xlide-mcp

An MCP server for the inside of an Office file. Read, write, analyze and test the VBA in Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Access, and edit the document around it. Visual Basic 6 projects open the same way.

VBA, Power Query and OOXML worksheet edits need no Office installation and run on Windows, macOS and Linux. Reading .xlsb and .xls cells, writing .xlsb cells, and running macros or tests need Windows with the desktop application.

xlide_list_projects                -> Budget.xlsm
xlide_project_info   Budget.xlsm   -> 4 modules, 2 sheets, 1 query, not signed
xlide_read_module    Helpers       -> the source, and a content token
xlide_write_module   Helpers       -> guarded by that token
xlide_analyze        Budget.xlsm   -> 0 errors, 2 warnings
xlide_run_tests      Budget.xlsm   -> 12 passed

Why

An agent asked to fix a macro works from a copied snippet with no idea what else is in the project, or asks the user to export the modules and paste them back afterwards. Both treat the Office file as opaque. The VBA project, the form designs and the M code are all readable and writable without opening the application at all.

Install

pip install xlide-mcp              # reads and writes files, any platform
pip install "xlide-mcp[live]"      # adds running macros and tests, Windows

Or install nothing and run it through uv, which fetches the package on first use and brings its own Python:

uvx --from "xlide-mcp[live]" xlide-mcp --root /path/to/your/files

The live extra is safe to ask for on every platform: what it pulls in is marked sys_platform == 'win32', so off Windows it resolves to nothing.

Run

xlide-mcp --root /path/to/your/files

Point a client at it. For Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or any client that launches a server over stdio:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "xlide": {
      "command": "xlide-mcp",
      "args": ["--root", "/path/to/your/files"]
    }
  }
}

For VS Code, put this in .vscode/mcp.json at the workspace root. VS Code uses servers here; the portable .mcp.json format above uses mcpServers.

{
  "servers": {
    "xlide": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--from", "xlide-mcp[live]", "xlide-mcp", "--root", "${workspaceFolder}"]
    }
  }
}

Run MCP: List Servers in VS Code to start xlide and inspect its output if it does not register. The server prints its version and allowed roots to stderr on startup. See VS Code's MCP guide for the configuration format and commands.

With uv instead, so that nothing has to be installed first:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "xlide": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "--from", "xlide-mcp[live]",
        "xlide-mcp", "--root", "/path/to/your/files"
      ]
    }
  }
}

uvx takes the newest published version unless you pin it, as xlide-mcp@1.2.1.

--root is the security boundary. Every path a tool accepts is resolved, symlinks included, and refused unless it lands inside a root.

--transport streamable-http --port 8765 serves HTTP instead of stdio. It binds to loopback unless told otherwise: this server reads and writes files, and a default that listened on every interface would hand that reach to the network.

Call xlide_doctor first from a new client. It reports the workspace roots, which layers are installed, which Office applications the machine has, and whether each has the Trust Center setting that module injection needs.

What it does

Files - the VBA project and the document it lives in. Most file tools need no Office installation; binary Excel grids use Excel on Windows.

The code project

xlide_edit_module accepts preview_only=true to check a batch of line edits and return its proposed diff without saving. The preview's content token can be used to apply the same edits if the module has not changed. xlide_search_modules returns tokens for matched modules, so its line numbers can also be passed directly to a guarded edit. Broad searches can be paged with offset and next_offset; total_match_count reports how many matching lines exist across all pages. xlide_list_procedures returns a content token for guarded edits at the listed lines. Reading an empty module returns its empty body and token. Writing an identical module or applying an unchanged module import skips the save; the response reports saved=false. Applying an unchanged export leaves the existing .bas and .cls files untouched. Long Power Query formulas can be read by line; the read returns a token that xlide_write_query can use to refuse a stale change. Large form designs can be read in pages with offset and next_offset. Office file, VBA module and Power Query lists also return next_offset when a later page is available. For crowded drawing layers, pass sheet to xlide_list_shapes and follow its next_offset to read later shapes. Worksheet lists mark unreadable visibility or pivot metadata as unknown, and formatted or rich text cell reads name the cell when decoding fails instead of returning a blank. An Excel-backed worksheet survey refuses malformed output instead of dropping sheets. An Excel-backed cell read refuses a partial grid instead of labeling it as the full range. Form summary lists use the same offset and next_offset paging. Form reads distinguish missing properties or sections from a read failure, and an unreadable Access report collection fails instead of appearing empty. Procedure lists also return next_offset for long modules. Structural validation problems can be read with offset and next_offset. Access catalog lists return a next_offsets entry for each included collection. Long saved query SQL is previewed in the catalog; xlide_read_access_query returns the full text in character pages with a content token. The list actions for tables, names, validation, conditional formats, hyperlinks and comments also accept offset and max_results and return next_offset. Merging cells keeps only the top-left value. xlide_format_cells refuses to clear other values or formulas unless allow_overwrite=true is passed. xlide_sort_rows sorts a range, table or filter with ordered keys; xlide_remove_duplicates keeps the first matching row. xlide_copy_cells copies between sheets with Paste Special options and requires allow_overwrite=true. xlide_update_shape changes a shape's position, name, text, alt text or visibility without removing it; it also changes a Forms control's linked cell or list range.

xlide_check_cells lists Excel's green-triangle error checks, including numbers stored as text and inconsistent formulas, with paging for long lists.

The document around it

Execution - Windows with the desktop application.

xlide_run_macro, xlide_run_vba, xlide_run_tests, xlide_compile_check

Your Office applications - Windows with the desktop application, and only on the file named.

xlide_is_open, xlide_open_in_app, xlide_close_in_app

Live editor - a running xlide_vbide session inside the Visual Basic Editor.

xlide_live_sessions, xlide_live_state, xlide_live_request, xlide_live_read_module

xlide_live_read_module accepts line ranges for long unsaved source and returns a content token for comparing that source with the saved module. Both analysis tools return next_offset when findings exceed a page, while keeping their full severity counts.

Formats

VBA reads and writes in all of them. Power Query is available in .xlsx, .xlsm, .xlsb and .xlam; package-based worksheet edits are available in .xlsx, .xlsm and .xlam. A .xlsb keeps its grid in binary records and a .xls inside a compound file; on Windows with Excel, both can be read for values, and .xlsb cells can be written. This server does not write .xls cells.

A recognized extension outside those sets is listed with the reason it cannot be opened. Nothing drops out of a listing without saying why.

Seeing what changed

An Office file is one binary blob to git, so a commit that changed a line of VBA and one that replaced the whole project are the same three words: Binary files differ.

xlide_git_changes reports what changed since any revision, one entry per module and query, each with a unified diff. xlide-mcp --textconv is a git textconv driver that does the same for git itself:

echo '*.xlsm binary diff=vba' >> .gitattributes
git config diff.vba.textconv "xlide-mcp --textconv"
git config diff.vba.cachetextconv true

 Public Sub Greet()
-    MsgBox "hello"
+    MsgBox "hello, world"
+    Debug.Print Now
 End Sub

That is git diff on a .xlsm, and git show and git log -p convert too. Write binary diff=vba, not diff=vba alone: the binary macro is -diff -merge -text and the later diff=vba overrides only its -diff, so the file keeps -text and git never applies end-of-line conversion to a container it would corrupt.

Both routes cover VBA, Power Query and the sheet inventory. Cell values are not included, and the rendered text says so on its first line.

Inside VS Code beside XLIDE, every write also tells a running XLIDE what changed, so a module an agent wrote is marked in XLIDE's project tree with its diff and Keep and Revert, as XLIDE's own agent edits are. It needs an XLIDE that listens for this; the protocol is docs/xlide-vscode-bridge.md.

The rules it works by

These are in the server's own instructions, so every agent that connects reads them whether or not the user configured anything.

• The VBA inside the file is the only source of truth for it. Exported .bas and .cls files are copies and go stale.
• A read returns a content token. Pass it back on the write, and the write is refused if anything changed the module in between.
• Analysis after every change, and an error is a build failure.
• A run happens in an Office instance the server created and can therefore terminate. The user's own applications are touched only through the three tools above, on the file named: unsaved work is closed only when the call says to save or discard it, and a process is ended only when asked.
• Anything hard to undo is the user's decision: deleting a module, overwriting cells that hold data, writing to a project that is signed or password-protected. Cell overwrites and writes to signed or protected projects are refused until the call carries the flag that allows them.
• A cell value read from the package is what Excel last calculated. A formula written there has no result in the file until Excel next opens it. calculate=true works results out with pyOfficeEditor's formula engine, which names any cell it could not.

An Access database that has never held code can have no VBA project. xlide_write_module creates it with the first module, or xlide_create_project adds an empty one to an existing .accdb.

Security

Report a vulnerability through private vulnerability reporting, not a public issue. The security policy says what to include and which versions receive fixes.

CodeQL and Semgrep scan the server and release workflows on every push, pull request, weekly run and release. An unexpected finding, scan warning or missing scan stops a release. Each successful release carries its security report and the SARIF results as downloadable assets. Dependabot proposes dependency and workflow updates for review.

Built on

Working on it

This package is the reference implementation in a repository that will hold others. See AGENTS.md for how to change a tool, contract/ for the generated tool surface and conformance corpus every implementation is verified against, and docs/porting.md for building one in another language.

pip install -e ".[dev,live]"
python -m pytest                 # the file layer, no Office needed
python -m pytest -m live         # the rest, real Office, Windows only
python -m ruff check src tests tools

License

MIT.