sheets-references

name	sheets-references
description	Shared doctrine for the Sheets skills. Use when you need deeper guidance on tool boundaries, request shaping, retries, mutation safety, formula doctrine, visualization, performance, or skill authoring. Do not start here for ordinary spreadsheet tasks; start with sheets-read, sheets-write, or sheets-diagnose.

Sheets References

Use this skill as the shared doctrine library behind the main Sheets skills.

Use When

• A main Sheets skill points here for deeper detail.
• You need cross-cutting guidance that applies to more than one Sheets tool.
• You need compact doctrine for formula design, formula debugging, visualization, mutation safety, or operational pacing.
• You are maintaining this skill pack and need the skill-authoring doctrine that informed it.

Do Not Use When

• The user simply wants to read, write, or diagnose a spreadsheet task. Start with sheets-read, sheets-write, or sheets-diagnose.
• You already know the exact main skill and do not need deeper doctrine.

Reference Index

File	Load when
references/tool-catalog.md	You need tool boundaries, side effects, cheapest-first selection, or advanced sheets_edit vs sheets_style routing
references/request-shaping.md	You need batching, range limits, field-mask guidance, response minimization, or payload-shaping rules
references/performance-and-scale.md	You need throughput, large-sheet, import-chain, or API-efficiency guidance
references/quota-and-retry.md	You need lane behavior, quotas, retry classes, or operational pacing guidance
references/mutation-safety.md	You need dry-run discipline, sequencing, atomicity nuance, or verify-after-write guidance
references/error-taxonomy.md	You need compact failure-class guidance and operator response rules
references/formulas-index.md	Load first for formula-heavy requests so you can route to the right formula doctrine file quickly
references/formulas-lookup-and-joins.md	You need lookups, virtual joins, key normalization, or join-specific pitfalls
references/formulas-arrays-and-shaping.md	You need spill behavior, virtual tables, array pipelines, or formula-only reshaping
references/formulas-text-date-cleanup.md	You need text cleanup, coercion, regex, date normalization, or safer LET / IFNA usage
references/formulas-pitfalls-and-anti-patterns.md	You need to challenge volatile, brittle, slow, or unreadable formula patterns
references/formula-debugging-playbooks.md	You need high-signal playbooks for lookups, filters, arrays, LET, IMPORTRANGE, whitespace, or key-quality issues
references/formatting-and-visualization.md	You need guidance for conditional formatting, report tabs, dashboards, or advanced visual request routing

Loading Rules

• Load only the smallest relevant reference file.
• Load references/formulas-index.md first for formula-heavy requests.
• Prefer a single one-hop reference over chains of references.
• Return to the main skill after loading deeper doctrine.
• Keep the reference skill secondary: it is support material, not the main entrypoint.