xl-agent-cli 1.6.0

Agent-first CLI for Excel workbooks

xl

Agent-first CLI for Excel workbooks (.xlsx / .xlsm)

A transactional spreadsheet execution layer that lets AI agents and humans inspect, plan, validate, and apply workbook changes deterministically — like terraform for Excel.

xl wb inspect -f budget.xlsx          # discover structure
xl plan add-column -f budget.xlsx \   # generate a plan (non-mutating)
   -t Sales -n Margin \
   --formula "=[@Revenue]-[@Cost]" \
   --out plan.json
xl validate plan -f budget.xlsx \     # check before applying
   --plan plan.json
xl apply -f budget.xlsx \             # preview changes
   --plan plan.json --dry-run
xl apply -f budget.xlsx \             # apply with safety backup
   --plan plan.json --backup
xl verify assert -f budget.xlsx \     # confirm expected state
   --assertions '[{"type":"table.column_exists","table":"Sales","column":"Margin"}]'

Every command returns a structured JSON envelope:

{
  "ok": true,
  "command": "table.ls",
  "result": [...],
  "errors": [],
  "warnings": [],
  "metrics": { "duration_ms": 42 }
}

No Excel installation required — works entirely with openpyxl.

---

Features

• Inspect — sheets, tables, named ranges, fingerprints, lock status
• Read — cell values, range statistics (min/max/mean/sum/count/stddev), formula search by regex
• Query — SQL over table data via DuckDB (SELECT Region, SUM(Sales) FROM Sales GROUP BY Region)
• Mutate — add/delete columns, append rows, set cells/formulas, number formats, column widths, freeze panes
• Patch plans — generate JSON plans, compose multi-step plans, validate before applying
• Apply — execute plans with --dry-run preview and --backup safety copy
• Verify — post-apply assertions (table.column_exists, cell.value_equals, row_count.gte, ...)
• Diff — cell-level comparison between two workbook files
• Lint — detect volatile functions, broken references, formula anti-patterns
• Workflows — multi-step YAML pipelines with xl run
• Server mode — stdio JSON server for agent tool integration (MCP/ACP)

Safety rails

All mutating commands include built-in protections:

Feature	Description
--dry-run	Preview every change without writing to disk
--backup	Timestamped .bak copy before any write
Fingerprint conflict detection	Plans record the file's xxhash; apply rejects if the workbook changed since the plan was created
Exclusive file locking	Sidecar .xl.lock prevents concurrent mutations; --wait-lock N retries for N seconds
Formula protection	Refuses to overwrite existing formulas unless --force-overwrite-formulas is set
Policy files	Optional xl-policy.yaml for protected sheets, ranges, mutation thresholds, and command restrictions

---

Installation

Requires Python 3.12+ and uv.

From PyPI (recommended)

uv tool install xl-agent-cli

# Verify
xl version
xl --help

Local development install

git clone https://github.com/ThomasRohde/xl-cli.git
cd xl-cli
uv sync

# Verify
uv run xl version
uv run xl --help

Global install from source

git clone https://github.com/ThomasRohde/xl-cli.git
cd xl-cli
uv tool install --from . xl-agent-cli

If xl is not found, open a new terminal so your PATH refreshes.

---

Quick start

1. Inspect a workbook

xl wb inspect -f data.xlsx

Returns sheets, tables (with columns and row counts), named ranges, and a fingerprint hash.

2. List tables

xl table ls -f data.xlsx

3. Query with SQL

xl query -f data.xlsx \
  --sql "SELECT Region, SUM(Revenue) as Total FROM Sales GROUP BY Region ORDER BY Total DESC"

4. Add a calculated column (safe workflow)

# Generate a plan (does NOT modify the workbook)
xl plan add-column -f data.xlsx -t Sales -n GrossMarginPct \
  --formula "=[@GrossMargin]/[@Revenue]" \
  --out plan.json

# Validate the plan
xl validate plan -f data.xlsx --plan plan.json

# Preview what would change
xl apply -f data.xlsx --plan plan.json --dry-run

# Apply for real with backup
xl apply -f data.xlsx --plan plan.json --backup

# Verify the result
xl verify assert -f data.xlsx \
  --assertions '[{"type":"table.column_exists","table":"Sales","column":"GrossMarginPct"}]'

5. Format a report

xl format number -f report.xlsx --ref "Sales[Revenue]" --style currency --decimals 2
xl format width -f report.xlsx --sheet Sheet1 --columns A,B,C,D --width 15
xl format freeze -f report.xlsx --sheet Sheet1 --ref B2

6. Compare before and after

xl diff compare --file-a original.xlsx --file-b modified.xlsx

---

Command reference

Group	Commands	Description
xl wb	inspect, create, lock-status	Workbook metadata, creation, fingerprint, lock check
xl sheet	ls, create, delete, rename	Sheet lifecycle and management
xl table	create, ls, add-column, append-rows, delete, delete-column	Table operations
xl cell	get, set	Read/write individual cells
xl range	stat, clear	Range statistics and clearing
xl formula	set, lint, find	Set formulas, lint for issues, search by regex
xl format	number, width, freeze	Number formats, column widths, freeze panes
xl query	(top-level)	SQL queries over table data via DuckDB
xl plan	show, add-column, create-table, set-cells, format, compose, delete-sheet, rename-sheet, delete-table, delete-column	Generate and compose patch plans
xl validate	workbook, plan, refs, workflow	Validate health, plans, references, workflows
xl apply	(top-level)	Apply patch plans with --dry-run and --backup
xl verify	assert	Post-apply assertions
xl diff	compare	Cell-level workbook comparison
xl run	(top-level)	Execute multi-step YAML workflows
xl serve	(top-level)	stdio server for agent tool integration
xl guide	(top-level)	Machine-readable JSON orientation guide

Use xl <group> --help or xl <group> <command> --help for detailed usage.

---

Reference syntax

Commands that target cells, ranges, or table columns use ref syntax:

Pattern	Example	Usage
SheetName!Cell	Sheet1!B2	Single cell
SheetName!Start:End	Sheet1!A1:D10	Cell range
TableName[ColumnName]	Sales[Revenue]	Table column (formula/format)
=[@ColumnName]	=[@Revenue]-[@Cost]	Structured ref inside table formulas

---

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success
10	Validation error (bad input, schema mismatch, invalid plan)
20	Protection error (protected range or sheet)
30	Formula error (overwrite blocked, parse failure)
40	Conflict (fingerprint mismatch — workbook changed)
50	IO error (file not found, locked, permission denied)
60	Recalculation error
70	Unsupported operation
90	Internal error

---

Agent integration

xl is designed to be driven by AI coding agents. Every command returns machine-parseable JSON, uses deterministic exit codes, and provides progressive discovery:

xl guide                        # full structured JSON orientation (start here)
xl --help                       # command group overview
xl table --help                 # group detail with examples
xl table add-column --help      # command detail with usage examples

Token-optimized help (TOON)

When an LLM drives the CLI, verbose Rich-formatted --help output wastes tokens. Set LLM=true to switch all help to TOON (Token-Oriented Object Notation) — a compact key:value format that cuts token usage by ~75%.

# Enable TOON for the session
export LLM=true          # bash/zsh
$env:LLM = "true"        # PowerShell

xl --help

name: xl
description: Agent-first CLI for reading transforming and validating Excel workbooks
options[2]:
  flag,type,required,default,help
  --version/-V,flag,false,false,Print version and exit.
  --human,flag,false,false,Force human-readable help (overrides LLM=true).
groups[11]:
  name,description
  cell,Read and write individual cell values.
  table,Table operations — list add columns append rows.
  ...

The --human flag overrides LLM=true for a single invocation:

xl --human --help         # Rich output even with LLM=true set

Condition	Help format
Default (no env var)	Rich/Markdown (human-readable)
LLM=true	TOON (compact, token-optimized)
LLM=true + --human	Rich/Markdown (override)

stdio server mode

For tool-use integrations (MCP, ACP, or custom):

xl serve --stdio

Reads JSON commands from stdin, writes JSON responses to stdout.

---

Development

# Install with dev dependencies
uv sync

# Run all tests
uv run pytest tests/ -v

# Run a specific test file
uv run pytest tests/test_cli.py -v

# Run the CLI directly
uv run xl --help

Tech stack

Component	Library
Excel engine	openpyxl
CLI framework	Typer
Data models	Pydantic v2
JSON serialization	orjson
SQL queries	DuckDB
Terminal output	Rich
YAML parsing	PyYAML
Structured logging	structlog
File locking	portalocker
Fingerprinting	xxhash
Build	hatchling

Project structure

src/xl/
├── cli.py                  # Typer CLI app, all command definitions
├── contracts/              # Pydantic models (ResponseEnvelope, PatchPlan, WorkflowSpec)
├── engine/                 # WorkbookContext, response dispatcher, verify, workflow runner
├── adapters/               # openpyxl engine, DuckDB queries
├── validation/             # Plan/workbook validators, policy engine
├── io/                     # Fingerprint, backup, atomic write, file locking
├── observe/                # Timer and event utilities
├── diff/                   # Workbook comparison logic
├── help/                   # TOON help output for LLM consumers
└── server/                 # stdio server mode

tests/                      # Unit, integration, golden, property, performance tests

---

License

MIT