shortfx

"Write less, do more." "The deterministic toolset your AI agents can trust."

shortfx is a Python library designed to encapsulate complex programming logic into reusable "mini-programs," similar to spreadsheet formulas like Excel. Our goal is to help you write less code, do more, and keep your projects organized and readable.

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✨ Highlights

3,000+ ready-to-use functions	The largest open-source Python formula library — dates, math, finance, statistics, strings, Excel & VBA compatibility, and more
AI-native via MCP	Built-in Model Context Protocol server lets AI agents (Claude, GPT, Copilot …) discover, inspect, and execute any function as a tool — no hallucinated calculations
llms.txt included	A machine-readable function catalogue so LLMs can look up signatures and descriptions without calling a server
Zero dependencies	Core library uses only the Python standard library — no NumPy, no Pandas

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🌟 What is shortfx?

The largest open-source Python formula library available. With 2,932 ready-to-use functions across 6 modules, shortfx is the most comprehensive collection of reusable formulas for everyday operations:

Module	Functions	Scope
fxNumeric	1,602	Finance, statistics, geometry, transforms, series, number theory
fxExcel	489	Excel-compatible formulas (VLOOKUP, PMT, CONCATENATE …)
fxString	331	Text manipulation, regex, hashing, validation, encoding, similarity
fxDate	261	Date operations, evaluations, conversions, system dates
fxVBA	133	VBA/Access-compatible functions (Left, InStr, Format …)
fxPython	116	Iterable utilities, type conversions, logic helpers

It simplifies tasks that in standard Python would require:

1. Several lines of repetitive code.
2. Complex coding using loops.
3. Importing multiple libraries and using advanced patterns.

shortfx follows the philosophy of simplicity and efficiency: do one thing and do it well.

🚀 Why shortfx?

Have you ever wished for the simplicity and power of an Excel formula to execute snippets of Python logic? shortfx allows you to define and reuse "formulas" with a clean syntax.

Key Benefits

• 2,932 functions, zero dependencies: The largest open-source formula library for Python — all powered by the standard library alone.
• AI-Ready (LLMs & MCP): Every function is callable by AI agents via the built-in MCP server or llms.txt, guaranteeing deterministic answers — no hallucinated calculations.
• Minimizes Repetitive Code: Encapsulates frequent code blocks into ready-to-use functions.
• Improves Readability: Uses descriptive and meaningful names (fxDate, fxString, fxExcel, etc.), making your code intuitive.
• Efficient Abstraction: Hides the internal complexity of processes, presenting only what is essential.
• Facilitates Reusability: Modular functions ready to be used anywhere in your application.

📦 Main Modules

shortfx is organized into thematic modules to cover all your needs:

• fxDate: Date operations and evaluations.
• fxNumeric: Financial, statistical, mathematical, geometry, special functions, series, transforms, and vector analysis.
• fxString: Advanced text manipulation and validations.
• fxPython: Utilities for iterables and Pythonic logic.
• fxExcel: Exact replicas of Excel formulas (VLOOKUP, PMT, CONCATENATE, etc.).
• fxVBA: VBA/Access compatible functions.

🔍 Quality Data functions (phonetic encoding, checksum validation, readability metrics) live in ShadeTripTxt. See the Quality Functions Guide for details and examples.

🛠️ Installation

You can install shortfx using pip:

pip install shortfx

📖 Usage

Date Manipulation (fxDate)

View full documentation

Perform date calculations, validations, and arithmetic intuitively.

from datetime import datetime
from shortfx.fxDate import date_operations

# Add days to a date
start_date = datetime(2025, 1, 15)
new_date = date_operations.add_time_to_date(start_date, 30, 'days')

# Validate a date (February 30th does not exist)
is_valid = date_operations.is_valid_date("2025-02-30")  # Result: False

🧮 Numeric and Financial Operations (fxNumeric)

View full documentation

Precise financial, statistical, and mathematical calculations.

from shortfx.fxNumeric import finance_functions

# Calculate Future Value (FV)
# Rate: 5%, Periods: 10, Payment: -100, Present Value: -1000
fv = finance_functions.future_value(rate=0.05, nper=10, pmt=-100, pv=-1000)
# Result: 1276.28...

🔡 String Manipulation (fxString)

View full documentation

Advanced tools for string search, cleaning, and analysis.

from shortfx.fxString import string_operations

# Find substring positions
text = "Programming is fun, programming is great"
positions = string_operations.position_in_string(text, "is")
# Result: [13, 36] (returns all occurrences)

🐍 Python Utilities (fxPython)

View full documentation

Common design patterns and tools for iterables.

from shortfx.fxPython import py_tools, py_itertools

# Create dictionary from parallel lists
dictionary = py_tools.create_key_value_dictionary("id,name", (1, "Alice"))
# Result: {'id': 1, 'name': 'Alice'}

# Take the first N items from any iterable
first_items = py_itertools.take(3, range(10))
# Result: [0, 1, 2]

🖥️ Excel-style Functions (fxExcel)

View full documentation

The fxExcel module exposes functions with names and behaviors identical to those in Excel.

from shortfx import fxExcel

# VLOOKUP Example
table = [
    ["Name", "Age", "City"],
    ["Ana", 25, "Madrid"],
    ["Juan", 30, "Barcelona"]
]

# Find the age (column 2) of "Ana"
age = fxExcel.VLOOKUP("Ana", table, 2)  # Result: 25

# Concatenate text
greeting = fxExcel.CONCATENATE("Hello", " ", "World")  # Result: "Hello World"

🏗️ VBA Compatibility (fxVBA)

View full documentation

If you come from the world of Excel or Access macros, you will feel immediately familiar.

from shortfx import fxVBA

text = "Hello World"

# Get left characters (Left)
start = fxVBA.Left(text, 5)  # Result: "Hello"

# Find text position (InStr is 1-based, like in VBA)
position = fxVBA.InStr(1, text, "World")  # Result: 7

🤖 AI Integration (LLMs & MCP)

shortfx is designed to work as a deterministic tool layer for AI agents. Large language models are excellent at reasoning, but they can produce inconsistent or incorrect results when performing calculations, date arithmetic, or string transformations. shortfx solves this by providing tested, reliable functions that always return the same output for the same input.

Why Dynamic Tool Definition?

shortfx exposes 2,932 functions, far too many to register each one as an individual MCP tool (which would overwhelm any AI agent's context window). Instead, the MCP server uses a dynamic discovery pattern with a small set of meta-tools:

Meta-Tool	Purpose
search_shortfx_tools	Find functions by natural language query (semantic search)
list_shortfx_tools	Browse all functions, optionally filtered by module
get_shortfx_tool_details	Get full parameter schema for a specific function
call_shortfx	Execute any function by its qualified name
scientific_calculate	Evaluate math expressions directly (AST-based, no eval)

Recommended AI Workflow

1. SEARCH   → search_shortfx_tools("calculate days between two dates")
2. INSPECT  → get_shortfx_tool_details("fxDate.date_operations.calculate_days_between_dates")
3. EXECUTE  → call_shortfx("fxDate.date_operations.calculate_days_between_dates",
                             '{"start_date": "2025-01-01", "end_date": "2025-12-31"}')

Two Ways AI Can Discover Functions

Method	Best For	How It Works
llms.txt	LLMs with file access (Copilot, Cursor, etc.)	A static index of all 2,932 functions with signatures and descriptions. The AI reads it once and uses Ctrl+F-style lookup.
MCP Server	AI agents with tool-calling (Claude, GPT, etc.)	A live server that exposes search + execute meta-tools over the Model Context Protocol.

Setup

# Install with MCP support
pip install shortfx[mcp]

# With semantic search (recommended for AI agents)
pip install shortfx[mcp-semantic]

Configure your AI client (VS Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor) as described in the MCP Server documentation.

🔒 Security

Measure	Detail
No eval() / exec()	Expression evaluators (evaluate_expression, scientific_calculate) use AST-based parsing with whitelisted operations only
No OS command execution	subprocess and OS shell access are not used anywhere in the library
apply_expression sandboxed	Attribute access restricted to built-in types; private attributes (_-prefixed) blocked
DoS protection	factorial() capped at n ≤ 170; exponents capped at ≤ 10,000; expression length capped at 1,000 chars
No auto-install	Missing optional dependencies are reported via logging — the library never installs packages

🤝 Contributing

Want to add new formulas? Check the Contributing Guide for step-by-step instructions on how to:

• Add functions to existing modules
• Create new files or modules
• Follow the docstring, testing, and documentation conventions

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT license.

👤 Author

• Javier Rodríguez — DatamanEdge
• Email: jrodriguezga@outlook.com
• LinkedIn: Javier Rodríguez