Nobie CLI ^Beta

Run any Microsoft Excel workbook from the command line—and get the right answer.

Documentation · Install · Issues

Nobie correctly recalculates every .xlsx workbook supported by the Microsoft Excel application. No other third-party spreadsheet engine does. Nobie CLI puts that engine in the terminal.

Other spreadsheet libraries read and write cells. Nobie runs the workbook and returns the answers. A financial model, forecast, pricing tool, or operating plan can run in a shell, CI job, service, or coding agent without the Microsoft Excel application and without being rebuilt in code.

Nobie also reads, edits, renders, and serves .xlsx files. Formulas, tables, styles, conditional formatting, charts, and layout stay in the workbook.

Install

The installer supports macOS and Linux on ARM64 and x86-64:

curl -fsSL https://nobie.com/install.sh | sh
nobie version

The installer asks you to accept the Nobie Desktop App License Terms. For a noninteractive install:

curl -fsSL https://nobie.com/install.sh | sh -s -- --accept-license

On macOS this installs Nobie.app and the nobie command. On Linux it installs the nobie binary.

Quick start

Recalculate an existing workbook and save the result to a new file:

nobie calc recalc model.xlsx --save-to recalculated.xlsx

Or create a workbook and put a small pricing model in it:

nobie workbook new pricing.xlsx

nobie script run pricing.xlsx --max-tokens 1000 --overwrite <<'NOBIE'
set Sheet1!A1:B1 to {"Unit price", 20}
set Sheet1!A2:B2 to {"Quantity", 3}
set Sheet1!A3:B3 to {"Total", formula "=B1*B2"}
NOBIE

Read the result:

$ nobie range read pricing.xlsx Sheet1!A1:B3 --format csv
Unit price,20
Quantity,3
Total,60

The script runs as one transaction. If a statement fails, the workbook is left unchanged. Use --save-to another.xlsx instead of --overwrite to keep the original file.

Serve a workbook over HTTP

nobie serve maps JSON request fields to input cells and output cells back to JSON:

nobie serve pricing.xlsx \
  --input quote.quantity=Sheet1!B2 \
  --output quote.total=Sheet1!B3

$ curl -sS http://127.0.0.1:8000/api/quote \
    -H 'content-type: application/json' \
    -d '{"quantity":5}'
{"total":"100"}

The workbook still owns the formula. The HTTP API only supplies inputs and returns results.

More than cells

Nobie has commands for sheets, ranges, tables, conditional formats, charts, styles, column widths, row heights, frozen panes, and calculation mode. Cell and range reads can return human-readable text, JSON, JSON Lines, XML, CSV, or TSV.

It can also render a range to PNG or print a workbook to PDF:

nobie range render model.xlsx Summary!A1:H30 --out summary.png
nobie workbook print model.xlsx --out model.pdf

For repeated jobs, open the workbook once and use its @name handle in later commands. Direct file writes require an explicit choice: --save-to PATH keeps the original, while --overwrite replaces it.

Run nobie --help for the command list and <command> --help for details:

nobie --help
nobie chart create --help

Coding agents

Nobie can describe the command set installed on the machine:

nobie skill
nobie script skill
nobie script schema --list

nobie skill includes the command reference. The script schema lists the statements understood by that version of the CLI.

Repository and license

This repository contains Nobie CLI documentation and issues, not the CLI source.

Microsoft and Excel are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. Nobie is not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft.

Nobie CLI is licensed, not sold. Its use is governed by the Nobie Desktop App License Terms.

Copyright © 2026 Nobie, Inc. All rights reserved.