pipeline_core/skills_library/all/officecli/SKILL.md

name	description	version
officecli	OfficeCLI — AI-native single-binary CLI for .docx/.xlsx/.pptx creation, editing, inspection, and visual preview. Use for most Office document tasks instead of python-docx/python-pptx/openpyxl.	1.0.0

OfficeCLI

Single binary CLI for Office documents. No Office installation, no Python dependencies. Path-based addressing, built-in HTML renderer, formula engine, MCP server.

Binary: officecli (installed at /usr/bin/officecli)

When to Use

Use officecli for ALL .docx/.xlsx/.pptx creation/editing/inspection tasks. Falls back to python-docx/python-pptx/openpyxl only for:

• Complex programmatic layout that officecli can't express
• PDF/OCR (officecli doesn't support)
• Bidding workflow orchestration (bidding-documents skill)

Quick Reference

Task	Command
Create blank	officecli create file.pptx
View outline	officecli view file.pptx outline
View as HTML	officecli view file.pptx html
Get element JSON	officecli get file.pptx '/slide[1]' --depth 1 --json
Add slide	officecli add file.pptx / --type slide --prop title="Hello"
Add shape	officecli add file.pptx '/slide[1]' --type shape --prop text="Hi" --prop x=2cm --prop y=5cm
Set property	officecli set file.pptx '/slide[1]/shape[1]' --prop fill=FF0000
Find & replace	officecli set file.docx / --find draft --replace final
Query elements	officecli query file.docx 'paragraph[style=Heading1]'
Remove element	officecli remove file.docx '/body/p[4]'
Validate	officecli validate file.pptx
Check issues	officecli view file.pptx issues
Live preview	officecli watch file.pptx → http://localhost:26315
Template merge	officecli merge template.pptx out.pptx '{"key":"val"}'
Dump to JSON	officecli dump file.pptx -o blueprint.json
Batch replay	officecli batch new.pptx --input blueprint.json
Save (flush)	officecli save file.pptx
Close (save+release)	officecli close file.pptx

Help System (CRITICAL)

Always run help instead of guessing property names:

officecli help pptx                  # list pptx elements
officecli help pptx shape            # shape schema
officecli help pptx set shape        # settable props only
officecli help pptx shape --json     # machine-readable

Format aliases: word→docx, excel→xlsx, ppt/powerpoint→pptx.

Shell Quoting Rules

• Always quote paths: '/slide[1]/shape[2]' (zsh globs unquoted brackets)
• Single-quote values with $: --prop text='$15M' (double-quoted $15M → M)
• Newlines: \\n in text= is a line break

Built-in Specialized Skills

Load via officecli load_skill <name>:

Skill	When
pptx	Generic presentations (default)
pitch-deck	Fundraising/VC decks
morph-ppt	Morph transitions across slides
morph-ppt-3d	3D models + Morph
word	Word documents (default)
academic-paper	Papers with citations/equations
excel	Spreadsheets (default)
financial-model	DCF/LBO/3-statement models
data-dashboard	KPI dashboards from CSV

Key Capabilities (vs python-*)

Feature	officecli	python-pptx/docx
Visual feedback	view html/screenshot + watch live preview	None (blind generation)
Excel formulas	Auto-evaluate on write (350+ functions)	Need Excel to recalc
Pivot tables	One command from source range	VBA or raw XML
Path-based addressing	/slide[1]/shape[2] intuitive	Object model traversal
Template merge	Built-in merge {{key}}	Manual string replace
Error recovery	Structured error codes + suggestions	Python exceptions
MCP server	Built-in, auto-detects AI tools	None

Pitfalls

• PPT shape[1] is typically title placeholder — use shape[2]+ for content
• zsh/bash: always quote paths with brackets '/slide[1]'
• After mutations, verify with view issues and validate
• Before non-officecli tools read the file, run officecli save file.pptx
• The binary auto-starts a resident on first access (60s idle timeout) — file-lock conflicts are auto-avoided