xlsx-for-ai

Short name: xfa — a real CLI command (xfa <file>, xfa samples, xfa --version) and the prompt shorthand (e.g. "use xfa to read this file"). Same entrypoint as xlsx-for-ai; matches the internal xfa_* / XFA_* brand surface.

The missing reliability layer that makes spreadsheet reasoning production-grade for LLMs.

A thin npm client over a hosted API. Install once, add to your agent config, and your agent gets 50 production-grade tools for reading, writing, diffing, redacting, healing, and cryptographically attesting .xlsx files — engine complexity runs server-side, engine IP stays private.

npm install -g xlsx-for-ai

The global install puts the xlsx-for-ai-mcp binary on your PATH — that's what the canonical configs below point at. A pinned global install launches fast and works offline; upgrade with npm install -g xlsx-for-ai@latest when a new version ships.

Upgrading from 1.5.x? This is a re-architecture, not a feature bump: the heavy local engine is gone from the npm package. All rendering happens server-side. The cursor-reads-xlsx alias still works. See Migration below.

MCP configuration

Add the server to your agent runtime under the name xfa (so "use xfa to read this" resolves). First invocation auto-registers an anonymous client UUID — no email, no signup, no friction.

Claude Code

The global install auto-registers the xfa MCP server in ~/.claude.json — no extra step:

npm install -g xlsx-for-ai

If your environment skips install scripts (--ignore-scripts, CI, or a sudo install), register it manually:

claude mcp add xfa -- xlsx-for-ai-mcp

Verify: in a new Claude Code session, ask "what MCP tools do you have?" — 50 xlsx_* tools should appear, including xlsx_doctor (one-call health report — try it first on any unknown workbook).

Then run xfa samples (shorthand for xlsx-for-ai samples) to drop two demo workbooks in your working directory and get paste-ready prompts to try.

Cursor

Config file: ~/.cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "xfa": {
      "command": "xlsx-for-ai-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Verify: open Cursor settings → MCP → confirm xfa shows 50 xlsx_* tools.

Continue

Config file: ~/.continue/config.json

{
  "mcpServers": [
    {
      "name": "xfa",
      "command": "xlsx-for-ai-mcp"
    }
  ]
}

Verify: restart VS Code, open the Continue panel, and check the MCP server list.

Codex CLI

Pass --mcp-server on the command line, or add to your Codex config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "xfa": {
      "command": "xlsx-for-ai-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Verify: run codex --list-tools and confirm 50 xlsx_* tools are listed.

Zed

Config file: ~/.config/zed/settings.json

{
  "context_servers": {
    "xfa": {
      "command": {
        "path": "xlsx-for-ai-mcp"
      }
    }
  }
}

Verify: open Zed's assistant panel — the xlsx tools should appear in the tool picker.

Windsurf

Config file: ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "xfa": {
      "command": "xlsx-for-ai-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Verify: open Windsurf → Cascade → settings, confirm xfa is listed as an active MCP server.

Custom agents / API

For custom MCP clients, the binary is xlsx-for-ai-mcp (stdio transport). Override the API base URL with the XLSX_FOR_AI_API env var for local dev against http://localhost:3000.

What it does

50 tools registered in tools/list. Descriptions are intentionally rich — an agent reading a transcript can tell what each tool does and when to reach for it, without extra docs.

Triage / orient

... View full README on GitHub