| FMRS | 41 / 100 · D | 84 / 100 · B | 79 / 100 · B |
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| Reliability | 5 / 20 | 17 / 20 | 12 / 20 |
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| Security and permissions | 7 / 20 | 16 / 20 | 18 / 20 |
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| Maintenance | 7 / 20 | 16 / 20 | 15 / 20 |
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| Documentation | 10 / 20 | 17 / 20 | 19 / 20 |
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| Setup experience | 12 / 20 | 18 / 20 | 15 / 20 |
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| Best for | - AI agent workflows that automate Excel file handling
- Local or remote services that should not depend on Microsoft Excel installation
- Users who need Excel data and formatting operations through MCP
| - Local assistants that need to work inside explicitly approved directories
- Individuals and development teams that want path-based data boundaries
| - Serious Obsidian users who want AI agents reading and writing their vault
- Users wanting self-hosted, plugin-free operation with no external APIs
- Mobile/multi-device workflows accessing the vault remotely
- Security-conscious users (OAuth 2.1, atomic writes, container hardening)
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| Not for | - Workflows requiring the Microsoft Excel desktop application itself
- Use cases requiring a verified complete tool inventory when TOOLS.md is not provided
- Deployments where SSE is intended as the preferred transport
| - Highly sensitive environments that cannot allow model access to local file contents
- Shared remote file-service use cases
| - Users unwilling to run Docker or self-host a server
- Non-Obsidian note tools (Notion, Logseq, etc.)
- Scenarios requiring only a stdio local process without an HTTP server
- Remote multi-device sync without an Obsidian Sync subscription (the remote image requires one)
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| Required permissions | - In stdio mode, the client supplies the Excel file path for each tool call
- In SSE and streamable HTTP modes, the server must define the Excel file root through `EXCEL_FILES_PATH`
- In SSE and streamable HTTP modes, file paths must be relative to that root directory
| - Read access to every local directory listed in the configuration
- Filesystem write access when write or move tools are enabled
| - Read/write access to the Obsidian vault folder (bind mount /vault, rw)
- Persistent /data volume (search index, OAuth token DB, logs)
- MCP_AUTH_TOKEN as Bearer token (also the JWT signing key)
- Obsidian Sync token for headless sync in remote mode
- Local download of embedding/reranker models (~45MB total), no external API calls
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| Risks and side effects | - The server can create, read, and modify workbooks, so incorrect operations may change file contents
- SSE is marked as deprecated in the project documentation
- Remote file access is constrained by the `EXCEL_FILES_PATH` root and relative-path rules
| - Sensitive files inside an allowed directory may enter model context
- Write and move tools change real files; keep scopes narrow and maintain backups
| - The server can read and write personal notes — guard MCP_AUTH_TOKEN carefully; leaking it exposes the whole vault
- Writes to real note files; despite atomic writes and protected paths, misconfiguration can alter data
- OAuth token DB lives on the /data volume; container compromise could expose valid sessions
- Remote deployments expose a public port — set PUBLIC_URL and reverse proxy correctly
- The remote image bundles proprietary obsidian-headless (not MIT-licensed); requires an active Obsidian Sync subscription
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| Supported clients | | Claude Desktop, Cursor, Cline, Windsurf | Claude Code, Claude Desktop, claude.ai, Cursor, OpenCode, MCP Inspector |
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| Tools | 0 | 6 | 30 |
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