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How to integrate Excel MCP with OpenAI Agents SDK

Connect OpenAI Agents SDK to Excel MCP. Add sales data row to q2 table, create bar chart from revenue column, and more using natural language, with authentication handled for you.

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Microsoft Excel is a robust spreadsheet application for organizing, analyzing, and visualizing data. It's the go-to tool for calculations, reporting, and flexible data management.

125 Tools

Introduction

This guide walks you through connecting Excel to the OpenAI Agents SDK using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Excel agent that can create workbooks and worksheets, read and update cell ranges, add rows to tables, build charts, and sort and filter data through natural language commands.

This guide will help you understand how to give your OpenAI Agents SDK agent real control over a Excel account through Composio's Excel MCP server.

Before we dive in, let's take a quick look at the key ideas and tools involved.

For exact tool slugs and parameter tables, see the tool catalog in the Composio docs.

Also integrate Excel with

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TL;DR

Here's what you'll learn:
  • Get and set up your OpenAI and Composio API keys
  • Install the necessary dependencies
  • Initialize Composio and create a Tool Router session for Excel
  • Configure an AI agent that can use Excel as a tool
  • Run a live chat session where you can ask the agent to perform Excel operations

What is OpenAI Agents SDK?

The OpenAI Agents SDK is a lightweight framework for building AI agents that can use tools and maintain conversation state. It provides a simple interface for creating agents with hosted MCP tool support.

Key features include:

  • Hosted MCP Tools: Connect to external services through hosted MCP endpoints
  • SQLite Sessions: Persist conversation history across interactions
  • Simple API: Clean interface with Agent, Runner, and tool configuration
  • Streaming Support: Real-time response streaming for interactive applications

What is the Excel MCP server, and what's possible with it?

The Excel MCP server is an implementation of the Model Context Protocol that connects your AI agent and assistants like Claude, Cursor, etc directly to your Excel account. It provides structured and secure access to your spreadsheets, so your agent can perform actions like adding data, creating tables, managing worksheets, generating charts, and sharing workbooks on your behalf.

  • Automated data entry and updates: Let your agent add rows, columns, or clear specific ranges in any worksheet—keeping your data fresh, organized, and accurate.
  • Effortless table and worksheet management: Direct your agent to create tables, add new worksheets, or organize data structures for seamless tracking and reporting.
  • Dynamic chart generation: Have your agent visualize your data instantly by adding charts to any worksheet for quick insights and analysis.
  • Advanced filtering and sorting: Ask your agent to apply filters or custom sorts to tables, making it easy to focus on what matters most in your datasets.
  • Secure sharing and permission control: Empower your agent to grant access or update permissions on workbooks, ensuring your team can collaborate safely and efficiently.

What is the Composio tool router, and how does it fit here?

What is Composio SDK?

Composio's Composio SDK helps agents find the right tools for a task at runtime. You can plug in multiple toolkits (like Gmail, HubSpot, and GitHub), and the agent will identify the relevant app and action to complete multi-step workflows. This can reduce token usage and improve the reliability of tool calls. Read more here: Getting started with Composio SDK

The tool router generates a secure MCP URL that your agents can access to perform actions.

How the Composio SDK works

The Composio SDK follows a three-phase workflow:

  1. Discovery: Searches for tools matching your task and returns relevant toolkits with their details.
  2. Authentication: Checks for active connections. If missing, creates an auth config and returns a connection URL via Auth Link.
  3. Execution: Executes the action using the authenticated connection.

Step-by-step Guide

Step by step09 STEPS
1

Prerequisites

Before starting, make sure you have:
  • Composio API Key and OpenAI API Key
  • Primary know-how of OpenAI Agents SDK
  • A live Excel project
  • Some knowledge of Python or Typescript
2

Getting API Keys for OpenAI and Composio

OpenAI API Key
  • Go to the OpenAI dashboard and create an API key. You'll need credits to use the models, or you can connect to another model provider.
  • Keep the API key safe.
Composio API Key
3

Install dependencies

npm install @composio/openai-agents @openai/agents dotenv

Install the Composio SDK and the OpenAI Agents SDK.

4

Set up environment variables

bash
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...your-api-key
COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your-api-key
USER_ID=composio_user@gmail.com

Create a .env file and add your OpenAI and Composio API keys.

5

Import dependencies

import 'dotenv/config';
import { Composio } from '@composio/core';
import { OpenAIAgentsProvider } from '@composio/openai-agents';
import { Agent, hostedMcpTool, run, OpenAIConversationsSession } from '@openai/agents';
import * as readline from 'readline';
What's happening:
  • You're importing all necessary libraries.
  • The Composio and OpenAIAgentsProvider classes are imported to connect your OpenAI agent to Composio tools like Excel.
6

Set up the Composio instance

dotenv.config();

const composioApiKey = process.env.COMPOSIO_API_KEY;
const userId = process.env.USER_ID;

if (!composioApiKey) {
  throw new Error('COMPOSIO_API_KEY is not set. Create a .env file with COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your_key');
}
if (!userId) {
  throw new Error('USER_ID is not set');
}

// Initialize Composio
const composio = new Composio({
  apiKey: composioApiKey,
  provider: new OpenAIAgentsProvider(),
});
What's happening:
  • dotenv.config() loads your .env file so COMPOSIO_API_KEY and USER_ID are available as environment variables.
  • Creating a Composio instance using the API Key and OpenAIAgentsProvider class.
7

Create a Tool Router session

// Create Tool Router session for Excel
const session = await composio.create(userId as string, {
  toolkits: ['excel'],
});
const mcpUrl = session.mcp.url;

What is happening:

  • You give the Tool Router the user id and the toolkits you want available. Here, it is only excel.
  • The router checks the user's Excel connection and prepares the MCP endpoint.
  • The returned session.mcp.url is the MCP URL that your agent will use to access Excel.
  • This approach keeps things lightweight and lets the agent request Excel tools only when needed during the conversation.
8

Configure the agent

// Configure agent with MCP tool
const agent = new Agent({
  name: 'Assistant',
  model: 'gpt-5',
  instructions:
    'You are a helpful assistant that can access Excel. Help users perform Excel operations through natural language.',
  tools: [
    hostedMcpTool({
      serverLabel: 'tool_router',
      serverUrl: mcpUrl,
      headers: { 'x-api-key': composioApiKey },
      requireApproval: 'never',
    }),
  ],
});
What's happening:
  • We're creating an Agent instance with a name, model (gpt-5), and clear instructions about its purpose.
  • The agent's instructions tell it that it can access Excel and help with queries, inserts, updates, authentication, and fetching database information.
  • The tools array includes a hostedMcpTool that connects to the MCP server URL we created earlier.
  • The headers object includes the Composio API key for secure authentication with the MCP server.
  • requireApproval: 'never' means the agent can execute Excel operations without asking for permission each time, making interactions smoother.
9

Start chat loop and handle conversation

// Keep conversation state across turns
const conversationSession = new OpenAIConversationsSession();

// Simple CLI
const rl = readline.createInterface({
  input: process.stdin,
  output: process.stdout,
  prompt: 'You: ',
});

console.log('\nComposio Tool Router session created.');
console.log('\nChat started. Type your requests below.');
console.log("Commands: 'exit', 'quit', or 'q' to end\n");

try {
  const first = await run(agent, 'What can you help me with?', { session: conversationSession });
  console.log(`Assistant: ${first.finalOutput}\n`);
} catch (e) {
  console.error('Error:', e instanceof Error ? e.message : e, '\n');
}

rl.prompt();

rl.on('line', async (userInput) => {
  const text = userInput.trim();

  if (['exit', 'quit', 'q'].includes(text.toLowerCase())) {
    console.log('Goodbye!');
    rl.close();
    process.exit(0);
  }

  if (!text) {
    rl.prompt();
    return;
  }

  try {
    const result = await run(agent, text, { session: conversationSession });
    console.log(`\nAssistant: ${result.finalOutput}\n`);
  } catch (e) {
    console.error('Error:', e instanceof Error ? e.message : e, '\n');
  }

  rl.prompt();
});

rl.on('close', () => {
  console.log('\n👋 Session ended.');
  process.exit(0);
});
What's happening:
  • The program prints a session URL that you visit to authorize Excel.
  • After authorization, the chat begins.
  • Each message you type is processed by the agent using run().
  • The responses are printed to the console.
  • Typing exit, quit, or q cleanly ends the chat.

Complete Code

Here's the complete code to get you started with Excel and OpenAI Agents SDK:

import 'dotenv/config';
import { Composio } from '@composio/core';
import { OpenAIAgentsProvider } from '@composio/openai-agents';
import { Agent, hostedMcpTool, run, OpenAIConversationsSession } from '@openai/agents';
import * as readline from 'readline';

const composioApiKey = process.env.COMPOSIO_API_KEY;
const userId = process.env.USER_ID;

if (!composioApiKey) {
  throw new Error('COMPOSIO_API_KEY is not set. Create a .env file with COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your_key');
}
if (!userId) {
  throw new Error('USER_ID is not set');
}

// Initialize Composio
const composio = new Composio({
  apiKey: composioApiKey,
  provider: new OpenAIAgentsProvider(),
});

async function main() {
  // Create Tool Router session
  const session = await composio.create(userId as string, {
    toolkits: ['excel'],
  });
  const mcpUrl = session.mcp.url;

  // Configure agent with MCP tool
  const agent = new Agent({
    name: 'Assistant',
    model: 'gpt-5',
    instructions:
      'You are a helpful assistant that can access Excel. Help users perform Excel operations through natural language.',
    tools: [
      hostedMcpTool({
        serverLabel: 'tool_router',
        serverUrl: mcpUrl,
        headers: { 'x-api-key': composioApiKey },
        requireApproval: 'never',
      }),
    ],
  });

  // Keep conversation state across turns
  const conversationSession = new OpenAIConversationsSession();

  // Simple CLI
  const rl = readline.createInterface({
    input: process.stdin,
    output: process.stdout,
    prompt: 'You: ',
  });

  console.log('\nComposio Tool Router session created.');
  console.log('\nChat started. Type your requests below.');
  console.log("Commands: 'exit', 'quit', or 'q' to end\n");

  try {
    const first = await run(agent, 'What can you help me with?', { session: conversationSession });
    console.log(`Assistant: ${first.finalOutput}\n`);
  } catch (e) {
    console.error('Error:', e instanceof Error ? e.message : e, '\n');
  }

  rl.prompt();

  rl.on('line', async (userInput) => {
    const text = userInput.trim();

    if (['exit', 'quit', 'q'].includes(text.toLowerCase())) {
      console.log('Goodbye!');
      rl.close();
      process.exit(0);
    }

    if (!text) {
      rl.prompt();
      return;
    }

    try {
      const result = await run(agent, text, { session: conversationSession });
      console.log(`\nAssistant: ${result.finalOutput}\n`);
    } catch (e) {
      console.error('Error:', e instanceof Error ? e.message : e, '\n');
    }

    rl.prompt();
  });

  rl.on('close', () => {
    console.log('\nSession ended.');
    process.exit(0);
  });
}

main().catch((err) => {
  console.error('Fatal error:', err);
  process.exit(1);
});

Conclusion

This was a starter code for integrating Excel MCP with OpenAI Agents SDK to build a functional AI agent that can interact with Excel.

Key features:

  • Hosted MCP tool integration through Composio's Tool Router
  • SQLite session persistence for conversation history
  • Simple async chat loop for interactive testing
You can extend this by adding more toolkits, implementing custom business logic, or building a web interface around the agent.
TOOLS

Supported Tools

Every Excel action and event your agent gets out of the box.

Add Chart

Add a chart to a worksheet using Microsoft Graph API.

Add Named Item

Add a workbook- or worksheet-scoped named item using an invariant reference or a local formula.

Add SharePoint Worksheet

Add a new worksheet to an Excel workbook in a SharePoint site's default drive using Microsoft Graph.

Add Table

Create a new table in a worksheet using the Microsoft Graph API.

Add Table Column

Add a column to a table using Microsoft Graph API.

Add Table Row

Add a row to a table using Microsoft Graph API.

Add Workbook Permission

Tool to grant access to a workbook via invite.

Add Worksheet

Add a new worksheet to an Excel workbook using Microsoft Graph API.

Apply Table Filter

Apply a filter to a table column using Microsoft Graph API.

Apply Table Sort

Apply a sort to a table using Microsoft Graph API.

Autofit Range

Autofit columns or rows intersecting a workbook range.

Calculate Workbook Function

Run one allowlisted Microsoft Graph v1.

Calculate Excel Workbook

Calculate Excel Workbook

Clear Range

Tool to clear values, formats, or contents in a specified worksheet range.

Clear Table Filter

Clear a filter from a table column using Microsoft Graph API.

Clear All Table Filters

Clear All Table Filters

Clear Table Sort

Clear Table Sort

Close Excel Session

Tool to close an existing Excel workbook session.

Convert Table To Range

Convert a table to a range using Microsoft Graph API.

Copy Drive Item

Create a non-destructive asynchronous copy of a file or folder.

Create Comment

Create a plain-text Excel cell comment through Microsoft Graph beta.

Create Folder

Create a folder under a parent Microsoft Graph drive item.

Create Upload Session

Create a resumable upload session at a drive-root path.

Create Workbook

Tool to create a new Excel workbook file at a specified drive path.

Create Workbook Sharing Link

Create or retrieve an application-owned sharing link for a workbook.

Delete Drive Item

Move a OneDrive or SharePoint drive item to the recycle bin by item ID.

Delete Named Item

Permanently delete a workbook-scoped named item; this cannot be undone.

Delete Range

Delete worksheet cells and shift the remaining cells up or left.

Delete Table

Permanently delete an Excel table by its ID or name.

Delete Table Column

Delete a column from a table using Microsoft Graph API.

Delete Table Row

Delete a row from a table using Microsoft Graph API.

Delete Worksheet

Tool to delete a worksheet from the workbook.

Download Workbook

Download an Excel workbook in its original file format.

Export Workbook to PDF

Export an Excel workbook to PDF using Microsoft Graph format conversion, returning a download URL.

Get Excel Application

Get Excel Application

Get chart

Get chart

Get Chart Axis

Tool to retrieve a specific axis from a chart.

Get chart component

Retrieve one Excel chart component: chart title, axis title, supported gridlines, axis font, or supported line format.

Get Chart Data Labels

Tool to retrieve the data labels object of a chart.

Get chart image

Render an Excel chart as a base64-encoded image.

Get Chart Legend

Tool to retrieve the legend object of a chart.

Get chart point

Get chart point

Get chart series

Get chart series

Get Comment

Retrieve one workbook comment by its exact ID.

Get Comment Reply

Retrieve one reply to a workbook comment by its exact ID.

Get Derived Range

Return a range derived from another range by navigation or geometry.

Get Drive Item

Retrieve OneDrive or SharePoint drive item metadata by exact ID or path.

Get Named Item

Retrieve a workbook-scoped named item by exact name.

Get Named Item Range

Retrieve the Excel range of a range-valued workbook-scoped named item.

Get Excel Operation Status

Get the status of an asynchronous Excel workbook operation by its operation ID.

Get Pivot Table

Get Pivot Table

Get Projected Worksheet Subresource

Read selected properties from a worksheet range, its used range, or worksheet protection.

Get Range

Get a range from a worksheet using Microsoft Graph API.

Get Range Format

Read one formatting component from a workbook range.

Create Excel Session

Create a session for an Excel workbook using Microsoft Graph API.

Get SharePoint Range

Get a range from a worksheet in SharePoint using Microsoft Graph Sites API.

Get SharePoint Worksheet

Get a worksheet by name or ID from an Excel workbook in a SharePoint site's default drive using Microsoft Graph.

Get Table

Retrieve one workbook- or worksheet-addressed table by ID or exact name.

Get table column

Tool to retrieve a specific column from a workbook table.

Get Table Column Cell

Read one cell by row within a selected table column's data body.

Get Table Column Range

Get Table Column Range

Get Table Range

Get Table Range

Get Table Row

Get Table Row

Get Table Row Range

Get Table Row Range

Get Table Sort

Get Table Sort

Get Visible Range

Read cells visible after worksheet filtering.

Get workbook

Retrieve a workbook's relationships, including comments, named items, operations, tables, and worksheets, with optional relationship expansion.

Get Worksheet

Get a worksheet by name or ID from an Excel workbook using Microsoft Graph API.

Get Worksheet Protection

Get Worksheet Protection

Get Worksheet Row Range

Read a zero-based worksheet row across the column bounds of the worksheet's values-only used range.

Get Worksheet Used Range

Tool to retrieve a worksheet's used range (active data region) without specifying a fixed range address.

Insert Range

Tool to insert a new cell range into a worksheet, shifting existing cells down or right.

List chart points

List chart points

List Charts

List charts in a worksheet using Microsoft Graph API.

List Chart Series

List a page of data series names in a chart, with a next-page link when more results are available.

List Comment Replies

List replies to one workbook comment.

List Comments

List a page of comments in an Excel workbook using Microsoft Graph.

List Drive Item Children

Tool to list immediate children (files/folders) of a folder DriveItem using driveId and itemId.

List Drive Item Versions

List retained versions of a OneDrive or SharePoint workbook file.

List Drive Files

List files and folders in a drive root or specified path.

List Named Items

List named items in a workbook using Microsoft Graph.

List Pivot Tables

List Pivot Tables

List SharePoint Tables

List tables in a worksheet of an Excel workbook stored in a SharePoint site's default drive using Microsoft Graph.

List SharePoint Worksheets

List worksheets in an Excel workbook stored in SharePoint using Microsoft Graph Sites API.

List Site Lists

List SharePoint lists in a known Microsoft Graph site.

List Table Columns

List columns in a table using Microsoft Graph API.

List Table Rows

List rows in a table using Microsoft Graph API.

List Tables

List tables in a specified Excel worksheet using Microsoft Graph API.

List Workbook Permissions

Tool to list permissions set on the workbook file.

List Workbook Tables

List tables across a workbook without requiring a worksheet identifier.

List Worksheets

List worksheets in an Excel workbook using Microsoft Graph API.

Merge Cells

Merge cells in a worksheet range using Microsoft Graph API.

Protect Worksheet

Tool to protect a worksheet using optional protection options.

Reapply All Table Filters

Reapply All Table Filters

Reapply Table Sort

Reapply Table Sort

Refresh Pivot Tables

Refresh Pivot Tables

Refresh Excel Session

Refresh Excel Session

Resolve Shared Workbook

Resolve a Microsoft Graph share token, shareId, or raw sharing URL to DriveItem metadata.

Revoke Workbook Permission

Remove a non-inherited sharing permission from a workbook.

Run Graph Mutation Batch

Create, update, or delete drive or workbook resources in up to 20 requests; inspect every subresponse status because individual mutations can fail.

Run Graph Read Batch

Read drive or workbook data in up to 20 GET requests; inspect every subresponse status because individual requests can fail.

Search Drive Files

Search OneDrive drive items by query and return files, optionally filtered by extension, to discover Excel workbook IDs.

Search Microsoft 365 Content

Search OneDrive and SharePoint content using Microsoft Search.

Search Sites

Search SharePoint sites by free-text query for workbook discovery.

Set chart data

Replace an Excel chart's source range and optionally choose whether rows or columns define its series.

Set chart position

Set chart position

Sort Range

Sort a range in a worksheet using Microsoft Graph API.

Unmerge Range

Split a merged worksheet range back into separate cells.

Unprotect Worksheet

Remove protection from a worksheet so it can be edited again.

Update Chart

Update a chart in a worksheet using Microsoft Graph API.

Update chart component

Update one Excel chart component: an axis, data labels, chart title, axis title, supported gridlines, axis font, fill, or supported line format.

Update Chart Legend

Update a chart legend's visibility, position, or overlay setting.

Update chart series

Rename one Excel chart series by ID or zero-based collection position.

Update Drive Item

Rename, move within the same drive, or update client timestamps for a DriveItem by stable ID.

Update Named Item

Update a workbook named item's visibility or comment.

Update Range

Update cell values in a specified worksheet range using Microsoft Graph API.

Update Range Format

Update exactly one formatting component on a workbook range.

Update SharePoint Range

Update values in a worksheet range in an Excel workbook stored in a SharePoint site's default drive using Microsoft Graph.

Update Table

Update an Excel workbook table's name, header visibility, totals visibility, or style using Microsoft Graph.

Update Table Column

Update the name or values of an Excel table column.

Update Table Column Range

Update raw values in a table column's data-body cells by zero-based index.

Update Table Row

Update Table Row

Update Worksheet

Update worksheet properties (name, position) in an Excel workbook using Microsoft Graph API.

Upload Workbook from URL

Tool to upload an external Excel file from a URL into OneDrive/SharePoint.

Who Am I

Return the identity (email, name) of the connected Excel (Microsoft) account.

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FAQ

Frequently asked questions

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