open-document-lib 1.1.0

Standard-library toolkit for reading, editing, and writing OpenDocument Format files (ODT, ODP, ODS, ODG)

open-document-lib

A standard-library toolkit for reading, editing, and writing OpenDocument Format files — text documents (.odt), presentations (.odp), spreadsheets (.ods), and drawings (.odg) — plus their flat (single-XML) variants.

open-document-lib is the shared library behind the open-document-skills agent skills. The core has no dependencies beyond the Python standard library; a few helpers opt into lxml or bibtexparser when present.

Install

pip install open-document-lib

# optional extras
pip install open-document-lib[validate]    # lxml — RelaxNG schema validation
pip install open-document-lib[scholarly]   # bibtexparser — BibTeX citation ingest

Requires Python 3.10+. The package ships py.typed, so type checkers see its annotations.

Quick start

from pathlib import Path
from xml.etree import ElementTree as ET
from odf_lib import (
    parse_xml_from_zip, xml_bytes, write_odf_with_replacements,
    replace_text_in_element, update_meta_for_edit,
)

src = Path("report.odt")
content = parse_xml_from_zip(src, "content.xml")

# Structure-preserving find/replace across the document body.
text_ns = "urn:oasis:names:tc:opendocument:xmlns:text:1.0"
for para in content.iter(f"{{{text_ns}}}p"):
    replace_text_in_element(para, "{{CLIENT}}", "ACME GmbH")

# Stamp the edit into meta.xml (modification date, generator, cycle count).
meta = parse_xml_from_zip(src, "meta.xml")
# update_meta_for_edit needs a namespace map + qualified-name helper;
# the skills' *_common.py wrappers supply these.

write_odf_with_replacements(
    src, Path("report-out.odt"),
    {"content.xml": xml_bytes(content)},
    "application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text",
)

Flat-ODF round-trip:

from odf_lib import pack_flat_odf, unpack_flat_odf

pack_flat_odf(Path("deck.odp"), Path("deck.fodp"))    # ZIP  → single XML
unpack_flat_odf(Path("deck.fodp"), Path("deck.odp"))  # XML  → ZIP package

API reference

Everything below is exported directly from the odf_lib package and is covered by semantic versioning from 1.0 onward. Anything in odf_lib.odf_common that is not listed here (notably _-prefixed helpers) is internal and may change without notice.

Constants

Name	Description
VERSION	Library version string (also odf_lib.__version__).
ODF_NAMESPACES	dict[str, str] of ODF namespace prefixes → URIs.
FLAT_EXTENSIONS	Mapping of ODF mimetype → flat-file extension (.fodt, …).

ZIP / XML core

Signature	Description
parse_xml_from_zip(path, member) -> ET.Element	Parse one XML member of an ODF ZIP.
xml_bytes(root) -> bytes	Serialize an element to UTF-8 bytes with XML declaration.
write_odf_with_replacements(input_path, output_path, replacements, mimetype_value) -> None	Copy an ODF package, swapping named members; mimetype stays first and stored.
pack_dir_as_odf(source_dir, output_path, mimetype_value) -> None	Repack an extracted directory into a valid ODF file.
copy_into_package(input_path, output_path, package_path, source, replacements, mimetype_value) -> None	Add a single file to a package plus member replacements.
copy_with_multiple_members(input_path, output_path, new_members, replacements, mimetype_value) -> None	Add several new members in one pass (e.g. Object N/ sub-packages).
unpack_to_temp(path) -> tempfile.TemporaryDirectory	Extract a package to a managed temp directory.

Manifest and media

Signature	Description
ensure_manifest_entry(manifest_root, full_path, media_type, ns, q_fn) -> None	Add or update a manifest:file-entry.
media_type_for(path) -> str	MIME type from a file extension.
sniff_image_mime(path) -> str	MIME type from magic bytes, with extension fallback.
unique_picture_name(existing, image) -> str	Collision-free Pictures/ filename.
unique_object_name(existing) -> str	Next free Object N sub-package name.

Metadata

Signature	Description
update_meta_for_edit(meta_root, ns, q_fn) -> None	Refresh meta:modification-date/generator and bump editing-cycles.

Flat ODF

Signature	Description
pack_flat_odf(input_zip, output_flat) -> None	Convert a zipped ODF to flat single-XML form (pictures and Object N/ sub-packages inlined).
unpack_flat_odf(input_flat, output_zip) -> None	Convert a flat ODF back to a zipped package and rebuild the manifest.

Text walker, locator, insertion

Signature	Description
replace_text_in_element(element, old, new) -> int	Structure-preserving find/replace across text and child tails.
replace_pattern_with_element_in_element(element, pattern, factory) -> int	Replace regex matches with generated elements.
find_text_position_in_element(element, needle) -> tuple | None	Locate needle, returning (node, "text"|"tail", offset).
insert_after_text_in_element(element, anchor, new_element) -> bool	Splice an element in right after an anchor string.
insert_in_paragraph(paragraph, position, new_element) -> None	Insert at the start or end of a paragraph.
wrap_text_with_pair_in_element(element, start_anchor, end_anchor, start_element, end_element) -> bool	Wrap an intra-paragraph text range with a start/end pair.
wrap_text_across_elements(elements, start_anchor, end_anchor, start_element, end_element) -> bool	Same, spanning multiple paragraphs.
ensure_sequence_declarations(text_root, names, ns) -> None	Ensure text:sequence-decl entries exist.
clear_children(element) -> None	Remove all children of an element.
local_name(tag) -> str	Local name from a Clark-notation tag.

Styles and pictures

Signature	Description
inject_styles_from_file(input_path, styles_path, output_path, mimetype_value) -> list[str]	Replace styles.xml; returns dangling style references.
embed_pictures(input_path, pictures, output_path, mimetype_value, ns, q_fn) -> None	Bulk-add images to Pictures/ and the manifest.

Schema validation

Signature	Description
ensure_schema(name) -> Path	Download and cache an OASIS ODF 1.3 RelaxNG schema (content/manifest).
validate_against_schema(xml_bytes_input, schema_name) -> tuple[bool, list[str]]	Validate XML bytes against a cached schema (requires lxml).

External tooling

Signature	Description
find_soffice() -> str	Locate the LibreOffice soffice binary; raises if absent.
find_pandoc() -> str | None	Locate the pandoc binary.
latex_to_mathml(latex) -> bytes	Convert a LaTeX snippet to MathML via Pandoc.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.