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Show HN: A terminal spreadsheet editor with Vim keybindings

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Show HN: A terminal spreadsheet editor with Vim keybindings

#1

Post by garritfra »

While speccing out this spreadsheet tool, I realized that I never had to think about the keybindings. It all just came naturally from Vim. Normal/insert/visual modes, hjkl navigation, dd/yy/p, :w, :q. The usual muscle memory works.

It supports CSV/TSV import and export, and a native .cell format that preserves formulas. The formula engine handles SUM, AVERAGE, COUNT, MIN, MAX, and IF with range references.

The codebase is a Cargo workspace: a pure cell-sheet-core library (no TUI dependency) and a cell-sheet-tui crate on top of ratatui. Early days, but it's usable.

To try it out: cargo install cell-sheet-tui

Feedback of any kind is greatly appreciated!

Show HN: A terminal spreadsheet editor with Vim keybindings
github.com

Re: Show HN: A terminal spreadsheet editor with Vim keybindings

#3

Post by WillAdams »

Was initially hopeful that this would rather than have A..B..C... and 1..2..3... for columns and rows would instead have one creating categories à la Javelin/Lotus Improv/Quantrix/Flexisheet --- give me that, and have a dynamic system for displaying a pane of formulae and one would have a _very_ nice tool.

Re: Show HN: A terminal spreadsheet editor with Vim keybindings

#4

Post by marcyb5st »

Pretty cool project! Congrats.

QQ: does it support programmatic cell access/modifications?

Eg `cell file.cell --write A2 "42"` or `cell file.cell --read "=SUM(A1:A10)"`? Couldn't surmise that from the glimpse I gave the README, but it would be pretty cool for scripting stuff.

Re: Show HN: A terminal spreadsheet editor with Vim keybindings

#6

Post by garritfra »

marcyb5st wrote: post #4

Pretty cool project! Congrats. QQ: does it support programmatic cell access/modifications? Eg `cell file.cell --write A2 "42"` or `cell file.cell --read "=SUM(A1:A10)"`? Couldn't surmise that from the glimpse I gave the README, but it would be pretty cool for scripting stuff.

Love this idea! I created a GH issue for this: https://github.com/garritfra/cell/issues/6

I'll try to add this ASAP. :)

Re: Show HN: A terminal spreadsheet editor with Vim keybindings

#8

Post by garritfra »

WillAdams wrote: post #3

Was initially hopeful that this would rather than have A..B..C... and 1..2..3... for columns and rows would instead have one creating categories à la Javelin/Lotus Improv/Quantrix/Flexisheet --- give me that, and have a dynamic system for displaying a pane of formulae and one would have a _very_ nice tool.

Huh, I haven't thought about that yet, but I like it. I opened an issue to track this: https://github.com/garritfra/cell/issues/11

I'd have to look into the tools you mentioned to really understand all the details. Thanks!

Re: Show HN: A terminal spreadsheet editor with Vim keybindings

#9

Post by garritfra »

Theaetetus wrote: post #7

This is great. I often want a low-latency, minimal-feeling option for this sort of thing. (And I get to use my Vim muscle memory less and less often these days!) Really, thanks for making and sharing this; so far, I feel calm and happy when I'm using it.

Glad to hear that. Thanks for trying it out! If you have any feedback, I'd be more than happy to hear it.
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