officecli-sdk

A thin async Node.js client over officecli's resident pipe. It does one thing: forward a command to the running resident and hand back the response. There is no second vocabulary to learn — a command is the same object you'd put in an officecli batch list.

npm install officecli-sdk

Installing the SDK pulls @officecli/officecli, which bundles an auto-updating native binary — so the CLI comes with it and you don't manage it separately. If the binary is ever missing, the SDK provisions it on first use (downloads the bundled signed binary, or falls back to the official installer).

Usage

const oc = require('officecli-sdk');

const doc = await oc.create('report.xlsx', ['--force']);
try {
  await doc.send({ command: 'set', path: '/Sheet1/A1', props: { text: 'Hello' } });
  const a1 = await doc.send({ command: 'get', path: '/Sheet1/A1' }); // → envelope object
  console.log(a1);

  // Many writes in one round-trip:
  await doc.batch([
    { command: 'set', path: '/Sheet1/B1', props: { text: '42' } },
    { command: 'set', path: '/Sheet1/C1', props: { text: 'world' } },
  ]);
} finally {
  await doc.close(); // flushes to disk
}

On Node ≥ 24 you can use await using and skip the explicit close:

await using doc = await oc.open('existing.xlsx');
await doc.send({ command: 'get', path: '/body/p[1]' });

Two surfaces

• bootstrap (infrequent): create() / open() spawn one CLI process.
• hot path: send() / batch() are pure pipe round-trips, no per-command process spawn.

API

• await create(path, args?, options?) → Document — make a new file. Extra CLI flags pass through verbatim (['--force'], ['--type', 'docx']).
• await open(path, options?) → Document — open an existing file.
• Document.send(item, asJson = true, timeoutMs?) — forward one command. asJson = false requests plain-text output (view/raw/dump).
• Document.batch(items, { force = true, stopOnError = false, timeoutMs? }).
• Document.alive(timeoutMs?) — is a resident serving this file?
• Document.close() — stop the resident (flushes to disk).
• install() — run the official installer (unix only).

options: { binary?, timeoutMs?, autoInstall? }. Pass binary to point at a specific officecli; autoInstall: false to disable provisioning a missing CLI.

Errors vs business outcomes

Transport/process failures throw OfficeCliError. Business outcomes are not exceptions — they live in the returned envelope's success field, exactly like the CLI's exit code. Check result.success yourself.

Lifecycle

// Owner — close on exit:
const d = await oc.open(f);
try { /* ... */ } finally { await d.close(); }

// Borrow — leave a resident another program owns running:
const d = await oc.open(f);
await d.send(/* ... */); // no close()

A dead resident is transparently restarted and the command retried once. An alive-but-busy pipe raises OfficeCliError (retry, or close() and reopen) — the SDK never bypasses a live resident, which would race its save.

Licensed under Apache-2.0.