SharePoint MCP Server Guide 2026: Connect Claude to Microsoft 365

Table of Contents

1. What Is a SharePoint MCP Server?
2. Two Paths: Official Connector vs Community Server
3. The Microsoft 365 Connector for Claude
4. Community SharePoint MCP Servers
5. How Permissions and Auth Work
6. Setting Up a SharePoint MCP Connection
7. Official Connector vs Community vs Composio
8. What You Can Build
9. Security and Governance
10. Limitations
11. Verdict
12. Frequently Asked Questions

What Is a SharePoint MCP Server?

SharePoint is where a huge share of the world's enterprise knowledge actually lives — team sites, document libraries, policies, project files, and the intranet that every employee searches a dozen times a day. A SharePoint MCP server connects that knowledge to an AI client through the Model Context Protocol, so instead of you hunting through libraries, Claude can search SharePoint and read the relevant documents on your behalf, then answer questions grounded in your real content.

Under the hood, these servers talk to Microsoft Graph, the unified API for Microsoft 365. The MCP server wraps Graph's SharePoint endpoints as tools — search a site, list a library, read a file — that the model can call mid-conversation. The result is an agent that can answer "what does our travel policy say about international flights?" by actually reading the policy document, not by guessing.

There is an important fork in the road, though: you can use Anthropic's official Microsoft 365 connector, or a community-built SharePoint server. They solve the same problem with very different trade-offs.

Two Paths: Official Connector vs Community Server

When people say "SharePoint MCP," they usually mean one of two things:

• The official Microsoft 365 connector for Claude. Built and run by Anthropic, it uses an MCP server to reach SharePoint, OneDrive, Outlook, and Teams through delegated Graph permissions. It is the turnkey, governance-friendly option.
• A community SharePoint MCP server. Open-source projects (you will find several on Skiln) that you self-host, pointing at your tenant via your own Microsoft Entra ID app registration. These give you more control and customization, and sometimes write access, at the cost of doing the setup and security review yourself.

Most enterprises should start with the official connector and only reach for a community server when they need something it does not offer — write operations, a narrowly scoped single-site integration, or embedding SharePoint access inside a custom agent. The rest of this guide covers both.

The Microsoft 365 Connector for Claude

Anthropic's Microsoft 365 connector is the cleanest way to give Claude access to SharePoint. It is an MCP-based integration that, once an administrator approves it, lets people in your tenant connect their own Claude accounts and search across SharePoint, OneDrive, Outlook, and Teams from inside Claude.

The defining characteristics:

• Read and analyze, not write. Claude can search documents, analyze emails, summarize meetings, and extract insights — but it cannot create, edit, or delete documents, send mail, modify SharePoint sites, or change Teams settings. That read-only posture is a deliberate safety boundary.
• Delegated permissions. Claude acts on behalf of each individual user via delegated Microsoft Graph permissions, so it can only ever see data that user already has permission to view. There is no privilege escalation.
• Data stays in the tenant. The connector works as a secure proxy that retrieves data on demand during active queries and does not cache file content. Your documents never leave Microsoft's environment to be stored elsewhere.
• Available on every plan. Free, Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise all support it, though setup requires a tenant administrator to approve the connector apps.

For most organizations, this combination — broad coverage, delegated access, no data exfiltration, read-only — is exactly the right default. It is the SharePoint integration you can take to your security team without flinching.

Community SharePoint MCP Servers

If you need something the official connector does not do, the community has built a healthy set of SharePoint MCP servers. On Skiln you will find implementations such as demodorigatsuo/sharepoint-mcp, the sharepoint-online-mcp server, and a SharePoint Bridge, each wrapping Microsoft Graph a little differently.

Why pick a community server?

• Write operations. Some expose tools to create or update list items and documents, which the official connector deliberately does not.
• Single-site focus. You can scope a server to one site or library, which is handy for a narrow, well-governed integration.
• Custom agents. When you are building your own agent rather than using the Claude app, a self-hosted server slots into your stack cleanly.
• Full control. You own the app registration, the permissions, and the hosting, which some security teams prefer.

The trade-off is responsibility: you handle the Entra app registration, the Graph permission scopes, the hosting, and the security review. Vet any community server's permission requests carefully before pointing it at a production tenant.

How Permissions and Auth Work

Both paths ultimately authenticate against Microsoft Graph, but they get there differently.

The official connector uses delegated permissions granted to Anthropic's enterprise MCP server and client applications. A tenant administrator approves these apps once; thereafter each user's connection inherits that user's existing access. The agent is always scoped to what the human can already see.

A community server typically requires you to register an application in Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD), grant it Graph permissions (delegated or application), and authenticate via OAuth or client credentials. With application permissions a server can act tenant-wide, which is powerful and risky — prefer delegated, least-privilege scopes unless you have a specific reason not to.

In both models the principle is the same: the agent only reaches data the configured identity is permitted to access. The official connector enforces that automatically; with a community server, you enforce it through your scope choices.

Setting Up a SharePoint MCP Connection

For the official Microsoft 365 connector:

1. A tenant administrator approves the Microsoft 365 connector for Claude (the enterprise MCP server and client apps) in your Microsoft environment.
2. Individual users open Claude, go to connectors, and connect Microsoft 365 with their own account.
3. Users grant consent, after which Claude can search SharePoint, OneDrive, Outlook, and Teams within that user's permissions.
4. Test it by asking Claude to "search SharePoint for our onboarding guide and summarize it."

For a community SharePoint MCP server (Claude Code example):

1. Register an app in Microsoft Entra ID and grant it the SharePoint/Graph scopes you need (start with read-only delegated permissions).
2. Record the tenant ID, client ID, and a client secret or certificate.
3. Add the server to Claude Code, passing those credentials as environment variables, for example:

claude mcp add sharepoint --env TENANT_ID=... --env CLIENT_ID=... --env CLIENT_SECRET=... -- npx -y 

1. Restart the client, confirm the SharePoint tools appear, and run a search to verify access.

Integration platforms like Composio and Merge also offer SharePoint as a managed MCP connection, handling the Graph auth for you — a middle ground between the official connector and a fully self-hosted server.

Official Connector vs Community vs Composio

The three ways to get SharePoint into your agent, compared:

• Choose the official connector for the safest, lowest-effort, governance-friendly access across all of Microsoft 365.
• Choose a community server when you need write operations, a single-site scope, or embedding in a custom agent.
• Choose a managed platform when you want SharePoint alongside many other SaaS tools with auth handled for you.

For the wider enterprise picture, see our guide to MCP servers for enterprise teams.

What You Can Build

• Policy and knowledge Q&A. Ask plain-language questions and get answers grounded in your actual SharePoint policies, handbooks, and runbooks.
• Document discovery. "Find the latest version of the Q3 board deck" without manually navigating libraries.
• Onboarding assistants. A new hire asks the agent how things work and it cites the real internal docs.
• Cross-source summaries. With the official connector, combine SharePoint documents with related Outlook threads and Teams discussions for a complete answer.
• Research over the intranet. Summarize a sprawling set of project documents into a briefing.

Pair SharePoint access with the best Google Drive MCP servers if your organization straddles both ecosystems, or with Google Workspace for mixed-stack teams.

Security and Governance

SharePoint holds sensitive material, so governance is not optional. The official connector is built for this: delegated permissions mean no user sees anything they could not already see, the secure-proxy design keeps data in your tenant, and the read-only scope removes a whole class of destructive risk. For most security teams, that posture clears review quickly.

With a community server, the burden is on you:

• Least privilege. Grant the minimum Graph scopes required, and prefer delegated over application permissions.
• Vet the code. Review what the server does with credentials and content before connecting it to production.
• Scope narrowly. Limit to specific sites or libraries where possible.
• Rotate secrets. Treat client secrets like any other production credential.

Whichever path you choose, document who approved the connection and what it can access.

Limitations

• Official connector is read-only. No creating, editing, or deleting. If you need write operations, you need a community server or platform.
• Admin approval required. The official connector needs a tenant administrator to enable it, which can be a process in larger organizations.
• Community servers shift the burden. You own setup, hosting, and security, and quality varies between projects.
• Graph permission complexity. Microsoft Entra app registration and Graph scopes have a learning curve for first-timers.

Verdict

For getting SharePoint into Claude, the official Microsoft 365 connector is the clear default in 2026. It covers SharePoint plus the rest of Microsoft 365, uses delegated permissions so it never overreaches, keeps your data in your tenant, and is available on every plan. Its read-only stance is a feature, not a bug, for most knowledge-retrieval use cases, and it is the option you can hand to a security team with confidence.

Reach for a community SharePoint MCP server when you specifically need write access, a single-site scope, or to embed SharePoint in a custom agent — and budget time for the Entra setup and security review. Either way, connecting your agent to the place your documents actually live is one of the highest-leverage MCP integrations an enterprise can make.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a SharePoint MCP server?

A SharePoint MCP server is a Model Context Protocol server that connects an AI client like Claude to SharePoint Online, letting the agent search sites, read documents, and pull content from your Microsoft 365 tenant through tools the model can call. There are two main flavors: Anthropic's official Microsoft 365 connector, which covers SharePoint, OneDrive, Outlook, and Teams, and community-built servers that target SharePoint specifically via the Microsoft Graph API.

Does Claude have an official SharePoint integration?

Yes. Anthropic ships an official Microsoft 365 connector for Claude that uses an MCP server to access SharePoint, OneDrive, Outlook, and Teams through delegated Microsoft Graph permissions. It is available on all Claude plans (Free, Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise) and lets Claude search documents, analyze emails, and summarize meetings without storing data outside your Microsoft tenant.

Can the SharePoint MCP edit or delete my documents?

The official Microsoft 365 connector is read and analyze only. It can search and read SharePoint documents but cannot create, edit, or delete files, send emails, modify SharePoint sites, or change Teams settings. It uses delegated permissions, so Claude acts on behalf of each individual user and can only see data that user already has access to. Some community servers expose write tools, so check each server's scope before granting it access.

How does authentication work for a SharePoint MCP server?

The official connector uses delegated Microsoft Graph permissions granted to Anthropic's enterprise MCP server and client apps, so Claude inherits each user's existing access. Community servers typically register an app in Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) and authenticate via OAuth or client credentials against Microsoft Graph. Either way, the agent only reaches data the configured identity is permitted to see.

Is the SharePoint MCP connector free?

The official Microsoft 365 connector is included on all Claude plans, including Free, though using it requires a Microsoft 365 tenant with SharePoint and an administrator to approve the connector. Community SharePoint MCP servers are open source and free to run, but you supply your own Microsoft Entra app registration and Graph permissions.

Does the SharePoint MCP store my data outside Microsoft?

No, in the official connector. It operates as a secure proxy that retrieves data on demand during active queries and does not cache file content, so your SharePoint documents, emails, and files remain inside your Microsoft tenant. Community servers vary, so review how any third-party server handles data before connecting it to a production tenant.

Can I connect SharePoint to Claude Code or Cursor specifically?

Yes. Beyond the official connector, community servers and integration platforms like Composio and Merge expose SharePoint as an MCP server you can add to Claude Code, Cursor, and other MCP clients. These typically handle the Microsoft Graph authentication for you and publish SharePoint search and read tools the agent can call directly.

Where can I find other Microsoft and enterprise MCP servers?

Skiln indexes Microsoft 365, SharePoint, OneDrive, and other enterprise MCP servers across every major registry. Read our guides to MCP servers for enterprise teams and Google Workspace for the broader productivity landscape, or browse the category directly at /mcps to compare implementations.

Last updated: June 28, 2026 · Skiln tracks new MCP servers daily across 13 source registries including PulseMCP, Smithery, Glama, and LobeHub.