Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API) vs SeaTable

Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API)

Ranges, tables, charts and 366 worksheet function endpoints are reachable over REST with a public OpenAPI, and a non-persistent session lets an agent test changes without saving them. The reference pages list delegated permissions only, with Files.ReadWrite as the least privileged scope, and writes take no idempotency key.

SeaTable

API tokens are limited to one base and to read-only or read-write, and the official MCP server marks every tool as read-only or destructive. The Free plan allows 3,000 API calls a month in total, and base calls are capped at 200 a minute. The status page showed the base API degraded for 0.77 per cent of 30 days.

Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API)

1. Create a session with POST /workbook/createSession and send workbook-session-id on every call. Persistent sessions expire after about 5 minutes idle
2. Set persistChanges to false when you only need a calculation or a chart image, so nothing is saved to the file
3. Send one request at a time per workbook and wait for each response. Microsoft warns that parallel writes cause throttling, timeouts and merge conflicts
4. Add rows in one call with a two-dimensional values array, and check the table before repeating a row add that returned 504
5. Read bounded addresses such as A1:D500. A whole-column range such as C:C returns null for values, and writes to it are refused

SeaTable

1. Create an API token for the one base with read-only permission unless writes are needed, then exchange it at /api/v2.1/dtable/app-access-token/ for a Base-Token
2. Renew the Base-Token before it expires after 3 days, and send it as Authorization: Bearer to /api-gateway/api/v2/dtables/{base_uuid}/
3. Read x-ratelimit-remaining and x-ratelimit-reset on every base call. SeaTable Cloud allows 200 base calls a minute and answers 429 with no body
4. Batch writes to save the monthly quota. One call appends or updates up to 1,000 rows over REST and 100 over MCP
5. Over MCP, prefer update_rows and delete_rows to query_sql, which can run UPDATE and DELETE, and call get_schema before writing