interactive-mcp vs Excel MCP Server

A side-by-side comparison of two Productivity servers — tools, transport, auth, maintenance, and copy-paste config for each.

	interactive-mcp Local MCP server that puts a human in the loop: ask the user questions and send OS notifications mid-task. Unverified stdio (local) No auth Stale TypeScript	Excel MCP Server Create, read, and modify Excel workbooks with your AI agent — no Microsoft Excel required. Unverified stdio (local) No auth Python
Category	Productivity	Productivity
Language	TypeScript	Python
Transport	stdio (local)	stdio (local)
Auth	None	None
GitHub stars	348	3.9k
Last commit	7 months ago	2 months ago
Verified
Actively maintained
Install	`npx -y interactive-mcp`	`uvx excel-mcp-server stdio`
Repo	Open	Open

Verdict

Pick interactive-mcp if you prefer its approach (local mcp server that puts a human in the loop: ask the user questions and send os notifications mid-task).

Pick Excel MCP Server if you prefer the more popular, battle-tested option, and you need the broadest set of tools.

Add interactive-mcp

Install / run

npx -y interactive-mcp

Paste into ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "interactive-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "interactive-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Add Excel MCP Server

Install / run

uvx excel-mcp-server stdio

Paste into ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "excel-mcp-server": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "excel-mcp-server",
        "stdio"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Requires `uv` (the Python package runner). Install it from https://docs.astral.sh/uv/ if `uvx` is not found.

FAQ

interactive-mcp or Excel MCP Server — which is better?

Pick interactive-mcp if you prefer its approach (local mcp server that puts a human in the loop: ask the user questions and send os notifications mid-task). Pick Excel MCP Server if you prefer the more popular, battle-tested option, and you need the broadest set of tools.

Can I use both interactive-mcp and Excel MCP Server?

Yes — MCP clients let you enable multiple servers at once. Add both configs to your client's mcpServers and use whichever tool fits the task.

Do interactive-mcp and Excel MCP Server work with Claude, Cursor and Windsurf?

Both do. Copy the per-client config below into Claude Desktop, Cursor, or Windsurf.

View interactive-mcp →View Excel MCP Server →More comparisons →