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Skill

/xlsx-author

Produce a .xlsx file on disk (headless) instead of driving a live Excel workbook — for managed-agent sessions with no open Office app.

From plugin
financial-services
34k118 skills10 agents56 commands2 MCP
Install
$ npx -y skills add anthropics/financial-services --skill xlsx-author --agent claude-code

How it fires

How this skill gets triggered: by you, by Claude, or both.

  • Fires itselfAuto-invocation. Claude auto-loads it when your prompt matches the work.Auto-invocation is when the right skill fires by itself at the right moment, driven by a FLOW.md router and a hook, instead of you invoking it by name. It is the difference between a skill being installed and a skill actually getting used.Read the full definition →
  • You can call itInvoke it directly when you want it.
  • Slash command/xlsx-author

Context preview

The summary Claude sees to decide when to auto-load this skill.

Produce a .xlsx file on disk (headless) instead of driving a live Excel workbook — for managed-agent sessions with no open Office app.

SKILL.md

xlsx-author.SKILL.md
name: xlsx-author
description: Produce a .xlsx file on disk (headless) instead of driving a live Excel workbook — for managed-agent sessions with no open Office app.

xlsx-author

Use this skill when running **headless** (managed-agent / CMA mode) and you need to deliver an Excel workbook as a **file artifact** rather than editing a live workbook via `mcp__office__excel_*`.

Output contract

  • Write to `./out/<name>.xlsx`. Create `./out/` if it does not exist.
  • Return the relative path in your final message so the orchestration layer can collect it.

How to build the workbook

Write a short Python script and run it with Bash. Use `openpyxl`:

from openpyxl import Workbook
from openpyxl.styles import Font, PatternFill

wb = Workbook()
ws = wb.active; ws.title = "Inputs"
ws["B2"] = "Revenue"; ws["C2"] = 1_250_000_000
ws["C2"].font = Font(color="0000FF")           # blue = hardcoded input
calc = wb.create_sheet("DCF")
calc["C5"] = "=Inputs!C2*(1+Inputs!C3)"        # black = formula
wb.save("./out/model.xlsx")

Conventions (mirror `audit-xls`)

  • **Blue / black / green.** Blue = hardcoded input, black = formula, green = link to another sheet/file.
  • **No hardcodes in calc cells.** Every calculation cell is a formula; every input lives on an Inputs tab.
  • **Named ranges** for any value referenced from a deck or memo.
  • **Balance checks.** Include a Checks tab that ties (BS balances, CF ties to cash, etc.) and surfaces TRUE/FALSE.
  • **One model per file.** Do not append to an existing workbook unless explicitly asked.

When NOT to use

If `mcp__office__excel_*` tools are available (Cowork plugin mode), use those instead — they drive the user's live workbook with review checkpoints. This skill is the file-producing fallback for headless runs.

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Ships withfinancial-services

Reference agents, skills, and data connectors for the financial-services workflows we see most — investment banking, equity research, private equity, and wealth management.

Get the whole plugin

Other skills on financial-services.