Xlcat

xlcat — Excel File Viewer

View and analyze Excel files at the command line. Outputs structured, LLM-friendly markdown.

Quick Reference

# Overview: metadata + schema + first/last 25 rows
xlcat file.xlsx

# Column names and types only
xlcat file.xlsx --schema

# Summary statistics per column
xlcat file.xlsx --describe

# View a specific sheet (name or 0-based index)
xlcat file.xlsx --sheet Revenue
xlcat file.xlsx --sheet 0

# First N rows
xlcat file.xlsx --head 10

# Last N rows
xlcat file.xlsx --tail 10

# First N + last M rows
xlcat file.xlsx --head 10 --tail 5

# All rows (overrides size limit)
xlcat file.xlsx --all

# Raw CSV output for piping
xlcat file.xlsx --csv

# Override large-file threshold (default 1MB)
xlcat file.xlsx --max-size 5M

Default Behavior

• Single sheet, 50 rows: shows first 25 + last 25 rows
• Multiple sheets: lists all sheets with schemas, no data (use --sheet to pick one)
• Large file (>1MB): shows schema + first 25 rows only

Flags

| Flag | Purpose | |-------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------| | --schema | Column names and types only | | --describe | Summary statistics (count, mean, std, min, max, median, unique) | | --head N | First N rows | | --tail N | Last N rows | | --all | All rows (overrides large-file gate) | | --sheet | Select sheet by name or 0-based index | | --max-size | Large-file threshold (default: 1M). Accepts: 500K, 1M, 10M, 1G | | --csv | Output as CSV instead of markdown |

Exit Codes

| Code | Meaning | |------|-----------------------------------------| | 0 | Success | | 1 | Runtime error (file not found, corrupt) | | 2 | Invalid arguments |

Workflow

1. Start with xlcat to get the overview
2. For multi-sheet files, pick a sheet with --sheet
3. Use --describe for statistical analysis
4. Use --head/--tail to zoom into specific regions
5. Use --csv when you need to pipe data to other tools

Modes Are Mutually Exclusive

--schema, --describe, and data mode (default) cannot be combined. Row selection flags (--head, --tail, --all) only work in data mode.

How to Use This Skill

When the user wants to examine an Excel file:

1. Run xlcat to see the overview (sheets, schema, sample data)
2. If multi-sheet, ask which sheet interests them or use --sheet
3. For data analysis questions, use --describe for statistics
4. For specific rows, use --head N / --tail N
5. If the user needs the data for further processing, use --csv

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: LouLouLibs
• Source: LouLouLibs/claude-skills
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.