CellRune

CellRune is a headless Rust backend for bounded XLSX/XLSM reading and deterministic formula calculation. It keeps the workbook read from disk immutable, returns recalculated values in a separate snapshot, and can retain an exact package backing for explicit round-trip writing. Its MCP integration is a local stdio workflow server, not a browser, UI, hosted service, or remote transport.

Rust installation

The CellRune Rust crate 0.1.20 requires Rust 1.88 or newer.

cargo add cellrune@0.1.20

Or add the dependency directly:

[dependencies]
cellrune = "0.1.20"

Features

• reads .xlsx files from paths, byte slices, or Read + Seek streams;
• opens package-backed .xlsx and .xlsm documents with exact SHA-256 identity and bounded round-trip preservation;
• preserves sheet order, sparse cells, formulas, saved results, defined names, and relevant number-format metadata;
• exposes merged ranges and validated worksheet-owned Excel tables, including stable table and column IDs, complete filter/sort/formula/style metadata, and case-insensitive lookup indexes;
• resolves typed multi-area, 3-D, structured table, current-row, and spill references under cumulative reference and dependency budgets;
• inspects workbook and sheet-local defined names without running a calculation session, preserving rectangular, 3-D, ordered multi-area, empty, dynamic, external, invalid, and unsupported results;
• expands shared formulas while preserving absolute and relative references;
• returns typed formula values and stable per-cell calculation issues in one result snapshot;
• reports normalized per-workbook function demand and exposes the implemented function catalog;
• calculates average-tie ranks, linear forecasts, matrix determinants, dated cash-flow present values, declining-balance depreciation, normal/lognormal inverses, and deterministic text-to-number conversions;
• evaluates first-class and defined-name LAMBDA callables, including immediate invocation, ISOMITTED, MAP, BYROW, BYCOL, REDUCE, SCAN, and MAKEARRAY, under explicit recursion and iteration limits;
• evaluates audited 3-D aggregate references across workbook tab order, including hidden sheets and reverse-written endpoints, without expanding the sheet span into dependency edges;
• applies configurable limits to ZIP, XML, workbook, formula, dependency, text, and array work;
• never executes macros, never follows external links, and never reads the host clock for TODAY() or NOW();
• returns stable error and issue codes for programmatic handling;
• materializes recalculated typed results into existing .xlsx/.xlsm packages with strict or explicit cache-invalidation policies and reports a verified output SHA-256 identity;
• creates canonical .xlsx workbooks and applies typed cell, formula, sheet, name, table rename, table-column rename, table-row resize, number-format, date-system, and calculation-property edits through WorkbookDraft;
• reads, queries, preserves, and explicitly authors SpreadsheetML phonetic annotations and default frozen panes without mixing presentation state into formula calculation;
• exposes the same versioned read/edit/calculate/write contract through typed Python and Node.js/TypeScript native packages;
• supports atomic typed edit batches, persistent parsed/dependency state, safe incremental recalculation, bounded result deltas, cooperative cancellation, stale-result rejection, and retained immutable change previews;
• provides a local stdio MCP server with high-level open, inspect, edit, preview, recalculate, range-read, delta, and verified Save As tools over the same interop session; and
• raw-copies unchanged package entries without exposing ZIP or XML implementation types.

Usage

use cellrune::{
    CalculationCellResult, CalculationOptions, ReadOptions, calculate_workbook, read_xlsx_path,
};

fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    let workbook = read_xlsx_path("input.xlsx", ReadOptions::default())?;
    let calculation = calculate_workbook(&workbook, CalculationOptions::default());

    for (cell, result) in calculation.cells() {
        match result {
            CalculationCellResult::Value(value) => println!("{cell:?}: {value:?}"),
            CalculationCellResult::Unavailable(issue) => {
                eprintln!("{cell:?}: {}", issue.code().as_str());
            }
        }
    }

    Ok(())
}

Reading and calculation are separate operations. calculate_workbook does not modify the source WorkbookSnapshot or its saved XLSX results. It attempts every formula in the workbook: successfully calculated cells contain a typed Value, while a cell that cannot be calculated contains a structured Unavailable(CalculationIssue). One unavailable formula does not suppress independent results; dependent formulas report BlockedByUpstream when applicable. Volatile functions require deterministic inputs through CalculationOptions: with_today_serial for TODAY() and with_now_serial for NOW(). Use with_arithmetic_semantics and with_financial_solver_semantics to opt into the raw IEEE-754 and extended-search behavior shipped through 0.1.2; the defaults select Excel-compatible cancellation and Microsoft's function-specific solver budgets. Use supported_function_catalog for the build's exact function surface and scan_function_usage to summarize the functions used by a workbook. scan_formula_capabilities remains available as an optional static inventory for migration planning and user-interface reporting; calculation does not require it.

CellRune 0.1.14 adds exactly 19 official Excel-facing engineering names: CONVERT, BESSELI, BESSELJ, BESSELK, BESSELY, COMPLEX, IMABS, IMAGINARY, IMARGUMENT, IMCONJUGATE, IMREAL, IMDIV, IMPOWER, IMPRODUCT, IMSUB, IMSUM, IMEXP, IMLN, and IMSQRT. CONVERT uses a typed, case-sensitive unit registry; the complex family shares one finite parser and canonical formatter; and the four Bessel functions use budgeted first-party kernels.

The fixed-income wave on top of 0.1.14 adds exactly 26 official names: ACCRINT, ACCRINTM, COUPDAYBS, COUPDAYS, COUPDAYSNC, COUPNCD, COUPNUM, COUPPCD, DISC, DURATION, INTRATE, MDURATION, ODDFPRICE, ODDFYIELD, ODDLPRICE, ODDLYIELD, PRICE, PRICEDISC, PRICEMAT, RECEIVED, TBILLEQ, TBILLPRICE, TBILLYIELD, YIELD, YIELDDISC, and YIELDMAT. They share a typed day-count and coupon-schedule model and a safeguarded yield root solver that charges the calculation budget and observes cancellation.

CellRune 0.1.16 added XLOOKUP, DATEVALUE, TIMEVALUE, NETWORKDAYS.INTL, and WORKDAY.INTL. Their fixed grammar, lookup modes, calendar rules, wildcard behavior, and array-result boundaries are documented alongside the current function catalog in llms.txt.

The regex functions target PCRE2 semantics with bounded compile, matching, capture, and output work. CellRune's prebuilt Python, Node.js, and MCP artifacts pin the bundled PCRE2 10.46 engine; Rust consumers use pcre2-sys linkage policy and can set PCRE2_SYS_STATIC=1 to select its bundled source build.

INDEX follows Excel's zero-index reference behavior: a zero row or column selects the complete corresponding column or row, and zero for both selects the complete input range. Scalar formulas apply legacy implicit intersection, while array formulas can materialize the selected rectangle. Unary and binary array operators that combine whole-column references use one common extent: the greatest populated row among the columns those operands reference, with a one-row minimum for an otherwise empty sheet. Cells in other columns of the same sheet do not widen it, so the value depends only on the cells the expression's own dependency rectangles cover and a full and an incremental recalculation agree. Missing cells within that extent are blanks, and directly resolved source arrays plus operator outputs are charged to its cumulative array-cell budget. Function calls keep function-defined argument boundaries: each array argument is evaluated under its own bounded context, and a function's return does not establish a whole-column operator extent by itself. When another direct whole-column operand has established such an enclosing context, the returned array is charged to that context before the operator consumes it.

Direct 3-D references are accepted by SUM, AVERAGE, AVERAGEA, COUNT, COUNTA, MAX, MAXA, MIN, MINA, PRODUCT, STDEV.P, STDEV.S, VAR.P, and VAR.S (including the catalogued legacy aliases). The span follows workbook tab order, so hidden sheets participate and reversed endpoint spelling produces the same set. Excel-defined direct 3-D error contexts remain values: INDEX and VLOOKUP return #VALUE!, while OFFSET returns #REF!. Other direct 3-D consumers remain an explicit UnsupportedSheetRange capability issue. A bare 3-D reference or one composed through an array operator returns #VALUE!; it does not silently inherit an enclosing aggregate's collection policy. The static capability scan and evaluator share this policy.

For repeated programmatic edits, use WorkbookCalculationSession instead of rebuilding stateless calculation state after every cell:

use cellrune::{
    CalculationOptions, CancellationToken, CellAddress, CellValue, EditBatch, FiniteNumber,
    RecalculationMode, SheetId, WorkbookCalculationSession, WorkbookChange,
};

fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    let mut session = WorkbookCalculationSession::create();
    let sheet = SheetId::new(1)?;
    let receipt = session.apply_changes(
        0,
        EditBatch::new([WorkbookChange::set_cell_value(
            sheet,
            CellAddress::from_a1("A1")?,
            CellValue::Number(FiniteNumber::new(42.0)?),
        )]),
    )?;
    let delta = session.recalculate(
        RecalculationMode::Auto,
        CalculationOptions::default(),
        CancellationToken::new(),
    )?;
    assert_eq!(delta.result_revision(), receipt.result_revision());

    Ok(())
}

Auto evaluates a proven dirty subset and falls back to the same full-workbook calculation semantics when formula, name, sheet, option, dynamic-reference, or spill topology is uncertain. Forced incremental mode fails closed instead of guessing. Sessions use optimistic semantic revisions for atomic edits, retain bounded result-delta history, and reject stale calculations. A batch whose accepted operations make no semantic change keeps the current revision, topology, and installed calculation instead of forcing a redundant recalculation. Long-running work can be prepared outside the session lock with prepare_recalculation, cancelled through a request-owned CancellationToken, and installed only if its source revision is still current.

Use targeted calculation when a headless service needs only a few outputs. Rust exposes calculate_targets and WorkbookCalculationSession::calculate_targets; Python and Node expose the same operation without requiring a prior full calculation:

result = workbook.calculate_targets([
    {"sheet": "Sheet1", "start": "B1"},
    {"sheet": "Sheet1", "start": "D1", "end": "D10"},
])

const result = await workbook.calculateTargets([
  { sheet: "Sheet1", start: "B1" },
  { sheet: "Sheet1", start: "D1", end: "D10" },
]);

The separate partial result contains only requested cells, deduplicated in sheet-ID and row-major order, with typed values/issues, revision, fingerprint, provenance, options, and work counts. Only target formulas and required precedents are parsed/evaluated; layout metadata is inspected across the source workbook. A current complete cache with matching options can supply results. Partial requests preserve dirty state, full results, delta history, previews, and save requirements. Defaults bound input targets to 1,024, returned cells to 10,000, and evaluator invocations to 100,000; dynamic retries count toward the work budget. Request limits can be set with limits. Known array followers calculate their entire anchor. For an undeclared spill whose owner has never been calculated, include its anchor in the request; an unknown follower alone cannot locate an arbitrary formula elsewhere in the workbook. Saved formula results are never used as current calculation values. See llms.txt for the complete Rust types and transport contract.

Undeclared spills outside the dependency scope are not discovered. Use declared spill ranges or full calculation when independently anchored spills may overlap. A reproducible comparison of small and complete scopes is recorded in the targeted calculation benchmark.

The 0.1.16 change-preview workflow captures an immutable base/candidate transaction without mutating the live workbook. Retention belongs to cellrune-interop::WorkbookSession, which allows one active preview calculation and one published preview. Publication is two phase: a failed, cancelled, stale, or oversized replacement leaves the previous published preview available. A successful semantic mutation, commit, discard, or session close drops the published preview. Preview details use core-owned opaque cursors; a cancelled or resource-limited pre-commit remains retryable, while a stale or successful commit consumes its preview. The complete Rust and binding call shapes are documented in llms.txt.

Table authoring uses stable identities rather than positional names. Construct WorkbookChange::rename_table, rename_table_column, or resize_table_rows and include it in the same atomic EditBatch as other workbook changes. Renames update cell formulas, defined names, calculated-column formulas, and totals-row formulas through one typed source-span rewrite path. Resize preserves table identity and filter/sort orientation, materializes calculated and totals cells, and supports expanding a header-only empty table. Through WorkbookCalculationSession, formula rewriting and table materialization are bounded by SessionLimits. A successful EditReceipt lists the affected stable table IDs; any invalid target, collision, rewrite error, resource limit, or cancellation rolls the whole batch back.

Use analyze_defined_name, analyze_defined_name_with_options, or analyze_defined_name_cancellable to inspect a defined name against an immutable WorkbookSnapshot. The typed result distinguishes a single rectangle, a 3-D span, ordered multi-area geometry, a valid empty reference, dynamic formulas, constants, external targets, invalid definitions, unsupported expressions, and missing names.

open_xlsx_document_* retains the exact input package for writing. write_recalculated_xlsx_bytes, write_recalculated_xlsx, and write_recalculated_xlsx_path bind a calculation to that exact input, update typed formula caches, remove stale calculation chains, preserve unrelated package content, and reopen the output before reporting success. Their WriteReport::output_hash() returns an OutputHash: the SHA-256 of the exact verified output archive bytes, deliberately distinct from the input identity. Strict mode rejects incomplete calculations without producing an artifact; cache invalidation is an explicit opt-in policy. write_preserved_xlsx_bytes remains available for an unchanged preservation copy.

WorkbookDraft::new creates a canonical workbook, while WorkbookDraft::from_document retains the source package for preservation-aware edits. Calculate the draft's current workbook() and pass both objects to write_xlsx_draft_bytes, write_xlsx_draft, or write_xlsx_draft_path. A mutation that changes workbook semantics advances the semantic revision, so a calculation made before the latest effective edit is rejected. An accepted no-op keeps the revision unchanged. Path writes are Save As operations and never replace an existing destination unless replacement is explicitly enabled. Canonical drafts can author dynamic-array formulas with WorkbookDraft::set_cell_dynamic_formula; calculation resolves their spill region, detects occupied targets, and materializes followers for writing. Existing document-backed dynamic formulas can be recalculated without changing their metadata, while adding or replacing one is rejected until source metadata-index merging is implemented.

Package-backed documents expose phonetic annotations and frozen panes through XlsxDocument::presentation(). WorkbookDraft provides atomic set_annotated_text, set_phonetics, clear_phonetics, set_frozen_pane, and clear_frozen_pane mutations. Phonetic base ranges are zero-based half-open UTF-16 code-unit ranges. Presentation-only changes have a separate revision and reuse an otherwise current calculation. Source rich-text phonetic editing, RTL pane authoring, and PHONETIC() calculation remain explicit unsupported boundaries.

Runnable examples are shipped in the crate package under examples/ and live at crates/cellrune/examples/ in this repository. From the repository root, run one with cargo run -p cellrune --example <name> -- [arguments]; from an extracted crate package, omit -p cellrune. See the public llms.txt reference for the complete example inventory and a condensed public API reference.

Language bindings

Python uses the mainstream PyO3 + maturin native-extension path. Node.js and TypeScript use napi-rs over stable Node-API with Promise-backed native work and exact-version platform packages. Neither binding requires a consumer Rust toolchain when installed from a wheel or prebuilt npm artifact.

The 0.1.20 release line targets Python 3.10 through 3.14 and Node.js 22 or newer. Install the bindings with:

python -m pip install "cellrune==0.1.20"
npm install "@cellrune/node@0.1.20"

The bindings expose the same versioned read, edit, calculate, and write contract. Native package availability remains platform-specific; package managers must select a wheel or exact-version npm platform package compatible with the current runtime. Python inspect_defined_name and Node.js inspectDefinedName expose the typed defined-name query. The existing apply_changes/applyChanges v1 shapes are unchanged; the separate apply_changes_v2/applyChangesV2 methods add stable-ID table rename, table-column rename, and table-row resize plus changed_table_ids/changedTableIds receipts.

In the current bindings, Python exposes synchronous preview_changes, preview_changes_page, commit_preview, and discard_preview; the long native preview operation releases the GIL. Node.js exposes Promise-backed previewChanges, then synchronous previewChangesPage, commitPreview, and discardPreview. Python DTO fields use snake case and integer IDs; Node DTO fields use camel case and bigint IDs. A successful Python write report has output_sha256; the Node WriteReport has outputSha256. llms.txt defines the shared lifecycle and pagination semantics.

Python workbooks are context managers:

from cellrune import Workbook

with Workbook.create() as workbook:
    workbook.set_number("Sheet1", "A1", 41.0)
    workbook.set_formula("Sheet1", "B1", "=A1+1")
    workbook.calculate()
    # 0.1.2-compatible calculation remains available when required:
    workbook.calculate(
        arithmetic_semantics="ieee_754",
        financial_solver_semantics="extended_search",
    )
    workbook.save("output.xlsx")

In a Node.js ES module, close the workbook in finally:

import { Workbook } from "@cellrune/node";

const workbook = Workbook.create();
try {
  workbook.setNumber("Sheet1", "A1", 41);
  workbook.setFormula("Sheet1", "B1", "=A1+1");
  await workbook.calculate();
  await workbook.calculate({
    arithmeticSemantics: "ieee_754",
    financialSolverSemantics: "extended_search",
  });
  await workbook.save("output.xlsx");
} finally {
  workbook.close();
}

Python and Node.js close() calls are idempotent. Once close() returns, the binding-owned native session has been released. An active calculation is cooperatively cancelled and a published preview is discarded; subsequent operations fail with the stable interop.session.closed code.

Local MCP

cellrune-mcp is a local stdio-only MCP 2025-11-25 server for AI hosts. It exposes a finite set of high-level workbook workflow tools; spreadsheet functions remain formulas inside the workbook and are not registered one by one as MCP tools. Start it with one or more explicit filesystem roots:

cargo run --locked -p cellrune-mcp -- \
  --root /absolute/path/to/approved/workbooks

Its 17 tools are workbook_create, workbook_open, workbook_close, workbook_summary, workbook_read_range, workbook_function_usage, workbook_scan_capabilities, workbook_apply_changes, workbook_apply_changes_v2, workbook_recalculate, workbook_calculate_targets, workbook_changes_since, workbook_save_as, workbook_preview_changes, workbook_preview_changes_page, workbook_commit_preview, and workbook_discard_preview. The v2 edit tool adds stable-ID table rename, table-column rename, and table-row resize while retaining the v1 edit shapes. The four preview tools are the retained immutable transaction workflow: preview returns a summary and ID, page returns a byte-bounded core-cursor page, and commit or discard consumes the interop-owned preview. workbook_save_as returns the shared write report, including its lowercase output_sha256 output identity.

workbook_calculate_targets accepts session_id, targets, optional options, and optional limits. Its limits are capped at the defaults above. The entire partial response must fit --max-response-bytes; an oversized response fails without installing state, so callers can retry with fewer targets. It uses the existing request cancellation and session lifetime controls.

The server also publishes read-only JSON resources at cellrune://support/functions and the cellrune://sessions/{session_id}/summary resource template. Operators can set --max-sessions, --session-ttl-seconds, --max-response-bytes, --max-workbook-bytes, and --log-level; run cellrune-mcp --help for their defaults. Values outside the server's compiled policy limits are rejected at startup.

cellrune-mcp is not published to a package registry. Prebuilt bundles for Linux, macOS, and Windows are attached to each GitHub release, alongside their license materials and build provenance.

An MCP client can launch a release binary with configuration equivalent to:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cellrune": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/cellrune-mcp",
      "args": ["--root", "/absolute/path/to/approved/workbooks"]
    }
  }
}

The server canonicalizes configured roots at startup. Every workbook path supplied to a tool must be absolute and resolve inside one of those roots. The server bounds workbook/session/response resources, writes protocol traffic only to stdout, writes diagnostics only to stderr, and never provides a remote transport. Inputs are opened through an approved-root capability and read from the same file handle under the configured archive-byte ceiling. Existing destinations are protected unless the server starts with --allow-overwrite and a request also sets replace_existing. Save As retains an open destination-directory capability from validation through atomic installation, so renaming or replacing the ambient parent path cannot redirect a write outside the approved root. Resource lists use byte-bounded cursor pagination. Preview pages likewise return the longest complete interop prefix that fits the response limit and use opaque cursors bound to the preview and detail section. At session capacity, create/open may evict the least-recently-used idle session; active sessions are never evicted. TTL expiry and LRU eviction drop the interop session, which discards its retained preview rather than maintaining a separate MCP preview cache. Give the server the narrowest practical root; another process with write access inside that root can still change workbook inputs and contents.

Tool results carry untrusted content. Cell text, sheet names, and defined names come from the workbook and are returned verbatim, so a crafted workbook can place text that reads as an instruction into a tool result. That is the same trust boundary as any other document a model reads: the server does not rewrite workbook content, and the consuming application is responsible for treating tool output as data rather than as instructions.

To inspect the local server before client integration:

npx --yes @modelcontextprotocol/inspector@1.0.0 \
  cargo run --locked -p cellrune-mcp -- \
  --root /absolute/path/to/approved/workbooks

Scope

CellRune supports ordinary Transitional SpreadsheetML workbooks and a scoped set of Excel formula syntax and functions. Unsupported formulas are returned as explicit per-cell calculation issues; other formulas continue to calculate.

The following are outside the current scope:

• browser, frontend/UI, WebAssembly, hosted-service, and remote-MCP transports;
• .xls, .xlsb, .ods, and CSV;
• macro, add-in, external-workbook, query, or data-connection execution;
• 3-D references outside the audited direct-consumer policy above;
• data-table calculation; and
• iterative calculation and automatic host-time inputs.

docs/NUMERICS.md records where calculated values differ from Excel and why, and documents the two calculation options added in 0.1.3: ArithmeticSemantics and FinancialSolverSemantics, which default to Excel's behavior and can be set to Ieee754 and ExtendedSearch for what 0.1.2 did.

Verification

Run the standard Rust test suite from the repository root:

cargo test --workspace --all-features --locked

Formula compatibility is regression-tested against committed Excel-saved and Apache POI workbooks. See the conformance/README.md reference for the fixture layout, classifications, focused audit command, and maintenance policy.

License

CellRune is dual-licensed under either the MIT License or the Apache License, Version 2.0, at your option. You need to comply with only one of them, not both. Apache-2.0 includes an explicit patent grant; MIT does not. Both license texts are included in the source distribution.

Versions 0.1.0 through 0.1.2 were published under the MIT License alone and remain available under those terms. The dual license applies from version 0.1.3 onward. Dependency license information is provided in THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.md.

Contribution

Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the work by you, as defined in the Apache-2.0 license, shall be dual licensed as above, without any additional terms or conditions.