officecli

AI-friendly CLI for .docx, .xlsx, .pptx. Single binary, no dependencies, no Office installation needed.

Install

If `officecli` is not installed:

# 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 <cmd> --help` ≡ `officecli help <cmd>` — same content.

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

officecli create <file>               # Create blank .docx/.xlsx/.pptx (type from extension)
officecli view <file> <mode>          # outline | stats | issues | text | annotated | html
officecli get <file> <path> --depth N # Get a node and its children [--json]
officecli query <file> <selector>     # CSS-like query
officecli validate <file>             # 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 ...`

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`.

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.

officecli watch <file> [--port N]      # Start preview server (default port 26315)
officecli unwatch <file>               # Stop
officecli goto <file> <path>           # 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 <file> selected` — read what the user clicked

officecli get <file> selected [--json]

Returns DocumentNodes for whatever is currently selected. Empty result if nothing selected. Exit code != 0 if no watch is running.

# User clicks shapes in the browser, then asks "make these red"
PATHS=$(officecli get deck.pptx selected --json |