officecli

name	officecli
description	Create, analyze, proofread, and modify Office documents (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx) with the officecli CLI. Use when the user wants to build, inspect, check formatting, or chart a Word/Excel/PPT file.

⚠️ Platform note — read before running any command. The shell snippets in this skill are written for macOS / Linux (bash/zsh). Always check which OS you are on first. On Windows do not run them verbatim — the underlying tool/CLI commands are usually cross-platform, but the surrounding shell syntax is not. Translate it to PowerShell before running:

bash (macOS / Linux)	PowerShell (Windows)
a && b	run as two steps, or a; if ($?) { b }
cat <<'EOF' | tool … (heredoc)	write the text to a temp file, then pipe/pass that file to the tool
VAR=$(cmd) … $VAR	$VAR = cmd … $VAR
cmd > /dev/null	cmd > $null
… | grep PAT	… | Select-String PAT
… | jq …	… | ConvertFrom-Json, then read the fields
python3 x.py	python x.py (or py x.py)
~/dir, /tmp	$env:USERPROFILE\dir, $env:TEMP
cp / mkdir -p / rm -rf	Copy-Item / New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force / Remove-Item -Recurse -Force

If a command has no obvious Windows equivalent, prefer the built-in file/HTTP tools over raw shell.

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.

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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.

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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 {"command":"help","format":"docx","type":"paragraph"}.

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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):

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.

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Quick Start

PPT:

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:

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:

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"

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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]'

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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 | 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).

officecli mark <file> <path> [--prop find=... color=... note=... tofix=... regex=true] [--json]
officecli unmark <file> [--path <p> | --all] [--json]
officecli get-marks <file> [--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.

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L2: DOM Operations

set — modify properties

officecli set <file> <path> --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.<attr> 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 <fmt> <element> 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.

# 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

officecli add <file> <parent> --type <type> [--prop ...]
officecli add <file> <parent> --type <type> --after <path> [--prop ...]   # insert after anchor
officecli add <file> <parent> --type <type> --before <path> [--prop ...]  # insert before anchor
officecli add <file> <parent> --type <type> --index N [--prop ...]        # 0-based position (legacy)
officecli add <file> <parent> --from <path>                               # 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
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 — /revision[@author=X] selector for filtered accept/reject), table (direction=rtl, hMerge, 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 (full Add+Get; geometry, fill, line, wrap, alt, anchor, rotation, verticalText (eaVert/vert/vert270/wordArt*), gradient, shadow, opacity), embedded OLE round-trip on dump→batch. 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, topN, fillDownLabels, calculatedField), sparkline, validation, autofilter, shape, textbox, CF (databar/colorscale/iconset/formulacf/cellIs/topN/aboveAverage), ole, csv. Query supports merge/. Workbook: password. Shape selector enumerates leaves inside grpSp.

Pivot tables (xlsx)

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)

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 <format> / for all document-level properties (docDefaults, docGrid, CJK spacing, calc, print, show, theme, extended).

Sort (xlsx)

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.

# 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 <file> / --from '/slide[1]' — copies with all cross-part relationships.

move, swap, remove

officecli move <file> <path> [--to <parent>] [--index N] [--after <path>] [--before <path>]
officecli swap <file> <path1> <path2>
officecli remove <file> '/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

Continues on error by default (returns exit 1 if any item fails). Use --stop-on-error to abort on the first failure. --force is the docx-protection bypass.

officecli dump <file> [<path>] emits a replayable batch JSON for round-trip — .docx (full coverage) and .pptx (text/tables/pictures/charts/notes/theme + OLE/3D/video/audio/SmartArt/morph/p15 transitions via raw-set passthrough). Path defaults to / (whole document); pass a subtree path (/body, /body/p[N], /body/tbl[N], /theme, /settings, /numbering, /styles) to scope the dump. officecli refresh <file.docx> recalculates TOC page numbers / PAGE / cross-references after replay (Word backend on Windows; headless-HTML fallback elsewhere). officecli plugins list extends support to .doc, .hwpx, .pdf export.

echo '[
  {"command":"set","path":"/Sheet1/A1","props":{"value":"Name","bold":"true"}},
  {"command":"set","path":"/Sheet1/B1","props":{"value":"Score","bold":"true"}}
]' | officecli batch data.xlsx --json

officecli batch data.xlsx --commands '[{"op":"set","path":"/Sheet1/A1","props":{"value":"Done"}}]' --json
officecli batch data.xlsx --input updates.json --force --json

Supports: add, set, get, query, remove, move, swap, view, raw, raw-set, validate. Fields: command (or op), path, parent, type, from, to, index, after, before, props, selector, mode, depth, part, xpath, action, xml.

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L3: Raw XML

Use when L2 cannot express what you need. No xmlns declarations needed — prefixes auto-registered.

officecli raw <file> <part>                          # view raw XML
officecli raw-set <file> <part> --xpath "..." --action replace --xml '<w:p>...</w:p>'
officecli add-part <file> <parent>                   # create new document part (returns rId)

raw-set actions: append, prepend, insertbefore, insertafter, replace, remove, setattr. Run officecli help <format> raw for available parts.

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Common Pitfalls

Pitfall	Correct Approach
--name "foo"	Use --prop name="foo" — all attributes go through --prop
Unquoted [N] paths in zsh/bash	Always quote: '/slide[1]' or "/slide[1]" (shell glob-expands brackets)
PPT shape[1] for content	shape[1] is typically the title placeholder. Use shape[2]+ for content shapes
/shape[myname]	Name indexing not supported. Use numeric index or @name= (PPT only)
Guessing property names	Run officecli help <format> <element> to see exact names
Modifying an open file	Close the file in PowerPoint/WPS first
\n in shell strings	Use \\n for newlines in --prop text="..."
$ in shell text	--prop text="$15M" strips $15. Use single quotes: --prop text='$15M', or heredoc batch

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Specialized Skills

officecli load_skill <name> — output is a SKILL.md, follow its rules.

Loading rule:

• Pick the most specific match in "When to use"; if none fits, load the format default (word / pptx / excel).
• Scenes already contain the format default's rules — load one skill per artifact, never stack.
• Loaded rules persist across turns; don't re-load each reply.
• Two distinct artifacts → two separate loads.

Word (.docx)

Name	When to use
word	Reports, letters, memos, proposals, generic documents
academic-paper	Journal / conference / thesis: APA / Chicago / IEEE / MLA citations, equations, SEQ + PAGEREF cross-refs, multi-column journal layout, bibliography. NOT for business reports or letters (route those to word)

PowerPoint (.pptx)

Name	When to use
pptx	Generic decks: board reviews, sales decks, all-hands, product launches
pitch-deck	Fundraising only — seed / Series A-C / SAFE / convertible / strategic raise. NOT for sales / product / board decks (route those to pptx)
morph-ppt	Cinematic Morph-animated presentations. NOT for static decks (route those to pptx)
morph-ppt-3d	3D Morph: GLB models, camera moves, depth. NOT for 2D-only Morph (route those to morph-ppt)

Excel (.xlsx)

Name	When to use
excel	Generic workbooks, formulas, pivots, trackers
financial-model	Financial models, scenarios, projections. NOT for general data analysis (route those to excel)
data-dashboard	CSV/tabular data → KPI / analytics / executive dashboards with charts and sparklines. NOT for raw data tracking (route those to excel)

Example: a fundraising deck task → officecli load_skill pitch-deck → use the printed rules.

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Notes

• Paths are 1-based (XPath convention): '/body/p[3]' = third paragraph
• --index is 0-based (array convention): --index 0 = first position
• Excel exception: for add --type row and add --type col, --index N is 1-based (matches OOXML RowIndex / column letter index). --index 5 inserts at row 5 / column 5.
• After modifications, verify with validate and/or view issues
• When unsure, run officecli help <format> <element> instead of guessing