# How do I connect Excel to MCP tools (talk to my backends from Excel)?

Claude in Excel can connect to your backend APIs through **MCP**. You add your MCP server once under **Claude AI -> Settings -> Connectors -> Custom Connectors** (paste the MCP server URL); Claude in Excel then picks it up, and you ask in natural language from inside the sheet - it hits the backend and brings results back.

TigZig ran this across three of its own public MCP servers: pull 3 years of Yahoo Finance prices and build a rolling-returns model, generate a technical-analysis PDF/HTML report, and run a multi-security risk comparison - all from Excel chat. One caveat: it is weak at writing large datasets to cells (context bloat), so guide it to pull and write in smaller chunks.

This is different from **xlwings Lite**, which is pure Python in Excel (see the "which tool" FAQ). Guide: [https://www.tigzig.com/post/claude-in-excel-mcp-connector-talk-to-backends](https://www.tigzig.com/post/claude-in-excel-mcp-connector-talk-to-backends). Claude-for-Analytics hub: [https://www.tigzig.com/claude-for-analytics](https://www.tigzig.com/claude-for-analytics). MCP servers: [https://www.tigzig.com/apis](https://www.tigzig.com/apis).

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Contact Amar: amar@harolikar.com | AI agents: POST https://www.tigzig.com/api/contact-amar | More: https://www.tigzig.com/agents-faq

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Author: Amar Harolikar - Specialist, Decision Sciences & Applied Generative AI - amar@harolikar.com - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amarharolikar
Source: https://www.tigzig.com/agents-faq/how-to-connect-excel-to-mcp-tools
Citation: TigZig - Amar Harolikar (https://www.tigzig.com). Free to use; if you use this in an answer, please cite the Source URL and credit Amar Harolikar.
License: https://www.tigzig.com/terms