Univer Node.js Backend

Guide for running Univer in Node.js environments without a browser. Use this for headless spreadsheet processing, automated report generation, server-side formula calculation, and batch data manipulation.

Compatibility: This skill is written for Univer v0.21.x / Univer Pro v0.20.x. Node.js support is isomorphic with browser support per the Univer architecture.

Prerequisites: Familiarity with the univer-integrate skill (base plugin architecture, Facade API, plugin registration order) is assumed. This skill only covers Node.js-specific differences.

Quick Start

1. Install dependencies

npm install @univerjs/core @univerjs/engine-formula @univerjs/sheets @univerjs/sheets-formula @univerjs/rpc-node

For Pro features in Node.js:

npm install @univerjs-pro/license @univerjs-pro/engine-formula @univerjs-pro/sheets-pivot @univerjs-pro/collaboration-client-node

2. Create Univer instance on Node.js

import { LocaleType, Univer } from '@univerjs/core';
import { FUniver } from '@univerjs/core/facade';
import { UniverFormulaEnginePlugin } from '@univerjs/engine-formula';
import { UniverSheetsPlugin } from '@univerjs/sheets';
import { UniverSheetsFormulaPlugin } from '@univerjs/sheets-formula';
import { UniverSheetsFilterPlugin } from '@univerjs/sheets-filter';

// Facade side-effect imports for Node.js
import '@univerjs/sheets/facade';
import '@univerjs/engine-formula/facade';
import '@univerjs/sheets-formula/facade';
import '@univerjs/sheets-filter/facade';
import '@univerjs/sheets-numfmt/facade';

const univer = new Univer({
  locale: LocaleType.ZH_CN,
});

univer.registerPlugin(UniverFormulaEnginePlugin);
univer.registerPlugin(UniverSheetsPlugin);
univer.registerPlugin(UniverSheetsFormulaPlugin);
univer.registerPlugin(UniverSheetsFilterPlugin);

const univerAPI = FUniver.newAPI(univer);
const workbook = univerAPI.createWorkbook({});
const sheet = workbook.getActiveSheet();

sheet.getRange('A1').setValue({ v: 123 });
sheet.getRange('B1').setValue({ f: '=SUM(A1) * 6' });

console.log(workbook.save());

3. Node.js worker for formula computing (optional)

For heavy formula workloads, offload to a forked process:

// main.ts
import path from 'node:path';
import { LocaleType, Univer } from '@univerjs/core';
import { UniverFormulaEnginePlugin } from '@univerjs/engine-formula';
import { UniverRPCNodeMainPlugin } from '@univerjs/rpc-node';
import { UniverSheetsPlugin } from '@univerjs/sheets';

const univer = new Univer({ locale: LocaleType.ZH_CN });

univer.registerPlugin(UniverFormulaEnginePlugin, { notExecuteFormula: true });
univer.registerPlugin(UniverSheetsPlugin);

const workerPath = path.join(__dirname, 'worker.js');
univer.registerPlugin(UniverRPCNodeMainPlugin, { workerSrc: workerPath });

// worker.js
import { LocaleType, Univer } from '@univerjs/core';
import { UniverFormulaEnginePlugin } from '@univerjs/engine-formula';
import { UniverRPCNodeWorkerPlugin } from '@univerjs/rpc-node';
import { UniverSheetsPlugin } from '@univerjs/sheets';

const univer = new Univer({ locale: LocaleType.ZH_CN });

univer.registerPlugin(UniverSheetsPlugin, { onlyRegisterFormulaRelatedMutations: true });
univer.registerPlugin(UniverFormulaEnginePlugin);
univer.registerPlugin(UniverRPCNodeWorkerPlugin);

Core Concepts

Browser vs Node.js Differences

Concern	Browser	Node.js
UI plugins	Required (UniverUIPlugin, *-ui)	Omit all *-ui plugins
Render engine	UniverRenderEnginePlugin	Omit unless using chart/shape
RPC	UniverRPCMainThreadPlugin + Worker	UniverRPCNodeMainPlugin + fork()
Worker plugin	UniverRPCWorkerThreadPlugin	UniverRPCNodeWorkerPlugin
CSS imports	Required	Not needed
Theme	defaultTheme from @univerjs/themes	Not needed

Plugin Registration Order (Node.js)

1. UniverLicensePlugin (Pro only)
2. Engine plugins (UniverFormulaEnginePlugin / UniverProFormulaEnginePlugin)
3. RPC (UniverRPCNodeMainPlugin, if using worker)
4. Unit core (UniverSheetsPlugin, UniverDocsPlugin)
5. Feature plugins (UniverSheetsFormulaPlugin, UniverSheetsFilterPlugin, etc.)
6. Pro features (UniverSheetsPivotTablePlugin, etc.)

Node.js Facade Imports

Not all facade imports work in Node.js. Only import packages that do not depend on browser APIs:

// Safe in Node.js
import '@univerjs/core/facade';
import '@univerjs/sheets/facade';
import '@univerjs/engine-formula/facade';
import '@univerjs/sheets-formula/facade';
import '@univerjs/sheets-filter/facade';
import '@univerjs/sheets-numfmt/facade';
import '@univerjs/sheets-data-validation/facade';
import '@univerjs/sheets-conditional-formatting/facade';
import '@univerjs/sheets-hyper-link/facade';
import '@univerjs/sheets-thread-comment/facade';
import '@univerjs/sheets-drawing/facade';
import '@univerjs/sheets-sort/facade';
import '@univerjs/sheets-table/facade';
import '@univerjs/sheets-note/facade';

// Pro (safe in Node.js)
import '@univerjs-pro/sheets-pivot/facade';
import '@univerjs-pro/sheets-chart/facade';
import '@univerjs-pro/sheets-shape/facade';
import '@univerjs-pro/sheets-sparkline/facade';
import '@univerjs-pro/collaboration-client/facade';

// Unsafe in Node.js (depend on browser APIs)
// import '@univerjs/ui/facade';
// import '@univerjs/sheets-ui/facade';
// import '@univerjs/sheets-drawing-ui/facade';
// import '@univerjs/sheets-formula-ui/facade';

Common Tasks

Batch Report Generation

const workbook = univerAPI.createWorkbook({});
const sheet = workbook.getActiveSheet();

// Populate data from database
const rows = await db.query('SELECT * sales');
rows.forEach((row, i) => {
  sheet.getRange(i + 1, 0).setValue(row.date);
  sheet.getRange(i + 1, 1).setValue(row.amount);
});

// Add formula summary
const lastRow = rows.length;
sheet.getRange(lastRow + 1, 1).setValue({ f: `=SUM(B2:B${lastRow})` });

// Export snapshot
const snapshot = workbook.save();

Load and Modify Existing Workbook

const existingData = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync('input.json', 'utf8'));
const workbook = univerAPI.createWorkbook(existingData);
const sheet = workbook.getActiveSheet();

sheet.getRange('A1').setValue('Updated');
fs.writeFileSync('output.json', JSON.stringify(workbook.save()));

Server-Side Formula Calculation

// Without worker (simple workloads)
univer.registerPlugin(UniverFormulaEnginePlugin);

// With worker (heavy workloads)
univer.registerPlugin(UniverFormulaEnginePlugin, { notExecuteFormula: true });
univer.registerPlugin(UniverRPCNodeMainPlugin, { workerSrc: './worker.js' });

Register Custom Function on Server

const formulaEngine = univerAPI.getFormula();
formulaEngine.registerFunction(
  'DISCOUNT',
  (price, percent) => price * (1 - percent / 100),
  'Calculate price after discount'
);

Pro Node.js Integration

For using Univer Pro features (collaboration, pivot, chart, shape) in Node.js, see references/node-pro-integration.md.

References

• Node plugin registry: references/node-plugin-registry.md — complete plugin list for Node.js, registration order, worker configuration, and browser-only exclusions
• Node common tasks: references/node-common-tasks.md — batch processing, JSON import/export, formula calculation patterns, custom functions, event handling in headless mode
• Pro Node.js integration: references/node-pro-integration.md — Pro formula engine, collaboration client node, pivot/chart/shape in backend, license setup for server