",
      "args": [],
      "env": {}
    }
  }
}
  1. Save and restart VS Code

For Windsurf:

  1. Open Windsurf Settings
  2. Navigate to MCP Servers configuration
  3. Add this configuration:
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "excel-mcp": {
      "command": "mcp-excel",
      "args": [],
      "env": {}
    }
  }
}
  1. Save and restart Windsurf

Step 4: Validate MCP Setup

Restart your MCP client, then ask:

Create an empty Excel file called "test.xlsx"

If it works, you’re all set! 🎉

💡 Tip: Want to watch the AI work? Ask:

Show me Excel while you work on test.xlsx

This opens Excel visibly so you can see every change in real-time - great for debugging and demos!

Optional: CLI Installation (No AI Required)

Best for: Scripting, RPA, CI/CD pipelines, automation without AI

Download CLI

  1. Go to the latest release
  2. Download ExcelMcp-CLI-{version}-windows.zip
  3. Extract the ZIP to a permanent location (e.g., C:\Tools\ExcelMcp\)
# Example extraction
Expand-Archive "ExcelMcp-CLI-1.x.x-windows.zip" -DestinationPath "C:\Tools\ExcelMcp"

The ZIP contains excelcli.exe — a fully self-contained executable (no .NET runtime needed).

Add CLI to PATH

If you followed Step 2 of the MCP Server setup and added C:\Tools\ExcelMcp\ to your PATH, excelcli is already available.

Quick Test

# Verify CLI is available
excelcli --version

# Session-based workflow (keeps Excel open between commands)
excelcli -q session open test.xlsx                   # Returns session ID
excelcli -q sheet list --session <session-id>        # List worksheets
excelcli -q session close --session <session-id> --save

💡 Tip: Use -q (quiet mode) to suppress banner and get JSON output only - perfect for scripting and automation.

CLI Documentation: CLI Guide

Alternative: NuGet .NET Tool Installation (Secondary)

For users who prefer package managers or already have .NET installed

NuGet is a secondary distribution channel. It requires the .NET 10 Runtime or SDK to be installed.

# Requires .NET 10 Runtime or SDK
dotnet tool install --global Sbroenne.ExcelMcp.McpServer
dotnet tool install --global Sbroenne.ExcelMcp.CLI

After installation, configure your MCP client with "command": "mcp-excel" (same as standalone exe).

Update via NuGet:

dotnet tool update --global Sbroenne.ExcelMcp.McpServer
dotnet tool update --global Sbroenne.ExcelMcp.CLI

Uninstall:

dotnet tool uninstall --global Sbroenne.ExcelMcp.McpServer
dotnet tool uninstall --global Sbroenne.ExcelMcp.CLI

Why NuGet is secondary: The standalone exe distributions require no .NET runtime, making them easier to install for most users. NuGet is available as an alternative for users who prefer package managers or already have .NET installed in their workflow.

Agent Skills Installation (Cross-Platform)

Best for: Adding AI guidance to coding agents (Copilot, Cursor, Windsurf, Claude Code, Gemini, Codex, etc.)

Skills are auto-installed by the VS Code extension. For other platforms:

# CLI skill (for coding agents - token-efficient workflows)
npx skills add sbroenne/mcp-server-excel --skill excel-cli

# MCP skill (for conversational AI - rich tool schemas)
npx skills add sbroenne/mcp-server-excel --skill excel-mcp

# Install for specific agents
npx skills add sbroenne/mcp-server-excel --skill excel-cli -a cursor
npx skills add sbroenne/mcp-server-excel --skill excel-mcp -a claude-code

# Install globally (user-wide)
npx skills add sbroenne/mcp-server-excel --skill excel-cli --global

Supports 43+ agents including claude-code, github-copilot, cursor, windsurf, gemini-cli, codex, goose, cline, continue, replit, and more.

📚 Agent Skills Guide →

Updating ExcelMcp

Check Current Version

# Check MCP Server version
mcp-excel --version

# Check CLI version
excelcli --version

Update to New Version

Standalone exe (primary):

  1. Go to the latest release
  2. Download the new ZIP(s): ExcelMcp-MCP-Server-{version}-windows.zip and/or ExcelMcp-CLI-{version}-windows.zip
  3. Extract and overwrite the existing files in your installation directory
# Example update
Expand-Archive "ExcelMcp-MCP-Server-1.x.x-windows.zip" -DestinationPath "C:\Tools\ExcelMcp" -Force
  1. Restart your MCP client (VS Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, etc.)

NuGet (secondary):

dotnet tool update --global Sbroenne.ExcelMcp.McpServer
dotnet tool update --global Sbroenne.ExcelMcp.CLI

Check What’s New

Before updating, check the release notes:

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

1. “mcp-excel is not recognized as an internal or external command”

Solution: mcp-excel.exe is not on your PATH.

Either:

2. MCP Server Not Responding

Check if the exe exists:

where.exe mcp-excel
# Or with full path:
Test-Path "C:\Tools\ExcelMcp\mcp-excel.exe"

Verify it runs:

mcp-excel --version

3. “Workbook is locked” or “Cannot open file”

Solution: Close all Excel windows before running ExcelMcp

ExcelMcp requires exclusive access to workbooks (Excel COM limitation).

4. MCP Server Still Running Old Version

Solution: Fully restart your MCP client

Uninstallation

Uninstall MCP Server

# Standalone exe: simply delete the extracted files
Remove-Item "C:\Tools\ExcelMcp\mcp-excel.exe" -Force

# Remove from PATH if you added it
# Settings → System → About → Advanced system settings → Environment Variables
# Edit PATH and remove the ExcelMcp directory

# NuGet (if installed via dotnet tool):
dotnet tool uninstall --global Sbroenne.ExcelMcp.McpServer

Uninstall CLI

# Standalone exe:
Remove-Item "C:\Tools\ExcelMcp\excelcli.exe" -Force

# NuGet (if installed via dotnet tool):
dotnet tool uninstall --global Sbroenne.ExcelMcp.CLI

Getting Help

Next Steps

After installation:

  1. Learn the basics: Try simple commands like creating worksheets, setting values
  2. Explore features: See README for complete feature list
  3. Read the guides:
  4. Join the community: Star the repo, report issues, contribute improvements

Agent Skills (Optional)

Agent Skills provide domain-specific guidance to AI coding assistants, helping them use Excel MCP Server more effectively.

Note: Agent Skills are for coding agents (GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Cursor). Claude Desktop uses MCP Prompts instead (included automatically via the MCP Server).

Two Skills for Different Use Cases

Skill Target Best For
excel-cli CLI Tool Coding agents (Copilot, Cursor, Windsurf) - token-efficient, excelcli --help discoverable
excel-mcp MCP Server Conversational AI (Claude Desktop, VS Code Chat) - rich tool schemas, exploratory workflows

VS Code Extension: Skills are installed automatically to ~/.copilot/skills/.

Other Platforms (Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Gemini, Codex, etc.):

# Install CLI skill (recommended for coding agents - Copilot, Cursor, Windsurf, Codex, etc.)
npx skills add sbroenne/mcp-server-excel --skill excel-cli

# Install MCP skill (for conversational AI - Claude Desktop, VS Code Chat)
npx skills add sbroenne/mcp-server-excel --skill excel-mcp

# Interactive install - prompts to select excel-cli, excel-mcp, or both
npx skills add sbroenne/mcp-server-excel

# Install specific skill directly
npx skills add sbroenne/mcp-server-excel --skill excel-cli   # Coding agents
npx skills add sbroenne/mcp-server-excel --skill excel-mcp   # Conversational AI

# Install both skills
npx skills add sbroenne/mcp-server-excel --skill '*'

# Target specific agent (optional - auto-detects if omitted)
npx skills add sbroenne/mcp-server-excel --skill excel-cli -a cursor
npx skills add sbroenne/mcp-server-excel --skill excel-mcp -a claude-code

Manual Installation:

  1. Download excel-skills-v{version}.zip from GitHub Releases
  2. The package contains both skills:
    • skills/excel-cli/ - for coding agents (Copilot, Cursor, Windsurf)
    • skills/excel-mcp/ - for conversational AI (Claude Desktop, VS Code Chat)
  3. Extract the skill(s) you need to your AI assistant’s skills directory:
    • Copilot: ~/.copilot/skills/excel-cli/ or ~/.copilot/skills/excel-mcp/
    • Claude Code: .claude/skills/excel-cli/ or .claude/skills/excel-mcp/
    • Cursor: .cursor/skills/excel-cli/ or .cursor/skills/excel-mcp/

See: Agent Skills Documentation

Happy automating! 🚀

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