What is excel-generator?

The Excel Generator skill enables the automated creation of professional, multi-sheet Excel workbooks featuring complex formulas, dynamic charts, and custom formatting. It streamlines data-driven workflows by transforming natural language prompts or raw data into structured, presentation-ready spreadsheets optimized for financial analysis and business reporting.

When should I use excel-generator?

excel-generator is useful in the following scenarios: • Financial Reporting: Automatically generate comprehensive workbooks for P&L statements, balance sheets, and cash flow reports with integrated formulas for real-time calculations. • Data Visualization & Dashboards: Create visual KPI dashboards using line charts, bar graphs, and pivot tables to track performance metrics and business trends. • Budget Planning & Forecasting: Develop detailed budget spreadsheets with conditional logic, variance analysis, and automated totals to simplify financial planning. • Structured Data Presentation: Convert complex JSON or CSV datasets into formatted Excel files, making technical data accessible and shareable for non-technical stakeholders.

name	excel-generator
description	Generate Excel workbooks with formulas, charts, and formatting. Use for financial reports, data analysis, dashboards, and structured data presentation.
allowed-tools	read, write, memory
version	1.0
error_handling	graceful
streaming	supported

Excel Generator Skill

Identity

Excel Generator - Creates professional Excel workbooks with formulas, charts, and formatting using Claude's built-in xlsx skill.

Capabilities

Workbook Creation: Generate multi-sheet Excel workbooks
Formulas and Calculations: Include complex formulas and calculations
Charts and Visualizations: Create charts and graphs
Formatting: Apply professional formatting and styling
Data Analysis: Generate pivot tables and analysis sheets

Usage

Basic Excel Generation

When to Use:

Financial reports and analysis
Data dashboards
Budget planning
Performance metrics
Structured data presentation

How to Invoke:

"Generate an Excel workbook with Q4 financial data"
"Create a budget spreadsheet with formulas"
"Generate a data analysis dashboard in Excel"

What It Does:

Uses Claude's built-in xlsx skill (skill_id: xlsx)
Creates Excel workbooks with multiple sheets
Includes formulas, charts, and formatting
Returns file_id for download

Advanced Features

Multi-Sheet Workbooks:

Create 2-3 sheets per workbook (optimal performance)
Each sheet focused on specific purpose
Link data between sheets

Formulas and Calculations:

Complex financial formulas
Statistical calculations
Data aggregations
Conditional logic

Charts and Visualizations:

Line charts for trends
Bar charts for comparisons
Pie charts for distributions
Scatter plots for correlations

Best Practices

Workbook Structure

Recommended Approach:

2-3 sheets per workbook - Works reliably and generates quickly
Focus each sheet on a specific purpose (e.g., P&L, metrics, charts)
Add complexity incrementally - Start simple, then enhance

For Complex Dashboards:

Create multiple focused files instead of one complex file
- Example: financial_pnl.xlsx, balance_sheet.xlsx, kpi_dashboard.xlsx
Use the pipeline pattern to create and enhance files sequentially
Combine files programmatically using pandas or openpyxl if needed

Performance Tips

Simple 2-sheet dashboards: ~1-2 minutes
Structured data (JSON/CSV): More efficient than prose
Batch operations: Process multiple files in a single conversation
Cache reuse: Use container IDs to reuse loaded skills

Integration

With Artifact Publisher

Excel files can be published as artifacts:

Save to .claude/context/artifacts/
Include in artifact manifests
Reference in workflow outputs

With Workflows

Excel generation integrates with workflows:

Financial reporting workflows
Data analysis workflows
Dashboard generation workflows

Examples

Example 1: Financial Report

User: "Generate a Q4 financial report in Excel"

Excel Generator:
1. Creates workbook with 3 sheets:
   - P&L Statement
   - Balance Sheet
   - Cash Flow
2. Includes formulas for calculations
3. Adds charts for visualization
4. Applies professional formatting
5. Returns file_id for download

Example 2: Data Dashboard

User: "Create a KPI dashboard in Excel"

Excel Generator:
1. Creates workbook with 2 sheets:
   - Metrics Summary
   - Trend Analysis
2. Includes pivot tables
3. Adds charts for key metrics
4. Formats for presentation

Example 3: Budget Planning

User: "Generate a budget spreadsheet with formulas"

Excel Generator:
1. Creates budget workbook
2. Includes formulas for totals and variances
3. Adds conditional formatting
4. Creates summary charts

Technical Details

API Usage

Uses Claude's beta Skills API:

response = client.beta.messages.create(
    model="claude-sonnet-4-5",
    container={"type": "skills", "skills": [{"type": "anthropic", "skill_id": "xlsx", "version": "latest"}]},
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Create Excel workbook..."}]
)

File Download

Files are returned as file_id:

file_id = response.content[0].file_id
file_content = client.beta.files.content(file_id)

Related Skills

powerpoint-generator: Create presentations from Excel data
pdf-generator: Convert Excel to PDF
artifact-publisher: Publish Excel files as artifacts

excel-generator

When & Why to Use This Skill

Use Cases