CellPilot

You run a self-contained MCP server that enables AI assistants to read, write, and manipulate Excel files. It exposes a rich set of operations for creating, reading, searching, and editing Excel workbooks, making it easy to automate common workbook tasks from your AI workflows.

How to use

After you configure an MCP client to connect to this server, you can issue high-level Excel actions to your AI assistant. The server provides tools to create workbooks, read cell values or ranges, search data with exact matches or regular expressions, write data and formulas, and manage sheets and cell ranges. Your AI can perform tasks such as reading all data from a sheet, locating cells that match a pattern, merging or splitting cells, and auto-sizing columns. Use natural language prompts that map to the available operations, for example, asking to read data from a sheet, search for a keyword across the workbook, or write a formula into a specific cell.

How to install

Prerequisites: ensure you have a development environment that can run MCP stdio servers. You will use two explicit MCP startup configurations shown here.

1. Install and run the MCP server via the first stdio configuration using the official runtime command.

{
  "servers": {
    "CellPilotMCP": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "dnx",
      "args": [
        "CellPilotMCP",
        "--version",
        "0.0.1",
        "--yes"
      ]
    }
  }
}

2. Alternatively, run the local development version with the standard stdio configuration that builds and starts from the project directory.

{
  "servers": {
    "CellPilotMCP": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "dotnet",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "--project",
        "<PATH TO PROJECT DIRECTORY>"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Available tools

CreateWorkbook

Create new Excel workbooks (.xlsx or .xls). This initializes a new workbook file in a specified location.

GetExcelFileInfo

Retrieve file metadata such as sheet names, total rows, and columns for a workbook.

ListSheets

List all sheet names in a given workbook.

ReadCell

Read the value of a specific cell by sheet, row, and column.

ReadRange

Read a contiguous range of cells and return a 2D array.

GetSheetData

Get all data from a specific sheet as a structured dataset.

GetCellFormula

Retrieve the formula contained in a specific cell.

SearchInSheet

Search for values within a single sheet, with optional criteria.

SearchInWorkbook

Search across all sheets in a workbook for matching values.

SearchInColumn

Search within a specific column for values or patterns.

SearchWithRegex

Search values using regular expressions across sheets or workbooks.

SearchNumericRange

Find cells containing numbers within a defined range.

SearchDateRange

Find cells containing dates within a specified range.

WriteCell

Write a value to a specific cell.

WriteRange

Write a 2D array of data to a range of cells.

SetCellFormula

Set a formula in a specific cell.

ClearRange

Clear content from a range of cells.

CreateSheet

Create a new worksheet within a workbook.

RenameSheet

Rename an existing sheet.

DeleteSheet

Remove a sheet from a workbook.

CopySheet

Duplicate a sheet within the workbook.

InsertRow

Insert a new row at a given position.

DeleteRow

Delete a row at a given position.

InsertColumn

Insert a new column at a given position.

DeleteColumn

Delete a column at a given position.

MergeCells

Merge a range of cells into a single cell.

UnmergeCells

Split merged cells back into individual cells.

ListMergedRegions

List all merged regions in a sheet.

AutoSizeColumn

Auto-fit column width to content for readability.

SetColumnWidth

Set a specific width for a column.