word-mcp

Word MCP Server Skill

Seventeen tools, each taking an action parameter. The tool descriptions are complete; this file covers the workflow, the ordering rules that are not obvious, and the places where Word behaves in a way nobody would guess.

Preconditions

• Windows with Microsoft Word 2016 or newer, desktop edition. The Microsoft Store version cannot be automated.
• Absolute paths only: C:\Users\me\Documents\report.docx.
• The document must not already be open in Word. Ask the user to close it rather than guessing.
• Word runs invisibly and is shut down with the session.

The one rule that matters

Everything runs inside a session. file(open) or file(create) returns a session_id that every other call needs, and file(close) is what actually writes the document and releases Word.

file(open|create) → session_id → edit → file(save) → file(close, save: true)

A session left open holds a WINWORD.EXE process and an exclusive lock on the file. Close it even when the work failed halfway through.

Building a document

Order matters more than it looks:

1. file(create) — an empty document.
2. Content first: paragraph(add) with style: "Heading 1" for structure, text(append), table(create), image(insert).
3. Formatting second: style(create|modify), list(apply), paragraph(set-alignment).
4. Page setup: section(page-setup), then header-footer(set), then field(insert-page-number).
5. Fields last: field(insert-toc) then field(update-all). A table of contents inserted before the headings exist stays empty.
6. file(close, save: true).

Reading a document

• document(get-info) for the counts, paragraph(list) for the structure. Start there rather than pulling the entire text with text(get).
• text(find) returns character positions that text(format) and text(get) accept.
• screenshot(page) answers layout questions — does the table fit, where does the page break, is the header on the right page — far more reliably than any measurement.