Sheets Terminal Spreadsheet

Skill by ara.so — Daily 2026 Skills collection.

Sheets is a terminal-based spreadsheet TUI (Terminal User Interface) for viewing and editing CSV files directly in your terminal. It features vim-style navigation, formula support, visual selection, search, undo/redo, and a command mode — all without leaving the terminal.

Installation

Using Go

bash

go install github.com/maaslalani/sheets@main

Download Binary

Download a prebuilt binary from GitHub Releases.

Verify Installation

bash

sheets --help

CLI Usage

Launch the TUI

bash

sheets budget.csv

Read from stdin

bash

sheets <<< "ID,Name,Age
1,Alice,24
2,Bob,32
3,Charlie,26"

Or pipe from another command:

bash

cat data.csv | sheets

Read a Specific Cell

bash

sheets budget.csv B9
# Output: 2760

Read a Cell Range

bash

sheets budget.csv B1:B3
# Output:
# 1200
# 950
# 810

Modify Cells (Non-Interactive)

bash

# Set one cell
sheets budget.csv B7=10

# Set multiple cells
sheets budget.csv B7=10 B8=20

Navigation Keybindings

Basic Movement

Key	Action
`h` , `j` , `k` , `l`	Move left, down, up, right
`gg`	Jump to top
`G`	Jump to bottom
`5G`	Jump to row 5
`gB9`	Jump to cell B9
`0`	Jump to first column
`^`	Jump to first non-empty column in row
`$`	Jump to last non-empty column in row
`H` / `M` / `L`	Jump to top / middle / bottom visible row
`ctrl+u` / `ctrl+d`	Move half page up / down

View Alignment

Key	Action
`zt`	Align current row to top of window
`zz`	Align current row to middle of window
`zb`	Align current row to bottom of window

Search

Key	Action
`/`	Search forward
`?`	Search backward
`n`	Repeat last search (forward)
`N`	Repeat last search (backward)

Marks & Jump List

Key	Action
`ma`	Set mark `a` at current cell
`'a`	Jump to mark `a`
`ctrl+o`	Move backward through jump list
`ctrl+i`	Move forward through jump list

Editing Keybindings

Insert Mode

Key	Action
`i`	Edit current cell
`I`	Edit from start of cell
`c`	Clear cell and start editing
`ESC`	Leave insert / visual / command mode
`enter`	Commit and move down
`tab`	Commit and move right
`shift+tab`	Commit and move left
`ctrl+n`	Commit and move down
`ctrl+p`	Commit and move up

Row Operations

Key	Action
`o`	Insert row below and start editing
`O`	Insert row above and start editing
`dd`	Delete current row

Copy / Cut / Paste

Key	Action
`y`	Yank (copy) current cell
`yy`	Yank current row(s)
`x`	Cut current cell or selection
`p`	Paste current register

Undo / Redo

Key	Action
`u`	Undo
`ctrl+r`	Redo
`U`	Undo all changes
`.`	Repeat last change

Visual Mode

Enter visual mode with

(cell selection) or

(row selection).

Key	Action
`v`	Start visual cell selection
`V`	Start visual row selection
`=`	Insert formula after selected range (e.g., `=\|(B1:B8)` )

Command Mode

Press

to open the command prompt.

Command	Action
`:w`	Save file
`:w path.csv`	Save to a new file
`:e path.csv`	Open another CSV file
`:q`	Quit
`:wq`	Save and quit
`:goto B9`	Jump to cell B9
`:B9`	Jump to cell B9 (shorthand)

Common Patterns

Create a New CSV and Edit It

bash

# Create a CSV with headers
echo "Name,Amount,Category" > budget.csv
sheets budget.csv

Pipe CSV Data and Edit

bash

# Generate CSV from a database query and edit in sheets
psql -c "COPY (SELECT * FROM sales) TO STDOUT WITH CSV HEADER" | sheets

Script: Update a Cell Programmatically

bash

#!/bin/bash
# Update Q4 value in financial report
sheets report.csv D4=95000 D5=102000 D6=88000
echo "Updated Q4 values in report.csv"

Script: Extract a Range for Processing

bash

#!/bin/bash
# Extract column B rows 1-10 and sum them in bash
values=$(sheets data.csv B1:B10)
total=0
while IFS= read -r line; do
    total=$((total + line))
done <<< "$values"
echo "Total: $total"

Script: Read a Specific Cell in a Shell Script

bash

#!/bin/bash
# Get current budget total from spreadsheet
budget_total=$(sheets budget.csv C15)
if [ "$budget_total" -gt 10000 ]; then
    echo "Budget exceeded!"
fi

Go Integration Example

If building a Go application that generates CSV for use with sheets:

package main

import (
    "encoding/csv"
    "fmt"
    "os"
    "os/exec"
)

func createAndOpenSpreadsheet(data [][]string, filename string) error {
    // Write CSV data
    f, err := os.Create(filename)
    if err != nil {
        return fmt.Errorf("creating file: %w", err)
    }
    defer f.Close()

    w := csv.NewWriter(f)
    if err := w.WriteAll(data); err != nil {
        return fmt.Errorf("writing CSV: %w", err)
    }
    w.Flush()

    // Open in sheets TUI
    cmd := exec.Command("sheets", filename)
    cmd.Stdin = os.Stdin
    cmd.Stdout = os.Stdout
    cmd.Stderr = os.Stderr
    return cmd.Run()
}

func main() {
    data := [][]string{
        {"Month", "Revenue", "Expenses", "Profit"},
        {"January", "12000", "8500", "3500"},
        {"February", "13500", "9200", "4300"},
        {"March", "11800", "8900", "2900"},
    }

    if err := createAndOpenSpreadsheet(data, "monthly_report.csv"); err != nil {
        fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Error: %v\n", err)
        os.Exit(1)
    }
}

Go: Read a Cell Non-Interactively

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "os/exec"
    "strings"
)

func readCell(csvFile, cell string) (string, error) {
    out, err := exec.Command("sheets", csvFile, cell).Output()
    if err != nil {
        return "", fmt.Errorf("reading cell %s: %w", cell, err)
    }
    return strings.TrimSpace(string(out)), nil
}

func readRange(csvFile, cellRange string) ([]string, error) {
    out, err := exec.Command("sheets", csvFile, cellRange).Output()
    if err != nil {
        return nil, fmt.Errorf("reading range %s: %w", cellRange, err)
    }
    lines := strings.Split(strings.TrimSpace(string(out)), "\n")
    return lines, nil
}

func main() {
    total, err := readCell("budget.csv", "B9")
    if err != nil {
        fmt.Println("Error:", err)
        return
    }
    fmt.Println("Budget total:", total)

    values, err := readRange("budget.csv", "B1:B6")
    if err != nil {
        fmt.Println("Error:", err)
        return
    }
    fmt.Println("Monthly values:", values)
}

Tips for AI Agents

Suggesting Sheets for CSV Tasks

When a user wants to view or edit CSV files in the terminal, suggest sheets:

bash

# Instead of cat data.csv
sheets data.csv

# Instead of awk/sed edits for simple changes
sheets data.csv B3=new_value

Formula Insertion Workflow

Navigate to the column where you want the formula
Enter visual mode with
```
v
```
Select the range (e.g., B1:B8)
Press
```
=
```
to insert formula after the selection:
```
=|(B1:B8)
```

Efficient Navigation (Vim Users)

Sheets uses vim-style navigation — users familiar with vim can be productive immediately:

```
gg
```
/
```
G
```
for top/bottom
```
hjkl
```
for movement
```
i
```
/
```
c
```
for insert modes
```
dd
```
to delete rows
```
u
```
/
```
ctrl+r
```
for undo/redo
```
/
```
for search

Troubleshooting

sheets

command not found

bash

# Ensure Go bin directory is in PATH
export PATH=$PATH:$(go env GOPATH)/bin

# Or install again and verify
go install github.com/maaslalani/sheets@main
which sheets

File Not Saved After Editing

Use

:w

in command mode to save, or

:wq

to save and quit. Just pressing

ctrl+c

quits without saving.

TUI Rendering Issues

Sheets relies on terminal capabilities. If the display looks broken:

Ensure your terminal supports 256 colors or truecolor
Try a different terminal emulator (iTerm2, Alacritty, Ghostty, WezTerm)
Check
```
TERM
```
environment variable:
```
echo $TERM
```

Reading Non-CSV Files

Sheets is designed for CSV format. Convert other formats first:

bash

# Excel to CSV (using Python)
python3 -c "import pandas as pd; pd.read_excel('data.xlsx').to_csv('data.csv', index=False)"
sheets data.csv

Large Files Performance

For very large CSV files, navigate directly to specific cells rather than scrolling:

:goto A1000

or press

5G

to jump to row 5 directly.

sheets-terminal-spreadsheet

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

Sheets Terminal Spreadsheet

Installation

Using Go

Download Binary

Verify Installation

CLI Usage

Launch the TUI

Read from stdin

Read a Specific Cell

Read a Cell Range

Modify Cells (Non-Interactive)

Navigation Keybindings

Basic Movement

View Alignment

Search

Marks & Jump List

Editing Keybindings

Insert Mode

Row Operations

Copy / Cut / Paste

Undo / Redo

Visual Mode

Command Mode

Common Patterns

Create a New CSV and Edit It

Pipe CSV Data and Edit

Script: Update a Cell Programmatically

Script: Extract a Range for Processing

Script: Read a Specific Cell in a Shell Script

Go Integration Example

Go: Read a Cell Non-Interactively

Tips for AI Agents

Suggesting Sheets for CSV Tasks

Formula Insertion Workflow

Efficient Navigation (Vim Users)

Troubleshooting

sheets command not found

File Not Saved After Editing

TUI Rendering Issues

Reading Non-CSV Files

Large Files Performance

`sheets`
command not found