Word

What Word MCP server does

The Word MCP server gives an MCP-compatible AI client access to a locally installed desktop copy of Microsoft Word. It can create or open documents, read and change text, manage paragraphs and tables, update document properties, insert and edit images, configure sections and headers, work with styles and fields, and save or export documents as PDF.

Operations cover common document-production tasks as well as structural inspection. An assistant can search for text, replace matching content, apply character formatting, set paragraph styles and alignment, create tables, write individual cells, add a table of contents, update fields, set page layout, and modify built-in metadata. Image tools support insertion, replacement, resizing, deletion, and alternative text.

How it works

The Word MCP server communicates with Word through Windows COM automation. It does not interpret .docx files independently, so Word must be installed locally and available for automation. Word runs invisibly while a session is active.

Each workflow starts by opening an existing file or creating a new one. The server returns a session_id, which subsequent calls use to identify the Word instance and document. Save or close operations finish the workflow. Supported document formats include .docx, .docm, .doc, .dotx, .dotm, and .rtf.

File paths must be absolute, and the document cannot already be open in Word because the server requires exclusive access. Sessions normally exist inside the MCP server process. An optional daemon, enabled with WORDMCP_SERVICE_MODE=daemon, can keep sessions alive across client restarts and allow multiple clients using the same Windows account to access them.

Setup and configuration

Run this server on Windows 10 or 11 with the .NET 9 SDK or runtime and Microsoft Word 2016 or later. The supported Office installation is the desktop edition, not the Microsoft Store version.

The server can be installed as the global .NET tool WordMcp.McpServer, which provides the mcp-word command. It can also be launched on demand through dnx using its MCP registry package identifier. A VS Code extension is available in the repository; it registers the server and launches it through dnx.

The server uses stdio. Client configuration points to mcp-word, or to dnx with the package and version arguments. The optional WordMcp.Service.exe daemon supports status, stop, and idle-timeout controls.

Tools and capabilities

The Word MCP server exposes seventeen tool groups, each selected through an action parameter:

• file manages sessions and checks whether Word can be automated.
• text reads, appends, searches, replaces, and formats content.
• paragraph lists, inserts, deletes, and styles paragraphs.
• table creates and edits tables, rows, cells, and table styles.
• document reads counts and properties, changes metadata, saves copies, and exports PDF.
• image lists and edits inline pictures and their alternative text.
• field manages fields, tables of contents, page numbers, and field updates.
• section controls section breaks and page setup.
• header-footer reads, writes, or clears headers and footers.
• style lists, creates, modifies, and deletes custom styles.

Text offsets come from Word ranges, while paragraph indexes are one-based. Table operations use explicit row and column values.

Limitations and notes

This is a Windows-only integration with a hard dependency on desktop Microsoft Word. It is unsuitable for environments without Word or for workflows that need file parsing without starting the application. Word must have exclusive access to the target document. Normal sessions end when the server process ends unless the optional daemon is used. The daemon is restricted to the Windows account that starts it, so sessions are not shared between different accounts.