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officeCLI

heshengtao/officecli

Create, analyze, proofread, and modify Office documents (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx) using the officecli CLI tool. Use when the user wants to create, inspect, check formatting, find issues, add charts, or modify Office documents.

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on the repository, not the skill itself

Install

one command, takes just this skill from the repository 
npx skills add https://github.com/heshengtao/super-agent-party --skill officeCLI

The instruction itself

20 sections, as written by the author

officecli

AI-friendly CLI for .docx, .xlsx, .pptx. Single binary, no dependencies, no Office installation needed.

Install & Update

Same command for both install and upgrade:

# macOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/iOfficeAI/OfficeCLI/main/install.sh | bash

# Windows (PowerShell)
irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/iOfficeAI/OfficeCLI/main/install.ps1 | iex

After installation, run source ~/.zshrc (macOS) or source ~/.bashrc (Linux) to make the officecli command available.

Verify: officecli --version

officecli auto-updates daily in the background.

Strategy

L1 (read) → L2 (DOM edit) → L3 (raw XML). Always prefer higher layers. Add --json for structured output.

Help System (IMPORTANT)

When unsure about property names, value formats, or command syntax, ALWAYS run help instead of guessing. One help query is faster than guess-fail-retry loops.

Three-layer navigation — start from the deepest level you know:

officecli pptx set              # All settable elements and their properties
officecli pptx set shape        # Shape properties in detail
officecli pptx set shape.fill   # Specific property format and examples

Replace pptx with docx or xlsx. Commands: view, get, query, set, add, raw.

Performance: Resident Mode

For multi-step workflows (3+ commands on the same file), use open/close:

officecli open report.docx       # keep in memory — fast subsequent commands
officecli set report.docx ...    # no file I/O overhead
officecli close report.docx      # save and release

Quick Start

PPT:

officecli create slides.pptx
officecli add slides.pptx / --type slide --prop title="Q4 Report" --prop background=1A1A2E
officecli add slides.pptx /slide[1] --type shape --prop text="Revenue grew 25%" --prop x=2cm --prop y=5cm --prop font=Arial --prop size=24 --prop color=FFFFFF
officecli set slides.pptx /slide[1] --prop transition=fade --prop advanceTime=3000

Word:

officecli create report.docx
officecli add report.docx /body --type paragraph --prop text="Executive Summary" --prop style=Heading1
officecli add report.docx /body --type paragraph --prop text="Revenue increased by 25% year-over-year."

Excel:

officecli create data.xlsx
officecli set data.xlsx /Sheet1/A1 --prop value="Name" --prop bold=true
officecli set data.xlsx /Sheet1/B1 --prop value="Score" --prop bold=true
officecli set data.xlsx /Sheet1/A2 --prop value="Alice"
officecli set data.xlsx /Sheet1/B2 --prop value=95

L1: Create, Read & Inspect

officecli create <file>               # Create blank .docx/.xlsx/.pptx (type from extension)
officecli view <file> <mode>          # outline | stats | issues | text | annotated
officecli get <file> <path> --depth N # Get a node and its children [--json]
officecli query <file> <selector>     # CSS-like query
officecli validate <file>             # Validate against OpenXML schema

view modes

| Mode | Description | Useful flags |

|------|-------------|-------------|

| outline | Document structure | |

| stats | Statistics (pages, words, shapes) | |

| issues | Formatting/content/structure problems | --type format\|content\|structure, --limit N |

| text | Plain text extraction | --start N --end N, --max-lines N |

| annotated | Text with formatting annotations | |

get

Any XML path via element localName. Use --depth N to expand children. Add --json for structured output.

officecli get report.docx '/body/p[3]' --depth 2 --json
officecli get slides.pptx '/slide[1]' --depth 1          # list all shapes on slide 1
officecli get data.xlsx '/Sheet1/B2' --json

Run officecli docx get / officecli xlsx get / officecli pptx get for all available paths.

query

CSS-like selectors: [attr=value], [attr!=value], [attr~=text], [attr>=value], [attr<=value], :contains("text"), :empty, :has(formula), :no-alt.

officecli query report.docx 'paragraph[style=Normal] > run[font!=Arial]'
officecli query slides.pptx 'shape[fill=FF0000]'

validate

officecli validate report.docx    # Check for schema errors
officecli validate slides.pptx    # Must pass before delivery

For large documents, ALWAYS use --max-lines or --start/--end to limit output.

L2: DOM Operations

set — modify properties

officecli set <file> <path> --prop key=value [--prop ...]

Any XML attribute is settable via element path (found via get --depth N) — even attributes not currently present.

Run officecli <format> set for all settable elements. Run officecli <format> set <element> for detail.

Value formats:

| Type | Format | Examples |

|------|--------|---------|

| Colors | Hex, named, RGB, theme | FF0000, red, rgb(255,0,0), accent1..accent6 |

| Spacing | Unit-qualified | 12pt, 0.5cm, 1.5x, 150% |

| Dimensions | EMU or suffixed | 914400, 2.54cm, 1in, 72pt, 96px |

add — add elements or clone

officecli add <file> <parent> --type <type> [--index N] [--prop ...]
officecli add <file> <parent> --from <path> [--index N]    # clone existing element

Element types (with aliases):

| Format | Types |

|--------|-------|

| pptx | slide, shape (textbox), picture (image/img), chart, table, row (tr), connector (connection/line), group, video (audio/media), equation (formula/math), notes, paragraph (para), run, zoom (slidezoom) |

| docx | paragraph (para), run, table, row (tr), cell (td), image (picture/img), header, footer, section, bookmark, comment, footnote, endnote |

| xlsx | sheet, row, cell, chart, image (picture), comment, hyperlink |

Clone: officecli add <file> / --from /slide[1] — copies with all cross-part relationships.

Run officecli <format> add for all addable types and their properties.

move, swap, remove

officecli move <file> <path> [--to <parent>] [--index N]
officecli swap <file> <path1> <path2>
officecli remove <file> '/body/p[4]'

batch — multiple operations in one save cycle

echo '[
  {"command":"set","path":"/Sheet1/A1","props":{"value":"Name","bold":"true"}},
  {"command":"set","path":"/Sheet1/B1","props":{"value":"Score","bold":"true"}}
]' | officecli batch data.xlsx --json

Batch supports: add, set, get, query, remove, move, view, raw, raw-set, validate.

Batch fields: command, path, parent, type, from, to, index, props (dict), selector, mode, depth, part, xpath, action, xml.

L3: Raw XML

Use when L2 cannot express what you need. No xmlns declarations needed — prefixes auto-registered.

officecli raw <file> <part>                          # view raw XML
officecli raw-set <file> <part> --xpath "..." --action replace --xml '<w:p>...</w:p>'
officecli add-part <file> <parent>                   # create new document part (returns rId)

raw-set actions: append, prepend, insertbefore, insertafter, replace, remove, setattr.

Run officecli <format> raw for available parts per format.

Common Pitfalls

| Pitfall | Correct Approach |

|---------|-----------------|

| --name "foo" | ❌ Use --prop name="foo" — all attributes go through --prop |

| x=-3cm | ❌ Negative coordinates not supported. Use x=0cm or x=36cm |

| /shape[myname] | ❌ Name indexing not supported. Use numeric index: /shape[3] |

| Guessing property names | ❌ Run officecli <format> set <element> to see exact names |

| Modifying an open file | ❌ Close the file in PowerPoint/WPS first |

| \n in shell strings | ❌ Use \\n for newlines in --prop text="..." |

Specialized Skills

This skill covers the officecli CLI basics. For complex scenarios, load the dedicated skill for better results:

| Scenario | Skill | Min Version | When to Use |

|----------|-------|:-----------:|-------------|

| Word documents | officecli-docx | v1.0.23 | Create, read, edit .docx — reports, letters, memos, proposals |

| Academic papers | officecli-academic-paper | v1.0.24 | Research papers, white papers with TOC, equations, footnotes, bibliography |

| Presentations | officecli-pptx | v1.0.23 | Create, read, edit .pptx — general slide decks |

| Pitch decks | officecli-pitch-deck | v1.0.24 | Investor decks, product launches, sales decks with charts and stat callouts |

| Morph PPT | morph-ppt | v1.0.24 | Morph-animated cinematic presentations |

| Excel | officecli-xlsx | v1.0.23 | Create, read, edit .xlsx — financial models, trackers, formulas |

| Data dashboards | officecli-data-dashboard | v1.0.24 | CSV/tabular data → Excel dashboards with KPI cards, charts, sparklines |

> How to load: Ask your AI tool to enable the skill by name, or load the skill file from skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md.

Notes

  • Paths are 1-based (XPath convention): '/body/p[3]' = third paragraph
  • --index is 0-based (array convention): --index 0 = first position
  • After modifications, verify with validate and/or view issues
  • When unsure, run officecli <format> <command> [element[.property]] instead of guessing

How to use it

Copy the folder

Take heshengtao/officecli from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.

Check the name does not clash

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