GitHub Copilot How to use Microsoft Excel with GitHub Copilot
You want Microsoft Excel inside GitHub Copilot so it can audit workbook data quality, summarize operational spreadsheets, review spreadsheet comments, and update and save a workbook — without you copy-pasting between tabs. Here is the whole setup, once.
Create your Microsoft Excel gateway
The gateway is the thing GitHub Copilot connects to, and it is where you decide which Microsoft Excel tools an agent may use. You create it once and every client reuses it.
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Create an Arcade account
Sign up and open the dashboard. The free tier is enough to follow this through.
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Create an MCP Gateway and select your Microsoft Excel tools
In the dashboard, create a gateway and pick the Microsoft Excel tools you want to expose. The gateway is what your client connects to, and it is where tool access is decided.
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Copy your gateway URL
Every client below needs it.
https://api.arcade.dev/mcp/<YOUR-GATEWAY-SLUG>
Connect the gateway to GitHub Copilot
JetBrains IDEs do not support remote MCP servers with Dynamic Client Registration — configure the gateway as “Arcade Headers” in the dashboard first. Setup also differs on Visual Studio, Eclipse and Xcode; check the docs for yours.
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In VS Code
Copilot picks up MCP servers configured in VS Code automatically, so follow the VS Code steps and you are done.
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In JetBrains IDEs
Copilot icon → Open Chat → Agent mode → tools icon → “+ Add More Tools…”, which opens mcp.json.
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Add the gateway with Arcade Headers
{ "servers": { "mcp-arcade": { "url": "https://api.arcade.dev/mcp/<YOUR-GATEWAY-SLUG>", "requestInit": { "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer {arcade_api_key}", "Arcade-User-ID": "{arcade_user_id}" } } } } }
Full GitHub Copilot guide in the docs steps verified 2026-08-13
Try these Excel prompts
GitHub Copilot can now act on your Microsoft Excel account. Click a prompt to copy it.
Use Contextual Access policies to limit an agent to reading workbook data or require approval before it changes a cell, deletes a worksheet, or uploads a complete workbook.
