https://github.com/gleanwork/sl-glean-microsoft-excel-addin
Excel Add-In for Microsoft Word, powered by Glean.
https://github.com/gleanwork/sl-glean-microsoft-excel-addin
Last synced: 15 days ago
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Excel Add-In for Microsoft Word, powered by Glean.
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/gleanwork/sl-glean-microsoft-excel-addin
- Owner: gleanwork
- License: mit
- Created: 2026-05-18T16:45:23.000Z (about 2 months ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2026-05-28T20:57:32.000Z (about 1 month ago)
- Last Synced: 2026-05-28T22:21:04.800Z (about 1 month ago)
- Language: TypeScript
- Size: 2.72 MB
- Stars: 0
- Watchers: 0
- Forks: 0
- Open Issues: 0
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- Contributing: CONTRIBUTING.md
- License: LICENSE
- Code of conduct: CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
- Codeowners: .github/CODEOWNERS
- Security: SECURITY.md
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README
# Glean in Excel
Glean in Excel is a customer-deployable Microsoft Excel taskpane add-in. It lets users sign in with Glean OAuth, ask questions about selected workbook data, answer Glean clarification questions, and optionally let Glean make reviewed or auto-applied workbook updates.
This reference is a general Excel-aware assistant. It does not require customer-created Glean agents for the core experience.
## Screenshots
### Sign in
### Instructions & Clarifying Questions
### Example Result
## Features
- Glean OAuth Authorization Code + PKCE.
- Dynamic Client Registration by default; static OAuth client fallback.
- Excel selected-range context and capped workbook fallback previews.
- Context transparency with preview tables and cap notices.
- Glean Chat API with persistent `chatId` context and `New chat` reset.
- Long-running chat support through API Gateway REST response streaming.
- Structured Glean clarification questions via `ARTIFACT_USER_QUESTIONS`.
- Follow-up prompt chips when Glean returns `followUpPrompts`.
- Edit mode control: `Ask before edits` or `Auto-apply edits`.
- Preview-before-write for workbook updates.
- Microsoft 365 sideloading and centralized deployment-ready manifest generation.
## Architecture
```mermaid
graph LR
Excel["Excel Taskpane"] -->|"static assets"| CloudFront["CloudFront + S3"]
Excel -->|"OAuth helpers"| HttpApi["API Gateway HTTP API"]
Excel -->|"streaming chat"| RestApi["API Gateway REST API"]
HttpApi -->|"config and OAuth"| Lambdas["Lambda Proxies"]
RestApi -->|"SSE stream"| ChatLambda["Chat Stream Lambda"]
Lambdas -->|"DCR cache"| Dynamo["DynamoDB Config"]
ChatLambda -->|"Chat API"| GleanChat["Glean Chat API"]
Excel -->|"OAuth"| GleanOAuth["Glean OAuth"]
```
The taskpane is hosted from a private S3 bucket through CloudFront. Most `/api/*` routes use API Gateway HTTP API and Lambda. `/api/chat` is routed separately to a Regional REST API with Lambda response streaming so long-running Glean answers can stay responsive without the 30-second HTTP API cap.
## Workbook Context
The add-in does not send the entire workbook by default.
- If the selected range has visible content, Glean receives a capped preview of the selected range.
- If the selection appears empty and workbook fallback is enabled, Glean receives a capped preview of used ranges across the workbook.
- The selected range preview is capped at `25 x 15`.
- Workbook fallback is capped at `25 x 15` per sheet across up to 8 sheets.
- Total context text is capped at 25,000 characters.
- The UI shows when context is capped so users can select a smaller range when needed.
## Glean Clarifying Questions
Glean can return structured clarification prompts as `ARTIFACT_USER_QUESTIONS` messages. The add-in renders these as question cards with single-select or multi-select options and sends answers back through `artifactInfo.action.clarifyingQuestionResponses` on the same `chatId`.
This flow is isolated in `src/services/chat.ts` because it is legacy `/rest/api/v1/chat` artifact semantics.
## Local Development
### UI-only local dev
Use this for fast taskpane UI iteration in a browser. It does not exercise Excel APIs or the AWS proxy routes.
```bash
npm install
npm run dev
```
Open `https://127.0.0.1:3000/taskpane.html`.
### Excel sideload dev
To test Office.js behavior, load the add-in inside Excel. Office add-ins require HTTPS, so install trusted dev certificates first.
```bash
npm run dev-certs
DOMAIN_NAME=localhost:3000 GLEAN_INSTANCE=your-instance node deployment/scripts/generate-manifest.mjs
npm run sideload
```
For local sideloading, create `public/config/runtime.json` before starting Vite:
```json
{
"apiBaseUrl": "https:///api",
"authMode": "sso",
"gleanInstance": "your-instance",
"oauthClientType": "dcr",
"oauthClientId": "",
"features": {
"writeBack": true,
"workbookPreview": true,
"fileUpload": false,
"customFunctions": false
}
}
```
The frontend can run locally, but the backend `/api/*` routes are deployed as AWS Lambda/API Gateway resources. For full login and chat behavior, point `apiBaseUrl` at a deployed backend domain. A purely local backend proxy is not included in this reference.
### Full end-to-end testing
For production-like testing, deploy to AWS and install the hosted manifest:
```text
https:///manifest.xml
```
## Deploy to AWS
Copy the environment file and fill in deployment-specific values:
```bash
cp deployment/config/prod.env.example deployment/config/prod.env
```
If you need an ACM certificate and Route53 validation record for the configured domain:
```bash
./deployment/scripts/provision-certificate.sh prod
```
Deploy infrastructure:
```bash
./deployment/scripts/deploy-infrastructure.sh prod
```
Create or update the Route53 alias:
```bash
./deployment/scripts/upsert-route53-alias.sh prod
```
Deploy the app and generated manifest:
```bash
./deployment/scripts/deploy-app.sh prod
```
Install the hosted manifest from:
```text
https:///manifest.xml
```
## Required Deployment Inputs
- AWS profile/role with permission to deploy CloudFormation, S3, CloudFront, API Gateway, Lambda, DynamoDB, IAM, Route53, and ACM.
- ACM certificate ARN in `us-east-1`, or permission to create one.
- Route53 hosted zone for the add-in domain.
- Glean instance slug.
- OAuth mode:
- recommended: `OAUTH_CLIENT_TYPE=dcr`
- fallback: static OAuth client ID and secret
- Admin email list for config/admin routes.
## Validation
```bash
npm run check
npm audit --omit=dev
```
Manual QA checklist:
- Sign in with Glean OAuth.
- Ask about a selected range.
- Verify capped context notices and preview table rendering.
- Trigger a Glean clarification question and submit answers.
- Ask for a small workbook update with `Ask before edits`.
- Test `Auto-apply edits` on a safe range.
- Click `New chat` and verify context resets.
- Sign out and sign back in.
## Security Posture
Users do not paste Glean API tokens. The add-in uses user-scoped OAuth and sends capped workbook context through a customer-owned backend proxy, which forwards requests to Glean. The UI shows what workbook context is being sampled, and workbook writes are approval-gated by default.
See `SECURITY.md` for reporting and deployment security notes.