cli-anything-libreoffice

A stateful command-line interface for document editing, producing real ODF files (ZIP archives with XML). Designed for AI agents and power users who need to create and manipulate Writer, Calc, and Impress documents without a GUI or LibreOffice installation.

Installation

This CLI is installed as part of the cli-anything-libreoffice package:

pip install cli-anything-libreoffice

Prerequisites:

• Python 3.10+
• libreoffice must be installed on your system

Usage

Basic Commands

# Show help
cli-anything-libreoffice --help

# Start interactive REPL mode
cli-anything-libreoffice

# Create a new project
cli-anything-libreoffice project new -o project.json

# Run with JSON output (for agent consumption)
cli-anything-libreoffice --json project info -p project.json

REPL Mode

When invoked without a subcommand, the CLI enters an interactive REPL session:

cli-anything-libreoffice
# Enter commands interactively with tab-completion and history

Command Groups

Document

Document management commands.

Command	Description
new	Create a new document
open	Open project JSON, or import an existing Office/ODF file
import	Import an existing Office/ODF file to project JSON
import-formats	List supported import formats
save	Save the current document
info	Show document information
profiles	List available page profiles
json	Print raw project JSON

Writer

Writer (word processor) commands.

Command	Description
add-paragraph	Add a paragraph to the document
add-heading	Add a heading to the document
add-list	Add a list to the document
add-table	Add a table to the document
add-page-break	Add a page break
remove	Remove a content item by index
list	List all content items
set-text	Set the text of a content item

Calc

Calc (spreadsheet) commands.

Command	Description
add-sheet	Add a new sheet
remove-sheet	Remove a sheet by index
rename-sheet	Rename a sheet
set-cell	Set a cell value
get-cell	Get a cell value
list-sheets	List all sheets

Impress

Impress (presentation) commands.

Command	Description
add-slide	Add a slide to the presentation
remove-slide	Remove a slide by index
set-content	Update a slide's title and/or content
list-slides	List all slides
add-element	Add an element to a slide

Style Group

Style management commands.

Command	Description
create	Create a new style
modify	Modify an existing style
list	List all styles
apply	Apply a style to a content item (Writer only)
remove	Remove a style

Export Group

Export/render commands.

Command	Description
presets	List export presets
preset-info	Show preset details
render	Export the document to a file

Session

Session management commands.

Command	Description
status	Show session status
undo	Undo the last operation
redo	Redo the last undone operation
history	Show undo history

Examples

Create a New Project

Create a new libreoffice project file.

cli-anything-libreoffice project new -o myproject.json
# Or with JSON output for programmatic use
cli-anything-libreoffice --json project new -o myproject.json

Interactive REPL Session

Start an interactive session with undo/redo support.

cli-anything-libreoffice
# Enter commands interactively
# Use 'help' to see available commands
# Use 'undo' and 'redo' for history navigation

Export Project

Export the project to a final output format.

cli-anything-libreoffice --project myproject.json export render output.pdf --overwrite

State Management

The CLI maintains session state with:

• Undo/Redo: Up to 50 levels of history
• Project persistence: Save/load project state as JSON
• Existing file import: Convert ODF/DOCX/XLSX/PPTX and related formats into editable project JSON
• Session tracking: Track modifications and changes

Output Formats

All commands support dual output modes:

• Human-readable (default): Tables, colors, formatted text
• Machine-readable (--json flag): Structured JSON for agent consumption

# Human output
cli-anything-libreoffice project info -p project.json

# JSON output for agents
cli-anything-libreoffice --json project info -p project.json

For AI Agents

When using this CLI programmatically:

1. Always use --json flag for parseable output
2. Check return codes - 0 for success, non-zero for errors
3. Parse stderr for error messages on failure
4. Use absolute paths for all file operations
5. Import existing Office files to JSON first with document import input.docx -o work.json
6. Verify outputs exist after export operations

More Information

• Full documentation: See README.md in the package
• Test coverage: See TEST.md in the package
• Methodology: See HARNESS.md in the cli-anything-plugin

Version

1.0.0