cell-sheet-tui 0.5.0

A terminal spreadsheet editor with Vim-like keybindings
cell-sheet-tui-0.5.0 is not a library.

cell

A terminal spreadsheet editor with Vim keybindings, written in Rust.

cell screenshot

Install

From crates.io:

cargo install cell-sheet-tui

Pre-built binaries for Linux, macOS, and Windows are available on the GitHub Releases page.

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/garritfra/cell.git
cd cell
cargo build --release
# Binary at target/release/cell

Usage

cell                          # empty sheet
cell data.csv                 # open CSV
cell data.tsv                 # open TSV
cell sheet.cell               # open native format
cell data.psv --delimiter '|' # open with a custom field delimiter
cat data.csv | cell           # read from stdin (pipe input)

To explore an example sheet with formulas, ranges, and IF logic:

cell examples/demo.cell

The CSV/TSV delimiter is auto-detected from file content; pass --delimiter to override. The native .cell format is auto-detected via its # cell v magic header.

Headless mode

For shell pipelines, Makefiles, and CI, cell can read from and write to a file without launching the TUI:

cell sales.cell --read A1                 # print one cell's computed value
cell sales.cell --read B1:B10             # print a range as TSV
cell sales.cell --eval '=SUM(B1:B10)'     # evaluate a formula (no save)
cell sales.cell --write A1 42             # set a cell, recalc, save in place
cell sales.cell --write A1 42 --write B1 7 # batch multiple writes into one save
cell sales.cell --write Total '=SUM(B:B)' --read Total  # write a formula, then print it
cat data.csv | cell --read A1             # read from stdin
cell data.psv --delimiter '|' --read A1   # custom delimiter
  • Cell references are 1-indexed and Excel-style (A1, AA10, A1:B3).
  • The = prefix on --eval is optional.
  • Writes whose value starts with = are stored as formulas; others are auto-typed (number vs text).
  • Operations apply in a fixed order per invocation: writes → save → reads → evals.
  • Errors print to stderr; the process exits non-zero on bad refs, parse errors, or missing files.
  • Stdin input supports CSV, TSV, and the native .cell format. The delimiter is auto-detected; pass --delimiter to override (CSV/TSV only). --write requires a file argument when reading from stdin.

Keybindings

If you know Vim, you know cell.

All motions and operators accept a [count] prefix (5j, 10G, 3dd, 4yy, 2w). Counts also work between an operator and its motion (d3j, y2k); outer and inner counts multiply (5d2j clears 10 rows). The in-progress count and operator render in the status line as you type.

Normal Mode

Motion

Key Action
h j k l Move cursor (one cell)
gg First row (or row N with [count]gg)
G Last row (or row N with [count]G)
0 First column
$ Last column
w / b Next / previous non-empty cell in row
Ctrl-D / Ctrl-U Half-page down / up
Ctrl-F / Ctrl-B Full page down / up
{ / } Previous / next block boundary in column
H / M / L Cursor to top / middle / bottom of viewport
zz / zt / zb Recenter / scroll-to-top / scroll-to-bottom around cursor
Ctrl-e / Ctrl-y Scroll viewport one row without moving cursor
Ctrl-o / Ctrl-i (or Tab) Jump back / forward in jump list

Marks

Key Action
m{a-z} Set mark at cursor
'{a-z} Jump to marked row (column 0)
`{a-z} Jump to exact marked cell

Editing

Key Action
i / a / Enter Edit cell (Insert mode)
x Clear cell
dd Delete row ([count]dd for N rows)
d{motion} Clear cells along motion (dj, d3l, dh, dk)
yy Yank row ([count]yy for N rows)
y{motion} Yank cells along motion (yj, y3l, yh, yk)
p / P Paste below / above
Ctrl-A / Ctrl-X Increment / decrement number in cell ([count] accepted)
~ Toggle case of first character, advance cursor
guu / gUU Lowercase / uppercase entire cell
g~~ Toggle case of every character in cell
. Repeat last change
u Undo
Ctrl-R Redo

Selection & search

Key Action
v Visual selection
V Visual line (full-row) selection
Ctrl-V Visual block selection
gv Re-enter previous visual selection
/ / ? Search forward / backward (incremental)
n / N Next / previous match
* / # Search for current cell's value forward / backward
f<char> / F<char> Jump to next / prev cell in row starting with <char>
; / , Repeat last f/F (same / reversed direction)
: Command mode

Insert Mode

Type to edit the cell. ESC or Enter confirms. Arrow keys, Home, End, Backspace, and Delete work as expected within the cell.

Visual Mode

Extend the selection with hjkl (or [count]j etc.), then:

Key Action
y Yank selection
d Delete selection
c Change selection (clear and enter Insert mode)
u / U / ~ Lowercase / uppercase / toggle case of selection (formula cells skipped)
Esc Cancel selection

Commands

Command Action
:w Save
:w file.csv Save as CSV
:w file.cell Save as native format
:w! Force save (flatten formulas, override warnings)
:q Quit
:q! Quit without saving
:wq Save and quit
:e file Open file
:sort A asc Sort by column A ascending
:sort B desc Sort by column B descending
:set delimiter=| Change CSV/TSV delimiter for the next save
:help / :help <topic> Open the in-app help screen / jump to a topic

In the : prompt, ↑ / ↓ cycle through previously executed commands.

Mouse support

Mouse support is off by default so the terminal's native text selection keeps working. Enable it at runtime with :set mouse on, disable it with :set mouse off, or flip the current state with :set mouse toggle.

When enabled:

  • Left-click on a cell moves the cursor.
  • Click + drag inside the grid selects a Visual range.
  • Click + drag on a column header selects whole columns.
  • Click + drag on a row header selects whole rows.
  • Scroll wheel scrolls the viewport (cursor stays put). Horizontal scroll works when the terminal emits ScrollLeft / ScrollRight (commonly bound to Shift + wheel).
  • Double-click a cell to enter Insert mode on it.
  • Drag past the visible edge auto-scrolls the viewport.

To copy a cell value out to your system clipboard while mouse mode is on, hold your terminal's bypass modifier when clicking and dragging:

Terminal Bypass
Linux terminals (gnome-terminal, alacritty, kitty, …) Shift
Windows Terminal Shift
macOS Terminal.app, iTerm2 Option/Alt
tmux / screen configure per their docs

Formulas

Formulas start with = and support Excel-compatible syntax:

=A1+B1
=SUM(A1:A10)
=AVERAGE(B1:B5)
=IF(A1>100, "high", "low")

Supported Functions (v1)

SUM, AVERAGE, COUNT, MIN, MAX, IF

Formula compliance with the ODF (OpenDocument Formula) spec is tracked and will expand over time.

File Formats

  • CSV/TSV -- Opens and saves standard comma/tab-separated files. Formulas are flattened to their computed values on CSV export.
  • **.cell** -- Native format that preserves formulas. Plain text, human-readable, inspired by sc-im.

When saving a CSV that contains formulas, cell warns you and suggests saving as .cell instead. Use :w! to force a CSV save.

Comparison with sc-im

sc-im is a battle-tested terminal spreadsheet built on the classic sc (Spreadsheet Calculator, 1981). It inspired cell's native .cell format. Here's how the two tools compare:

cell sc-im
Language / TUI Rust + ratatui C + ncurses
Editing model True Vim modal editing (i → Insert, ESC → Normal) Vim-inspired navigation; = to enter a value, e/E to edit
Formula syntax Excel-compatible (=SUM(A1:A10), =IF(...)) @-prefix style (@sum(A1:A10), @avg(...))
Built-in functions SUM, AVERAGE, COUNT, MIN, MAX, IF Extensive (@sum, @avg, @min, @max, @abs, @sqrt, ...)
File formats CSV, TSV, .cell CSV, TSV, XLSX/XLS/ODS import, Markdown export, .sc
Cell formatting not yet Bold, italic, underline, RGB colors
Scripting Headless CLI mode (--read / --write / --eval, stdin pipe) Lua scripting, external C modules, non-interactive mode
Charting not yet GNUPlot integration
Windows support ✓ (pre-built binaries) Limited
Clipboard Built-in Requires tmux / xclip / pbpaste
Config file not yet ~/.config/sc-im/scimrc

Choose cell if…

  • You want editing that works exactly like Vim (i to insert, ESC to return, / to search)
  • You prefer Excel-compatible formula syntax (=SUM, =IF, =AVERAGE)
  • You need a working binary on Windows without extra setup
  • You value a modern, memory-safe codebase with minimal dependencies

Choose sc-im if…

  • You need XLSX, ODS, or Markdown support right now
  • You need Lua scripting or GNUPlot charting right now
  • You need cell-level formatting (colors, bold, italic) right now
  • You want a highly configurable, feature-rich tool with decades of history behind it

Architecture

cell/
  crates/
    cell-sheet-core/    # Data model, formula engine, file I/O (no TUI dependency)
    cell-sheet-tui/     # Ratatui rendering, Vim modes, event loop

The core library is independent of the terminal UI and can be tested without a terminal.

Releasing

Releases are automated with release-plz from the release workflow:

  • Pushes to main open or update a release PR with the next version and changelog updates.
  • Merging the release PR publishes cell-sheet-core and cell-sheet-tui to crates.io via trusted publishing, creates the vX.Y.Z tag, and creates a draft GitHub Release.
  • The vX.Y.Z tag then builds binaries for Linux (x86_64, aarch64), macOS (x86_64, aarch64), and Windows (x86_64), uploads archives and SHA256 checksums, and publishes the GitHub Release.

See RELEASE.md for maintainer instructions and failure handling.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md for the development setup, project conventions, and pull request workflow.

License

MIT