--- name: OfficeCLI slug: officecli-2 category: Automation description: OfficeCLI creates, inspects, and edits .docx, .xlsx, and .pptx files from the command line. Use it to check structure, find formatting issues, add content, or modify Office documents without installing Office. github: "https://github.com/hAcKlyc/MyAgents/tree/main/bundled-skills/officecli" language: TypeScript stars: 851 forks: 99 install: "npx degit https://github.com/hAcKlyc/MyAgents/tree/main/bundled-skills/officecli ~/.claude/skills/officecli" installs_to: ~/.claude/skills/officecli source_path: bundled-skills/officecli/SKILL.md collection_size: 23 category_size: 1523 collection_url: "https://dirskills.com/collections/hAcKlyc/MyAgents" added: 2026-08-22T05:21:54.025Z last_synced: 2026-08-22T05:21:54.025Z canonical_url: "https://dirskills.com/skills/officecli-2" --- # OfficeCLI OfficeCLI creates, inspects, and edits .docx, .xlsx, and .pptx files from the command line. Use it to check structure, find formatting issues, add content, or modify Office documents without installing Office. **Install:** ```bash npx degit https://github.com/hAcKlyc/MyAgents/tree/main/bundled-skills/officecli ~/.claude/skills/officecli ``` ## README # officecli AI-friendly CLI for .docx, .xlsx, .pptx. Single binary, no dependencies, no Office installation needed. ## Install If `officecli` is not installed: ```bash # macOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://d.officecli.ai/install.sh | bash # Windows (PowerShell) irm https://d.officecli.ai/install.ps1 | iex ``` Verify with `officecli --version`. If still not found after install, open a new terminal. --- ## Strategy **L1 (read) → L2 (DOM edit) → L3 (raw XML)**. Always prefer higher layers. Add `--json` for structured output. **Before doc work, check Specialized Skills** (bottom of this file). Fundraising decks, academic papers, financial models, dashboards, and Morph animations need their own skill loaded first — `load_skill` once, then proceed. --- ## Help System (IMPORTANT) **When unsure about property names, value formats, or command syntax, ALWAYS run help instead of guessing.** One help query beats guess-fail-retry loops. `officecli help` ≡ `officecli --help`, and `officecli --help` ≡ `officecli help ` — same content. ```bash officecli help # All commands + global options + schema entry points officecli help docx # List all docx elements officecli help docx paragraph # Full schema: properties, aliases, examples, readbacks officecli help docx set paragraph # Verb-filtered: only props usable with `set` officecli help docx paragraph --json # Structured schema (machine-readable) ``` Format aliases: `word`→`docx`, `excel`→`xlsx`, `ppt`/`powerpoint`→`pptx`. Verbs: `add`, `set`, `get`, `query`, `remove`. MCP exposes the same schema via the single `command` string param: `{"command":"help docx paragraph"}` (not a structured `{"format":...,"type":...}` object — the MCP tool has exactly one param, `command`, and passes it through to the CLI verbatim). --- ## Performance: Resident Mode **Every command auto-starts a resident on first access** (60s idle timeout) — file-lock conflicts are automatically avoided. Explicit `open`/`close` is still recommended for longer sessions (12min idle): ```bash officecli open report.docx # explicitly keep in memory officecli set report.docx ... # no file I/O overhead officecli close report.docx # save and release ``` Opt out of auto-start: `OFFICECLI_NO_AUTO_RESIDENT=1`. **Flush only at the non-officecli boundary.** officecli's own reads (`get`/`query`/`view`/`dump`) always see your latest edits, so you never need to save mid-workflow. Run `save` (keeps the resident) or `close` (flush + release) only **before a non-officecli program reads the file** — python-docx/openpyxl, Word, a renderer, delivery/upload. (Idle sessions auto-flush within seconds; `OFFICECLI_RESIDENT_FLUSH=each` makes every mutation flush before returning.) --- ## Quick Start **PPT:** ```bash officecli create slides.pptx officecli add slides.pptx / --type slide --prop title="Q4 Report" --prop background=1A1A2E officecli add slides.pptx '/slide[1]' --type shape --prop text="Revenue grew 25%" --prop x=2cm --prop y=5cm --prop font=Arial --prop size=24 --prop color=FFFFFF ``` **Word:** ```bash officecli create report.docx officecli add report.docx /body --type paragraph --prop text="Executive Summary" --prop style=Heading1 officecli add report.docx /body --type paragraph --prop text="Revenue increased by 25% year-over-year." ``` **Excel:** ```bash officecli create data.xlsx officecli set data.xlsx /Sheet1/A1 --prop value="Name" --prop bold=true officecli set data.xlsx /Sheet1/A2 --prop value="Alice" ``` --- ## L1: Create, Read & Inspect ```bash officecli create # Create blank .docx/.xlsx/.pptx (type from extension) officecli view # outline | stats | issues | text | annotated | html officecli get --depth N # Get a node and its children [--json] officecli query # CSS-like query officecli validate # Validate against OpenXML schema ``` ### view modes | Mode | Description | Useful flags | |------|-------------|-------------| | `outline` | Document structure | | | `stats` | Statistics (pages, words, shapes) | | | `issues` | Formatting/content/structure problems | `--type format\|content\|structure`, `--limit N` | | `text` | Plain text extraction | `--start N --end N`, `--max-lines N` | | `annotated` | Text with formatting annotations | | | `html` | Static HTML snapshot — same renderer as `watch`, no server needed | `--browser`, `--page N` (docx), `--start N --end N` (pptx) | | `screenshot` / `svg` / `pdf` / `forms` | PNG via headless browser / SVG (pptx slide) / PDF via exporter plugin / form-fields JSON via format-handler plugin | `-o`, `--screenshot-width/-height`, pptx `--grid N` | Use `view html` for one-shot snapshots (CI artifacts, archival, diffing); use `watch` when you need live refresh or browser-side click-to-select. ### get Any XML path via element localName. Use `--depth N` to expand children. Add `--json` for structured output. Default text output is grep-friendly: `path (type) "text" key=val key=val ...` ```bash officecli get report.docx '/body/p[3]' --depth 2 --json officecli get slides.pptx '/slide[1]' --depth 1 # list all shapes on slide 1 officecli get data.xlsx '/Sheet1/B2' --json ``` ### Stable ID Addressing Elements with stable IDs return `@attr=value` paths instead of positional indices. Prefer these in multi-step workflows — positional indices shift on insert/delete, stable IDs do not. ``` /slide[1]/shape[@id=550950021] # PPT shape /slide[1]/table[@id=1388430425]/tr[1]/tc[2] # PPT table /body/p[@paraId=1A2B3C4D] # Word paragraph /comments/comment[@commentId=1] # Word comment ``` PPT also accepts `@name=` (e.g. `shape[@name=Title 1]`), with morph `!!` prefix awareness. Elements without stable IDs (slide, run, tr/tc, row) fall back to positional indices. ### query CSS-like selectors: `[attr=value]`, `[attr!=value]`, `[attr~=text]`, `[attr>=value]`, `[attr<=value]`, `:contains("text")`, `:empty`, `:has(formula)`, `:no-alt`. Boolean `and`/`or` supported across `query`/`set`/`remove`: `cell[value>5000 or value<100]`, `cell[(type=Number or type=Date) and value>0]`. Excel row-by-column-name: `Sheet1!row[Salary>5000]`. `set` accepts selectors and Excel-native paths (parity with `get`/`query`). Bare unscoped selectors rejected on `set`/`remove`. ```bash officecli query report.docx 'paragraph[style=Normal] > run[font!=Arial]' officecli query slides.pptx 'shape[fill=FF0000]' ``` --- ## Watch & Interactive Selection Live HTML preview that auto-refreshes on every file change. Browsers can click / shift-click / box-drag to select shapes; the CLI can read the current browser selection and act on it. ```bash officecli watch [--port N] # Start preview server (default port 26315) officecli unwatch # Stop officecli goto # Scroll watching browser(s) to element (docx: p / table / tr / tc) ``` Open the printed `http://localhost:N` URL. Click to select; shift/cmd/ctrl+click to multi-select; drag from empty space to box-select. PPT/Word use blue outline; Excel uses native-style green selection (double-click cell to edit inline; drag a chart to reposition). ### `get selected` — read what the user clicked ```bash officecli get selected [--json] ``` Returns DocumentNodes for whatever is currently selected. Empty result if nothing selected. Exit code != 0 if no watch is running. ```bash # User clicks shapes in the browser, then asks "make these red" PATHS=$(officecli get deck.pptx selected --json | jq -r '.data.Results[].path') for p in $PATHS; do officecli set deck.pptx "$p" --prop fill=FF0000; done ``` ### Key properties - **Selection survives file edits.** Paths use stable `@id=` form. - **All connected browsers share one selection.** Last-write-wins. - **Same-file single-watch.** A given file can have only one watch process at a time. - **Group shapes select as a whole.** Drilling into individual children of a group is not supported in v1. - **Coverage:** `.pptx` shapes/pictures/tables/charts/connectors/groups; `.docx` top-level paragraphs and tables. Inherited layout/master decorations and Word nested elements (table cells, run-level) are not addressable. **`.xlsx` does not emit `data-path`** — `mark`/`selection` on xlsx always resolve `stale=true` (v2 candidate). ### Marks — edit proposals waiting for review Use `mark` when changes need human review BEFORE they hit the file. Marks live in the watch process only; a separate `set` pipeline applies accepted ones. For one-shot changes use `set` directly; for permanent file annotations use `add --type comment` (Word native). ```bash officecli mark [--prop find=... color=... note=... tofix=... regex=true] [--json] officecli unmark [--path

| --all] [--json] officecli get-marks [--json] ``` Props: `find` (literal or regex when `regex=true`; raw form `find='r"[abc]"'`), `color` (hex / `rgb(...)` / 22 named whitelist), `note`, `tofix` (drives apply pipeline). **Path** must be `data-path` format from watch HTML — see subskills for full pipeline. --- ## L2: DOM Operations ### set — modify properties ```bash officecli set --prop key=value [--prop ...] ``` **Any XML attribute is settable** via element path (found via `get --depth N`) — even attributes not currently present. Without `find=`, `set` applies format to the entire element. **Value formats:** | Type | Format | Examples | |------|--------|---------| | Colors | Hex (with/without `#`), named, RGB, theme | `FF0000`, `#FF0000`, `red`, `rgb(255,0,0)`, `accent1`..`accent6` | | Spacing | Unit-qualified | `12pt`, `0.5cm`, `1.5x`, `150%` | | Dimensions | EMU or suffixed | `914400`, `2.54cm`, `1in`, `72pt`, `96px` | **Dotted-attr aliases** — `font.` forms accepted on shape/run/paragraph/table/row/cell/section/styles, e.g. `--prop font.color=red --prop font.bold=true --prop font.size=14pt`. Run `officecli help ` for the full list. ### find — format or replace matched text Use top-level `--find` / `--replace` on `set` (and `--find` on `query`). Legacy `--prop find=X` still works but emits a hint. ```bash # Format matched text (auto-splits runs) officecli set doc.docx '/body/p[1]' --find weather --prop bold=true --prop color=red # Regex matching (regex= still a prop flag) officecli set doc.docx '/body/p[1]' --find '\d+%' --prop regex=true --prop color=red # Replace text (use `/` for whole-document scope) officecli set doc.docx / --find draft --replace final # docx: tracked Find&Replace officecli set doc.docx / --find draft --replace final --prop revision.author=Alice # PPT — same syntax, different paths officecli set slides.pptx / --find draft --replace final ``` **Path controls search scope:** `/` = whole document, `/body/p[1]` or `/slide[N]/shape[M]` = specific element, `/header[1]` / `/footer[1]` = headers/footers. **Notes:** - Case-sensitive by default. Case-insensitive: `--prop 'find=(?i)error' --prop regex=true` - Matches work across run boundaries - No match = silent success. `--json` includes `"matched": N` - **Excel:** only `find` + `replace` supported (no find + format props) ### add — add elements or clone ```bash officecli add --type [--prop ...] officecli add --type --after [--prop ...] # insert after anchor officecli add --type --before [--prop ...] # insert before anchor officecli add --type --index N [--prop ...] # 0-based position (legacy) officecli add --from # clone existing element ``` `--after`, `--before`, `--index` are mutually exclusive. No position flag = append to end. **Element types (with aliases):** | Format | Types | |--------|-------| | **pptx** | slide (incl. hidden), shape (font.latin/ea/cs, direction=rtl, underline.color, highlight=COLOR (Add/Set/Get/HTML preview), effective.X+effective.X.src; arrow alias for rightArrow; slideMaster/slideLayout typed add/set/remove), picture (SVG, brightness/contrast/glow/shadow, rotation, link, tooltip), chart (direction=rtl, pieOfPie, barOfPie, axisLine/gridline per-attr setters, animation+chartBuild=byCategory|bySeries, line dropLines/hiLowLines/upDownBars, anchor=x,y,w,h shorthand), table (cell direction=rtl, fill/background, built-in PowerPoint style catalogue, /col[C] get + swap/copyFrom, row/col Move/CopyFrom), row (tr), connector (from/to accept full-path `@name=`/`@id=` forms — bare `@name=Foo` is rejected, must be `/slide[N]/shape[@name=Foo]` — startshape/endshape SetByPath; edge-to-edge anchoring by default, fromSide/toSide to force an edge, fromIdx/toIdx for raw cxn index), group (link, tooltip, deep walk by get/query/add/remove, ungroup=true dissolves back to slide-absolute), align/distribute (targets= accepts shape[@id=N] paths, not just positional), video/audio (loop, autoStart alias), equation, notes (direction=rtl, lang), comment (legacy + modern p188 threaded round-trip), animation (15 emphasis + 16 exit presets, multi-effect chains, motion-path presets, repeat/restart/autoReverse, chart animations), transition (12 p15 presets + morph/p14), paragraph (para), run, zoom, ole (preview=, full dump round-trip via add-part+raw-set), placeholder (phType=...), model3d (rotation=ax,ay,az; full dump round-trip), smartart (dump round-trip via add-part), diagram (add-only mermaid → native shapes or rendered image, `--type diagram`/`flowchart`). | | **docx** | paragraph (direction/font.latin/ea/cs, bold.cs/italic.cs/size.cs, lang.latin/ea/cs, wordWrap, framePr.\*, tabs shorthand), run (lang slots, direction, underline.color, position half-pts, **revision.type=ins\|del\|format\|moveFrom\|moveTo + revision.action=accept\|reject** with .author/.date — bare `@author=`/`@type=` selector on `set /revision[...]` for filtered accept/reject, but `query 'revision[...]'` needs the dotted `revision.author=`/`revision.type=` form; move+revision is run-level paths only, not paragraph-level; **range=START:END** on a paragraph/shape path formats a char span by explicit 0-based half-open offset instead of addressing a run — the offset sibling of find=), table (direction=rtl, hMerge, cantSplit on row/nowrap on cell (both add+set), **virtual column ops**: add/remove/move/copyfrom on /body/tbl[N]/col), row (tr), cell (td), image, header/footer (direction), section (pageNumFmt full enum, direction=rtl, rtlGutter, pgBorders=box), bookmark, comment, footnote, endnote, formfield, sdt, chart, equation, field (28 types), hyperlink, style (direction, indents, pbdr, lineSpacing on Add/Set), toc, watermark, break, ole, **num/abstractNum/lvl**, **tab**, **textbox/shape** (add-mostly — Get returns raw XML preview only, no structured readback; Set is limited to width/height/geometry/fill/line.\*; position is `anchor.x`/`anchor.y` not bare x/y; **textbox-only** `textDirection`/rotation/gradient/shadow — docx shape itself has neither rotation nor gradient), embedded **OLE round-trip on dump→batch**, **diagram** (add-only mermaid → native shapes or rendered image, `--type diagram`/`flowchart`, no x/y at add-time — reposition via `set /body/group[N]`). docDefaults.rtl, autoHyphenation, `get /` exposes locale + /comments /footnotes /endnotes. `create --minimal` for raw OOXML scaffolding. | | **xlsx** | sheet (visible/hidden/veryHidden, print margins, printTitleRows/Cols, rightToLeft sheetView, cascade-aware rename), row (c{N}= cell-content shorthand; add accepts --from /Sheet/col[L]; formula-ref rewrite on insert), col (formula-ref rewrite, named-range follow on move), cell (type=richtext+runs, merge=range/sweep, direction=rtl, phonetic; **--shift left\|up on remove, shift=right\|down on add** — Excel UI dialog parity; formula auto-detect; OFFSET/INDIRECT in calc), chart (per-axis RTL/title, anchor=x,y,w,h, pareto), image (SVG), comment (direction=rtl), table (listobject), namedrange (definedname, volatile, `[@name=X]`; formula-body inlined at parse), pivottable (cache CoW + cross-pivot sharing, labelFilter=field:type:value add-time-only, topN=integer add-time-only, fillDownLabels is an alias of repeatLabels not a separate feature, calculatedField), sparkline, validation, autofilter, shape, textbox, CF (databar/colorscale/iconset/formulacf/cellIs/topN/aboveAverage), ole, csv. Query supports `merge`/`mergedrange`. Workbook: password. Shape selector enumerates leaves inside grpSp. | ### Pivot tables (xlsx) ```bash officecli add data.xlsx /Sheet1 --type pivottable \ --prop source="Sheet1!A1:E100" --prop rows=Region,Category \ --prop cols=Year --prop values="Sales:sum,Qty:count" \ --prop grandTotals=rows --prop subtotals=off --prop sort=asc ``` Key props: `rows`, `cols`, `values` (Field:func[:showDataAs]), `filters`, `source`, `position`, `layout` (compact/outline/tabular), `repeatLabels`, `blankRows`, `aggregate`, `showDataAs` (percent_of_total/row/col, running_total), `grandTotals`, `subtotals`, `sort`. Aggregators: sum, count, average, max, min, product, stdDev, stdDevp, var, varp, countNums. Date columns auto-group. Run `officecli help xlsx pivottable` for full schema. ### Document-level properties (all formats) ```bash officecli set doc.docx / --prop docDefaults.font=Arial --prop docDefaults.fontSize=11pt officecli set doc.docx / --prop protection=forms --prop evenAndOddHeaders=true officecli set data.xlsx / --prop calc.mode=manual --prop calc.refMode=r1c1 officecli set slides.pptx / --prop defaultFont=Arial --prop show.loop=true --prop print.what=handouts ``` Run `officecli help /` for all document-level properties (docDefaults, docGrid, CJK spacing, calc, print, show, theme, extended). ### Sort (xlsx) ```bash officecli set data.xlsx /Sheet1 --prop sort="C desc" --prop sortHeader=true officecli set data.xlsx '/Sheet1/A1:D100' --prop sort="A asc" --prop sortHeader=true ``` Format: `COL DIR[, COL DIR ...]`. Rejects ranges with merged cells or formulas. Sidecar metadata (hyperlinks, comments, conditional formatting, drawings) follows rows automatically. ### Text-anchored insert (`--after find:X` / `--before find:X`) Locate an insertion point by text match within a paragraph. Inline types (run, picture, hyperlink) insert within the paragraph; block types (table, paragraph) auto-split it. PPT only supports inline. ```bash # Word: inline run after matched text officecli add doc.docx '/body/p[1]' --type run --after find:weather --prop text=" (sunny)" # Word: block table after matched text (auto-splits paragraph) officecli add doc.docx '/body/p[1]' --type table --after "find:First sentence." --prop rows=2 --prop cols=2 ``` ### Clone `officecli add / --from '/slide[1]'` — copies with all cross-part relationships. ### move, swap, remove ```bash officecli move [--to ] [--index N] [--after ] [--before ] officecli swap officecli remove '/body/p[4]' ``` When using `--after` or `--before`, `--to` can be omitted — the target container is inferred from the anchor. ### batch — multiple operations in one save cycle **Atomic by default (v1.0.137+):** every item still runs and is reported (so `N succeeded, M failed` stays meaningful and every failure surfaces), but if *any* item fails the whole batch rolls back — the file on disk is left byte-identical to before the batch ran (confirmed live in both standalone and resident mode). Use `--best-effort` to restore the old apply-what-succeeds behavior (useful for lossy `dump→batch` replays where losing the whole thing over one unsupported item is worse than a partial result). `--stop-on-error` only changes how early the run stops (remaining items are `skipped`), not whether what ran gets kept — combine it w