Getting it into your agent
One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.
npx agentmods add instructions/sbroenne/mcp-server-excel/excel-connection-types-guidegit clone --depth 1 https://github.com/sbroenne/mcp-server-excelWrote this? Show the measurements
A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.
[](https://agentmods.dev/instructions/sbroenne/mcp-server-excel/excel-connection-types-guide)<a href="https://agentmods.dev/instructions/sbroenne/mcp-server-excel/excel-connection-types-guide"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/sbroenne/mcp-server-excel/excel-connection-types-guide.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>What it costs to keep this loaded
Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.
| Model | Per session | Once invoked |
|---|---|---|
| Fable 5 | $0.01113 | $0.01113 |
| Opus 5 | $0.00557 | $0.00557 |
| Sonnet 5 | $0.00223 | $0.00223 |
| Haiku 4.5 | $0.00111 | $0.00111 |
Grade A, and why
mcp-server-excel excel-connection-types-guide.instructions.md scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 5d ago.
A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.
Nothing flagged
None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.
How it starts
The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 132 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.
Excel Connection Types - LLM Quick Reference
What works, what doesn't, and what to do instead
CRITICAL: LoadTo Operation Limitations
LoadTo action only works with OLEDB/ODBC connections:
| Connection Type | LoadTo Support | What to Use Instead |
|---|---|---|
| OLEDB | Works | Primary use case |
| ODBC | Works | Primary use case |
| TEXT | FAILS | Use powerquery create + refresh |
| WEB | FAILS | Use powerquery create + refresh |
| Power Query | Works | Use powerquery refresh |
Error pattern: If LoadTo returns "Value does not fall within the expected range" then connection type doesn't support QueryTable pattern - use Power Query instead.
Connection Action Compatibility
| Action | OLEDB/ODBC | TEXT | WEB | Power Query |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| List | Works | Works | Works | Works |
| View | Works | Works | Works | Works |
| Create | Works | Works | Works | Use powerquery |
| Delete | Works | Works | Works | Use powerquery |
| LoadTo | Works | FAILS | FAILS | Use powerquery refresh |
| Refresh | Works | Works* | Works* | Use powerquery refresh |
| Test | Works | Works | Works | Works |
*TEXT/WEB Refresh succeeds but doesn't validate data source existence until actual data access
Decision Tree: Connection vs Power Query
Need to import data from file/URL?
├─ OLEDB/ODBC data source?
│ └─ Use connection (LoadTo, Refresh)
│
├─ TEXT file (CSV, TXT)?
│ └─ Use powerquery (create with M code, refresh)
│
├─ Web API/URL?
│ └─ Use powerquery (create with M code, refresh)
│
└─ Already has Power Query?
└─ Use powerquery (refresh)
Recommended Workflows
OLEDB/ODBC Data Loading:
1. connection create → Creates connection object
2. connection loadto → Loads data to worksheet
3. connection refresh → Updates data from source
TEXT/CSV File Import:
1. powerquery create → Import CSV with M code
2. powerquery refresh → Reload data
(Don't use connection loadto - will fail!)
What this file has done since we first saw it
Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.
- 5d ago First seen · 132 lines · 1,113 tokens per session scan A 8cfb9daf63e1
mcp-server-excel excel-connection-types-guide.instructions.md is an instructions file published in the GitHub repository sbroenne/mcp-server-excel (653 stars, last pushed yesterday), licensed MIT. It adds 1,113 tokens to every session, about $0.0056 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.
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