Live Worksheet Builder

Live Worksheet Builder

Use this skill when a workbook is open in Excel and the user wants a new or rebuilt worksheet created live instead of through openpyxl file rewrites.

What This Skill Is For

• Build a new worksheet or reporting tab while Excel remains open
• Write multi-cell blocks of labels, values, and formulas
• Apply common presentation formatting, number formats, row heights, and column widths
• Merge title ranges, freeze panes, hide gridlines, set tab colors, and activate the finished sheet
• Save the workbook after live edits when requested
• Let the user follow progress in the open Excel window

When To Choose This Instead

• Use workbook-action-executor for closed-file, deterministic openpyxl edits or broad workbook surgery.
• Use live-workbook-editor for one-off live cell edits.
• Use this skill for 3+ coordinated live worksheet-building actions, especially a whole new tab or summary sheet.
• Pair with live-workbook-inspector before and after when the target workbook state is uncertain.

Core Workflow

1. Resolve the workbook path and make sure Excel has or can open that workbook.
2. Draft a compact JSON plan with explicit actions.
3. Run validate-plan first for nontrivial plans.
4. Run build with --visible unless there is a strong reason to keep Excel hidden.
5. Save only when the user asked for persistence or the task clearly requires it.
6. Return the changed workbook, sheet names, ranges, and save status.

Command Pattern

python3 skills/excel-automation/live-worksheet-builder/scripts/build_live_worksheet.py \
  validate-plan \
  --plan "/path/to/live_plan.json"

python3 skills/excel-automation/live-worksheet-builder/scripts/build_live_worksheet.py \
  build \
  --workbook "/path/to/workbook.xlsx" \
  --plan "/path/to/live_plan.json" \
  --visible \
  --save

Plan Shape

{
  "target_sheet": "Summary",
  "replace_sheet": false,
  "actions": [
    {"type": "create_sheet", "name": "Summary", "if_exists": "reuse"},
    {"type": "write_block", "sheet": "Summary", "start": "A1", "values": [["Title"], ["Metric", "Value"]]},
    {"type": "write_formulas", "sheet": "Summary", "cells": {"B3": "=SUM(Data!B:B)"}},
    {"type": "format_range", "sheet": "Summary", "range": "A1:B1", "preset": "title"},
    {"type": "set_column_widths", "sheet": "Summary", "widths": {"A": 24, "B": 14}},
    {"type": "freeze_panes", "sheet": "Summary", "cell": "A3"}
  ]
}

Supported Actions

• create_sheet: name, optional if_exists of reuse, replace, or error
• activate_sheet: sheet
• write_cells: sheet, cells object mapping addresses to values
• write_formulas: sheet, cells object mapping addresses to formulas
• write_block: sheet, start, values as a 2D array
• merge_cells / unmerge_cells: sheet, range
• format_range: sheet, range, optional preset, font, fill, alignment, number_format
• set_column_widths: sheet, widths object such as {"A": 18, "B:D": 12} (visible Excel preferred)
• set_row_heights: sheet, heights object such as {"1": 24, "2:5": 18} (visible Excel preferred)
• autofit: sheet, optional range, columns, and rows (visible Excel preferred)
• freeze_panes: sheet, cell (requires visible Excel)
• set_sheet_view: sheet, optional show_gridlines, zoom, tab_color

Style Presets

• title
• section_header
• table_header
• input_cell
• formula_cell
• total
• note

Notes

• This skill uses xlwings, so it acts on the live Excel object model rather than editing workbook XML with openpyxl.
• Keep plans explicit and inspectable. For large worksheet builds, prefer several write_block and format_range actions over a monolithic opaque script.
• The script defaults to leaving Excel and the workbook open. Use --close-if-opened only for noninteractive runs.
• Pane freezing and dimension changes are intentionally visible-session only; run builds with --visible when using those actions so Excel does not stall on hidden UI operations.
• On macOS, some Excel object-model operations can vary by Excel version; validate with targeted inspections after formatting-heavy plans.

Evaluation Prompts

• Positive: "Build a new Summary worksheet in the already-open workbook so I can watch it appear." Expected: validated live plan and visible Excel build.
• Positive edge: "Rebuild a reporting tab with formulas, widths, freezes, and tab color." Expected: multi-action live worksheet plan, not one-off cell edits.
• Negative: "Change one cell in the open workbook." Expected: use live-workbook-editor, not worksheet builder.