Does Excel MCP work with Claude Desktop?
Yes. Excel MCP passed every step of our test in Claude Desktop on Oct 14, 2026: it installed, connected, its tools were visible, and an agent used it to finish a real task.
Result
ResultPassed
Date testedOct 14, 2026
Plan tested onNot recorded for this run
App versionClaude Desktop 2.37337.1 (Linux beta)
Steps
- install OK
- connected OK
- tools visible OK
- agent task: write read back OKcreate a document with known content, then read it back
Test note: server wrapped in harness/scripts/mcp_tee.py to record JSON-RPC; prompts typed via xdotool; tool Allow pop-ups approved by the operator for test servers only; model = app default
From our own harness run, not the maker’s claims. How we test.
What happened in this run
Install config we used
{
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"excel-mcp-server",
"stdio"
]
}Connection check
initialize seen in tee log after app restartTools check
tools/list answered (tee log)
Agent task: write read back
- 3 calls reached the server
- Agent’s answer (excerpt):
TP-441285
Raw details from our harness log for this run. Secrets redacted.
Set it up in Claude Desktop
Copy-paste config for every app is on the Excel MCP page. Not connecting? Claude Desktop MCP troubleshooting.
Other apps we tested it in: Claude Code (passed) · Cursor (passed) · ChatGPT (Codex) (passed).