Univer

// Overview

Univer is an open-source SDK for building office applications inside your own product. Its maintainers call it "The Office Harness for AI Agents": one runtime that holds spreadsheets, documents, slides, boards (a canvas for diagrams and mind maps) and bases (structured tables with grid, kanban, calendar and Gantt views). Rendering is canvas-based, so large and complex workbooks stay responsive in the browser.

The same architecture runs in two places. In the browser it draws the editors; in Node.js it runs headless, so a server can open, calculate and change a workbook with the same code. A unified Facade API sits on top of both, and every change goes through commands, which is what gives Univer undo/redo and collaborative editing. Features come as plugins you can compose, replace or lazy-load, or as ready-made presets.

The agent side is the AI SDK, a TypeScript toolkit for building Office command-line tools. It lets an agent load and edit documents, convert between Office files and Univer's own format, check its work through screenshots and layout diagnostics, and make changes in an isolated Worktree that a human reviews before they land. Separate projects add an MCP server (dream-num/univer-mcp) and reusable agent skills (dream-num/univer-sdk-skills). The open-source repository covers the core editors under Apache-2.0; Univer Pro adds features such as real-time collaboration, import/export, charts and pivot tables.

// What it does

• One SDK for Sheets, Docs, Slides, Boards and Bases, with shared plugin and command systems
• Canvas-based rendering that keeps large, formula-heavy workbooks responsive
• A headless Node.js runtime and a Facade API that work the same in the browser and on the server
• A formula engine with 3D references, plus embedded documents — a spreadsheet inside a doc keeps its live cells and formulas
• An AI SDK for agents: load and edit documents, convert Office files, verify output with screenshots and layout diagnostics, and stage edits in a Worktree for human review
• An MCP server (univer-mcp) and agent skills (univer-sdk-skills) as companion projects
• Import and export for XLS/XLSX, DOC/DOCX and PPT/PPTX, plus CSV/TSV for spreadsheets
• Touch-friendly mobile interfaces across Sheets, Docs, Slides, Boards and Bases

// Getting started

The quickest start is the online StackBlitz playground linked from the docs. To add Univer to your own app, install a preset (a curated bundle of plugins) or pick plugins one by one.

pnpm add @univerjs/presets @univerjs/preset-sheets-core

pnpm add @univerjs/core @univerjs/design @univerjs/docs @univerjs/docs-ui @univerjs/engine-formula @univerjs/engine-render @univerjs/sheets @univerjs/sheets-formula @univerjs/sheets-formula-ui @univerjs/sheets-numfmt @univerjs/sheets-numfmt-ui @univerjs/sheets-ui @univerjs/ui

git clone https://github.com/dream-num/univer.git
cd univer
pnpm install
pnpm dev

Commands and code are distilled from the project's own documentation — always check the official repo for the latest.

// When to use it

• Embed spreadsheet or document editing in a SaaS product, internal tool or AI app instead of sending users to a separate office suite
• Let an agent build or update a real workbook, then check the result with screenshots before a person reviews it
• Process workbooks on a server with the same engine and formulas the browser uses
• Build an interactive dashboard whose charts and controls are bound to live spreadsheet cells

// How Univer compares

Univer alongside other open-source office documents & spreadsheets tools AI/TLDR tracks, ranked by GitHub stars.