Twenty-five spreadsheet tools discovered
The surface covers workbooks, worksheets, data read/write, formulas, formatting, charts, pivot tables, and tables.
evidence/trust5/2026-07-03-mcp-pilot.json
MCP serverPublished
Excel MCP Server
The Excel MCP server passed a real smoke test: it created a workbook, wrote a data range, and read the same cells back with full per-cell metadata, all without Excel installed. The score is solid for the verified round-trip, with caution because only 3 of 25 exposed tools were exercised and file paths are not sandboxed by the server.
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Editorial notice
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Claim tested
Can the public Excel MCP server create a workbook, write tabular data, and read the identical data back over MCP without Microsoft Excel installed?
Evaluator panel
Protocol harnessData-integrity reviewerOperator skeptic
Evidence reviewed
Workbook creation and write succeeded
create_workbook produced trust5.xlsx in the target directory and write_data_to_excel confirmed the write to Sheet1.
evidence/trust5/2026-07-03-mcp-pilot.json
Read-back matched the written data
read_data_from_excel returned the A1:B2 range with per-cell address, value, row, and column metadata matching the written values.
evidence/trust5/2026-07-03-mcp-pilot.json
Test setup
- Started excel-mcp-server==0.1.8 in stdio mode via uvx, with a temporary directory as the workbook target.
- Used the official MCP client SDK to list tools, create trust5.xlsx, write a 2x2 range, and read A1:B2 back.
- Stored the full tool-call evidence in evidence/trust5/2026-07-03-mcp-pilot.json.
Strengths
- The core write-then-read integrity loop verified end to end.
- Rich per-cell metadata in reads makes results checkable by the calling agent.
- Runs headless with no Excel installation required.
Failure modes
- The server accepts arbitrary file paths from the client; a permissive host lets it write workbooks anywhere the process can reach.
- Formulas, charts, and pivot tables are exposed but were not exercised in this test.
- Large-workbook behavior and concurrent access were not probed.
What would improve the score
- Add an allowed-directory option mirroring the filesystem reference server.
- Publish upstream integration tests for formula and chart tools.
Limitations
- This was an unsolicited smoke test of the public package, not a source audit.
- Only local stdio operation on macOS was tested, on a single small workbook.
Visible dissent
- The data-integrity reviewer scored the round-trip highly because read-back matched exactly.
- The operator skeptic withheld points for the 22 untested tools and the absence of path scoping.
Right of reply
No vendor reply has been requested or published as of 2026-07-03. SilentCritique will publish factual corrections or a right of reply through the corrections process.
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