Every agent now speaks xlsx

Full Excel compatibility for agents and machines.

BETA

~/reports

// what it does

The whole spreadsheet, headless and pipeable

compute

Every formula calculated correctly

Set a cell to =PMT(…) or =XLOOKUP(…) and read the answer back. It's the same engine the app runs, so if Excel can compute it, so can a shell script.

pipe

Text in, text out

Every command reads stdin and writes stdout, so a workbook works with jq, awk, curl, sqlite, and everything else you already use.

render

Pixel perfect rendering

Render any range to a PNG, or a whole workbook to a PDF, drawn the way the app would draw it. Post a chart to Slack, or mail a report from cron.

// free

Free to use

Nobie is free forever for everyone using it for their own work. We believe the world's best XLSX experience should be free. Large companies only need to pay when they use Nobie to power products or models for their customers. We'll also introduce optional paid features and services that go beyond what spreadsheets can do today.

Read the license

// getting started

Your first sheet, start to finish

~/budget

# Create a workbook and see its sheets

nobie workbook new budget.xlsx

nobie sheet list budget.xlsx # Sheet1

# Write a value and a formula

nobie cell set budget.xlsx Sheet1!A1 --value 'Revenue'

nobie cell set budget.xlsx Sheet1!B1 --value 1000

nobie cell set budget.xlsx Sheet1!B2 --value '=B1*1.2'

# Read the evaluated result - the formula is actually computed

nobie cell read budget.xlsx Sheet1!B2 # 1200

nobie cell read budget.xlsx Sheet1!B2 --inputs # =B1*1.2

# Render a slice to PNG, or the whole book to PDF

nobie range render budget.xlsx Sheet1!A1:B2 --out preview.png

nobie workbook print budget.xlsx --out budget.pdf

tip: nobie --help, nobie <noun> --help, and nobie <noun> <verb> --help never go stale.

// naming things

Point at a cell

Every command takes a target (which workbook) and usually a selector (which cells).

Target	Means
`report.xlsx`	A file path. This is the default; no session needed.
`@Report.xlsx`	A workbook you've held open with `workbook open`, for back-to-back edits.
`file:@odd-name`	Escape hatch: force a literal to be treated as a path.
`--path P`	Force `P` to be a path regardless of how it looks.

A selector is a sheet-qualified cell or rectangle: Sheet1!A1, Sheet1!A1:C9, or a bare A1 with --sheet Sheet1. Quote sheets with spaces for your shell: 'Q1 Sales'!A1.

Input accepts A1 or absolute R1C1 anywhere (auto-detected). Output is A1 by default; the global --ref-style r1c1 flag flips it.

terminal

nobie cell set m.xlsx Sheet1!R1C1 --value '=2*21'

nobie cell read m.xlsx Sheet1!R1C1 --json --ref-style r1c1

# {"schema":"nobie.cells.v1","projection":"values","cells":[{"ref":"Sheet1!R1C1","value":"42"}]}

// the shape

One grammar for everything

Learn it once and the whole tool falls out of it. A noun, a verb, the workbook, and what to act on:

grammar

nobie <noun> <verb> <TARGET> [SELECTOR] [FLAGS]

Noun	Verbs / Actions
`workbook`	open, new, close, path, info, undo, print (PDF)
`save`	save in place, Save As, save a copy
`sheet`	add, rename, delete, list
`cell`	set, read
`range`	read, clear, paste, copy, cut, render (PNG)
`style`	set, read (effective styles), compact
`calc`	recalc, mode (automatic / manual / …)
`session`	start, stop, list, open, close (the local daemon)
`script`	run a readable spreadsheet program (replaces batch)
`serve`	serve a workbook's defined-name HTTP APIs
`version`	version & self-update (`nobie update`)

Sixteen things to do in a pipe

every recipe runs as written

CSV → formula-driven workbook

Pipe a CSV in, drop a live =SUM total under it, and bold the header row.

command

terminal

nobie workbook new sales.xlsx

nobie range paste sales.xlsx Sheet1!A1 --from - <<<$'Region\tQ1\tQ2\tTotal'

tail -n +2 sales.csv | tr ',' '\t' \

| nobie range paste sales.xlsx Sheet1!A2 --from -

nobie cell set sales.xlsx Sheet1!D5 --value '=SUM(D2:D4)'

nobie style set sales.xlsx Sheet1!A1:D1 --bold --fill '#1F4E78' --font-color white

stdout

stdout - recipe-01

$ nobie range read sales.xlsx Sheet1!A1:D5

Region Q1 Q2 Total

East 15000 18000 33000

West 12000 14500 26500

South 9000 11000 20000

79500

// over http

Serve a sheet as an API

Name a cell NOBIE_API__quote__INPUT__quantity and nobie serve turns the workbook into an HTTP service: defined names become JSON routes, inputs go in with a POST, and recalculated outputs come back. The spreadsheet is the backend.

serve.sh

# Defined names in pricing.xlsx:

# NOBIE_API__quote__INPUT__quantity -> request field "quantity"

# NOBIE_API__quote__INPUT__unit_price -> request field "unit_price"

# NOBIE_API__quote__OUTPUT__total -> response field "total"

nobie serve ./pricing.xlsx

# ...then from anywhere: discover the routes, POST inputs

curl -sS http://127.0.0.1:8000/apis

curl -sS http://127.0.0.1:8000/api/quote \

-H 'content-type: application/json' \

-d '{"quantity": 3, "unit_price": 19.95}'

stdout - serve

{"total":"59.85"}

The formula behind the total cell does the work; there's no handler to write. Each request leases an isolated replica of the workbook, applies the inputs, recalculates, reads the outputs, and restores the replica before responding - so callers never see each other's state and the file on disk is never modified. It binds to 127.0.0.1:8000 by default (--bind, --replicas to change), and caps request bodies at 1 MiB.

// the whole toolbox

Command reference

Every command is nobie <noun> <verb> <target>. Pick a noun to see its verbs and flags.

Workbook Commands

Create, inspect, print, undo, and open workbooks as background sessions.

terminal

nobie workbook new budget.xlsx # create empty workbook (--force to overwrite)

nobie workbook info budget.xlsx --json # path, dirty bit, calc mode

nobie workbook path budget.xlsx # print the on-disk path

nobie workbook undo budget.xlsx # undo the last change

nobie workbook print budget.xlsx --out b.pdf # render the WHOLE workbook to PDF

nobie workbook open /data/Budget.xlsx # open as a background session (prints handle)

nobie workbook close budget.xlsx --save # close a session (--save | --discard if dirty)

Sheet Commands

Add, rename, and delete tabs, or list them NUL-safe for xargs.

terminal

nobie sheet add book.xlsx --name Raw

nobie sheet rename book.xlsx --from Sheet1 --to Summary

nobie sheet delete book.xlsx --name Raw --force

nobie sheet list book.xlsx [--json] [-0]

Cell Commands

Set a cell to a literal or a =formula, or read back the value or the formula.

terminal

nobie cell set book.xlsx Sheet1!A1 --value '=SUM(B:B)' # formula or literal

nobie cell set book.xlsx Sheet1!A1 --value-stdin # read value from stdin

nobie cell set book.xlsx Sheet1!A1 --value-from note.txt # read value from a file

nobie cell read book.xlsx Sheet1!A1 [--inputs] [--json] # evaluated value, or the formula

Style Commands

Set fonts, fills, borders, alignment, and number formats, or read back the style a cell actually resolves to.

terminal

nobie style set book.xlsx Sheet1!A1:Z1 --bold --fill '#1F4E78' --font-color white

nobie style read book.xlsx Sheet1!A1:Z99 # effective (resolved) styles, JSON

nobie style compact book.xlsx Sheet1!A1 --budget 50 # summarize distinct style patterns

Styling Flag Catalog

style set flags

# Font

--bold / --no-bold --italic / --no-italic --strike / --no-strike

--underline single|double|single-accountant|double-accountant|none

--size 14 --font Calibri --font-theme body|headings

--font-color <COLOR> --script super|sub|none

# Fill & number format

--fill <COLOR> / --no-fill

--number-format currency|percent|date|... or a raw OOXML code --clear-number-format

# Alignment

--valign top|middle|bottom|justify|distributed

--wrap / --no-wrap --indent N --rotate <-90..90|stacked> --shrink / --no-shrink

# Borders (repeatable): GEOMETRY[:STYLE[:COLOR]]

--border outside:thick:black --border inside-horizontal:thin

--clear-border outside --no-border

# GEOMETRY: outside, inside, all, top, bottom, left, right,

# inside-horizontal, inside-vertical, diagonal-up, diagonal-down, diagonal

# Protection / misc

--lock / --no-lock --hide-formula / --show-formula

--quote-prefix / --no-quote-prefix --checkbox / --no-checkbox

Colors accept: name (red), hex (#RRGGBB), rgb(31,78,120), theme:accent1/0.4, or auto.

Number formats support presets (general, integer, currency, percent, date) or raw OOXML patterns.

Session & Daemon Commands

Hold a workbook open behind an @ handle, so back-to-back commands skip the load-and-save round-trip. nobie session start runs the local daemon in the foreground; nobie session stop stops it and refuses dirty workbooks unless told --save-all or --discard-all.

terminal

nobie workbook open /data/Big.xlsx # -> Big.xlsx

nobie cell set @Big.xlsx Sheet1!A1 --value 1 --no-commit

nobie cell set @Big.xlsx Sheet1!A2 --value 2 --no-commit

nobie calc recalc @Big.xlsx

nobie save save @Big.xlsx # flush to disk when you're ready

nobie session list # what's open?

nobie workbook close @Big.xlsx --save # done

Spreadsheet scripts

When several reads, edits, and exports belong together, write them as one reviewable program. Source comes from stdin, a string, or a file; every edit lives in an explicit transaction. It replaces the old batch command.

script

nobie script [--execute SOURCE | --file FILE]

[--preview | --check | --format | --schema]

[--path WORKBOOK]

[--let NAME=VALUE]... [--save | --no-save] [--json]

report.nobie

nobie script --path budget.xlsx <<'NOBIE'

let report = Sheet1!A1:B2

transaction {

set $report to {"Revenue",1000; "Forecast",formula "=B1*1.2"}

values $report

}

export $report to png "preview.png"

NOBIE

A deliberately small language: let binds values, ranges, and grids; there are no loops, conditions, or functions; errors stop the program instead of changing its meaning. --check validates, --format canonicalizes, --preview runs against a disposable copy, and --schema prints the whole sentence catalog as JSON.

terminal

nobie script --check --file report.nobie

nobie script --format --file report.nobie

nobie script --schema --json

nobie script --schema --operation cells.write --json

Serve as an HTTP API

nobie serve <WORKBOOK> turns defined names into JSON routes. Name a cell NOBIE_API__quote__INPUT__quantity and it becomes the quantity field of POST /api/quote; outputs work the same way. Discovery lives at GET /apis.

terminal

nobie serve ./pricing.xlsx [--bind IP:PORT] [--replicas 1..32]

curl -sS http://127.0.0.1:8000/apis

curl -sS http://127.0.0.1:8000/api/quote \

-H 'content-type: application/json' \

-d '{"quantity": 3, "unit_price": 19.95}'

Each request leases an isolated workbook replica, applies inputs, recalcs, reads outputs, and restores the replica before responding - one caller can never see another's temporary state, and the file on disk is never modified. Loopback by default; put a real proxy in front for anything else.

Write Modifiers

Flags every write command accepts. They decide when changes hit disk, whether to back up first, and what to do about locks.

Flag	Effect
`--commit`	Save to disk immediately when done (default mode).
`--no-commit`	Apply to the open daemon session only; do not save.
`--dry-run`	Show what would change, then exit without persisting anything.
`--backup`	Create a `.bak-<mtime>` sidecar copy before executing.
`--force-overwrite`	Overwrite target even if it changed on disk since command loaded.
`--lock-timeout-ms N`	Wait time for the per-file advisory lock (default: 5000ms).

// good to know

Tricks worth stealing

Generate sheets from code

Any program can build a spreadsheet. Have it print nobie script sentences and pipe them in - a thousand cells land in one transaction.

Keep workbooks in git

It's just an .xlsx, and nobie can diff it by value. Wire it up as a git textconv and review spreadsheet changes in a pull request, like any other code.

Preview without opening anything

range render … --out p.png && open p.png gets you a styled snapshot in about a second, without launching the app.

Quote your sheet names

Sheet names with spaces need quotes for your shell: 'Q1 Sales'!A1. Same for any selector you build by hand and pipe in.

The whole spreadsheet, headless and pipeable

Every formula calculated correctly

Text in, text out

Pixel perfect rendering

Free to use

Your first sheet, start to finish

Point at a cell

One grammar for everything

Sixteen things to do in a pipe

CSV → formula-driven workbook

Calculation microservice

Live API data straight into cells

SQL → spreadsheet in one pipe

Nightly PDF report by cron

Render dashboard tile to Slack

Bulk-process a whole tree

git diff for spreadsheets

Live-reload renders

Pick a sheet with fzf

Monte-Carlo a model

Generate a grid from a script

CI spec gate

xlsx → CSV without a GUI

Pretty-print in the terminal

Pre-commit hook: block broken formulas

Serve a sheet as an API

Command reference

Workbook Commands

Save Commands

Sheet Commands

Cell Commands

Range Commands

Style Commands

Styling Flag Catalog

Calculation Commands

Session & Daemon Commands

Spreadsheet scripts

Serve as an HTTP API

Write Modifiers

Tricks worth stealing

Generate sheets from code

Keep workbooks in git

Preview without opening anything

Quote your sheet names

Own Your Craft.