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* Data: Analysis ToolPak two-factor Anova (with and without replication) and z-Test Builds on the ToolPak of #320. data.analysisToolPak gains three tools: Anova: Two-Factor Without Replication (rows and columns as factors, the residual as the error term), Anova: Two-Factor With Replication (samples of rowsPerSample rows, with the interaction and within-cell terms) and z-Test: Two Sample for Means (known variances, normal tails and critical values from NORM.S.DIST and NORM.S.INV). Each has a form in the Data Analysis dialog. Tests check the reports against Montgomery's hardness-testing and battery-life examples. * Data: Analysis ToolPak Fourier Analysis data.analysisToolPak gains Fourier Analysis: the discrete Fourier transform or its inverse of one row or column of 2^k values (at most 4096), by an iterative radix-2 FFT. Input cells are read as IMREAL and IMAGINARY read them, so complex text such as 3+4i works, and the results are written as COMPLEX text. Tests check known transforms (1, 2, 3, 4; a sampled cosine), the inverse round trip and the input limits. * Data: Analysis ToolPak Random Number Generation and Sampling data.analysisToolPak gains the last two of Excel's 19 tools. Random Number Generation draws uniform, normal, Bernoulli, binomial, Poisson and discrete numbers, or writes a patterned sequence, in one or more columns; binomial and Poisson draws invert tables built from BINOM.DIST and POISSON.DIST. Sampling takes every period-th value or a random sample with replacement. Both use a seeded xoshiro256** generator: the same seed repeats the numbers, and a run without one reports the seed it chose. Output is capped at 1,000,000 numbers. * Data: Analysis ToolPak two-factor Anova without replication: Labels caption names the first column With Labels ticked, Anova: Two-Factor Without Replication takes the column names from the first row and the row names from the first cell of every data row. The form's caption read "Labels in first row", so a user with column headers but no row names who ticked it would lose the first data column. The caption now reads "Labels in first row and first column", and the command's params doc says the same. A dialog test checks the caption. * Data: Analysis ToolPak docs: timestamp lines and revision history for the 19 tools docs/gaps.md (§13) and docs/target-app-parity.md (what-if and analysis) gain their Last updated line and a revision-history row for the Analysis ToolPak reaching all 19 of Excel's tools. * Data: Analysis ToolPak new tools refuse options that are not numbers Random Number Generation (from, to, mean, standardDeviation, p, lambda, step, and the whole-number options) and z-Test (hypothesizedDifference) read their options with a default for anything that did not parse, so a form value typed as "0,3" or a typo quietly ran with the default. A blank or absent option still takes the default; any other value that is not a finite number is now an error naming the option. * Data: Analysis ToolPak refuses an Alpha that is not a number alpha() took any value that did not parse as the default 0.05, so a typed "0,01" ran z-Test, both two-factor Anovas (and the existing t-tests, F-Test and single-factor Anova, which share it) at the wrong significance level without a word. A blank or absent Alpha still means 0.05; any other value that is not a finite number is now an error. * Data: Analysis ToolPak Random Number Generation form hides the count for a patterned sequence A patterned sequence takes its length from From, To, step and the two repeat counts and ignores Number of Random Numbers, so a count typed there did nothing. The form shows the count only for the random distributions, and the patterned options carry a note that the repeats set how many values are written. * Data: Analysis ToolPak Random Seed caption says a blank seed draws a new sequence Random Number Generation and random Sampling labelled the seed "blank for none", but a blank seed makes the engine choose a new one, so each run draws different numbers. The caption now reads "blank for a new sequence". * Data: Analysis ToolPak form scrolls its options in a short window The Data Analysis window cannot be resized, and the patterned Random Number Generation form (seven distribution choices and five pattern fields, each label above its box) is taller than a 600-point window, so OK ended below the window's edge. The tool's options now sit in a vertical scroll area capped to the window's height less the title, output options and buttons, which always stay in view. * Data: Analysis ToolPak docs: Forecast Sheet is no longer listed as missing docs/target-app-parity.md's what-if and analysis row still listed Forecast Sheet as missing, while data.forecastSheet is in the catalog and docs/gaps.md §13 lists it as present. The row now lists it with the other analysis tools, and today's revision-history row says so. * Data: Analysis ToolPak seed applies only where numbers are drawn A patterned sequence and periodic sampling draw nothing, but the form showed the Random Seed field for both, and Random Number Generation read the seed for every distribution: a seed left in the form that was not a whole number refused a patterned run, and a valid one was reported as the seed used. The seed field now shows only for the random distributions and random sampling, and a patterned run neither reads nor reports a seed. * Data: Analysis ToolPak Fourier Analysis keeps small parts beside large ones The cleanup after the transform zeroed every part at or below 1e-13 of the largest output, so a one-value input such as 1e14 + 1i lost its imaginary part although a transform of one value performs no arithmetic, and a small harmonic beside a large DC term was lost the same way. The cutoff is now the rounding bound of the transform itself, 8 · ε · log2(N) · Σ(|re_n| + |im_n|), divided by N for the inverse (whose outputs are divided by N): it depends on the input and the number of butterfly stages, never on the largest output, and is zero for N = 1. An input sum that overflows disables the cleanup instead of zeroing everything. Two regression tests cover the one-value case and an eight-point round trip of 1e6 + 1e-7 cos(2πn/8). * Data: Analysis ToolPak binomial and Poisson tables grow with the distribution, not the trials Random Number Generation tabulated a binomial or Poisson distribution by evaluating BINOM.DIST or POISSON.DIST through worksheet-function dispatch for every outcome from 0 upward, so a million trials with p = 1 meant 1,000,001 calls and a table of as many entries. The table is now built from one value at the mode and the recurrence pmf(k + 1) = pmf(k) · (n − k)/(k + 1) · p/(1 − p) (λ/(k + 1) for Poisson), outward in both directions: the left tail ends where its terms vanish, the right tail once the cumulative probability reaches 1 within f64 resolution, so the table is as wide as the outcomes that matter (about 23,000 entries for Binomial(1,000,000, 0.5)). p = 0 and p = 1 are exact cases with one outcome. The trials limit and the draws are unchanged. Tests check the recurrence against BINOM.DIST and POISSON.DIST to 1e-12 relative, the table width at a million trials, and that the largest inputs complete in milliseconds with the right means. --------- Co-authored-by: FredApps <FredApps@users.noreply.github.com>
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Target-app parity: GridCraft vs Microsoft Excel
Last reviewed: 2026-10-11 · Last updated: 2026-11-01 · Change: minor (what-if and analysis: Analysis ToolPak has all 19 tools; earlier: page layout and print: Page Setup's page order; no score change; earlier: charts: data tables with XLSX round-trip and print/PDF; no score change; earlier: what-if and analysis: Solver Options; the Insert Function dialog is named as in Excel; no score change; earlier: Solver Load/Save Model and Reset All; automation: macro interface; catalog count 276 / 292, as
cargo xtask paritymeasures; automation: typed macros in the engine; several windows: a native window per workbook window, New Window on the same workbook, Arrange All; no score change) · Target: Microsoft Excel (Microsoft 365)
This is the authoritative parity assessment. ROADMAP.md summarizes it,
gaps.md lists every shortfall, and the area checklists hold the detail:
functions, charts, file formats,
UI, hardware, localization. The
generated ribbon checklist is parity-checklist.md.
Summary
| Number | Value | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Feature breadth (weighted by use) | ~75% | estimated from the area table below; anchored on two measurements |
| Ribbon and menu catalog | 276 / 292 (94.5%) | measured: cargo xtask parity (crates/engine/src/catalog.rs ∩ registered command ids) |
| Worksheet functions, by name | 513 / 523 (98.1%) | measured: registered functions vs Microsoft's published function list (method below) |
| Worksheet functions that do real work | 504 / 523 (96.4%) | measured: excludes 9 stubs (7 CUBE functions, WEBSERVICE, FILTERXML) |
| Ready for real work | ~50% | estimated; written weights below (51.6 computed) |
| Mainstream practitioner | ~50% | estimated; method (69.5 depth × 0.90 × 0.92 × 0.88 = 50.6) |
| Essentials user | ~63% | estimated; method (80.2 depth × 0.92 × 0.95 × 0.90 = 63.1) |
| Stage | alpha | see Stage |
| Remaining to beta | ~160–240 Opus 5.5 agent-hours | estimated; roadmap.md |
| Remaining to full parity | ~700–1,100 Opus 5.5 agent-hours | estimated; sum of the rows below |
Readiness by audience
| Audience | Ready % | Opus 5.5 agent wall-clock hours to ~95% | Work that dominates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full target (ready for real work) | ~50% | ~650–1,050 | Get & Transform and the data model, localization (twelve languages), charts depth, file fidelity (.xls, corpus, pass-through), PivotTables, collaboration, mobile |
| Mainstream practitioner | ~50% | ~200–310 | File exchange with Excel users (corpus and Excel verification, pass-through, large files, .xls, encryption: 63–97 h), common-chart depth (30–45 h), PivotTables (20–30 h), keyboard and interaction (18–28 h), calc correctness and functions (20–33 h) |
| Essentials user | ~63% | ~60–100 | Opening files people send (.xls import and saving with a password 24–36 h; macOS Finder open 2–4 h), launch stability (6–10 h), basic chart resize and polish (6–10 h), print and Page Layout (8–12 h), small editing and UI fixes (10–16 h) |
Each tier is a subset of the one above, so its hours are too. Calibrated as in Effort and
calibration (~6–10 h per readiness point for the remaining, verification-heavy
work; single features measured from PRs #66, #100, #101). Parallelism: the full and mainstream
work splits ~65–70% across 4–6 agents by area; the essentials work is mostly small fixes plus one
long .xls track, so about half parallelizes (≈30–50 wall-clock hours with three agents).
What we measured against, and how
- Target: Microsoft Excel (Microsoft 365 channel). Version measured: Excel for Mac
16.113.4, installed on the owner's Mac (version read from Spotlight metadata with
mdls). Where Excel for Windows has more (Power Pivot, VBA editor depth, COM add-ins, 3D Maps), the Windows feature counts as part of the target. - Clean-room limits. This repo's rule (AGENTS.md, "Non-negotiables") forbids reading anything
inside the Office bundle, so the bundle's
Info.plist,.lprojfolders and resources were deliberately not inspected, and Excel was not launched for this pass. Excel's file formats, functions and features come from Microsoft's public documentation, the owner's earlier black-box observation (plan/excel/observed-ui.md, local only), and knowledge of the product. - Function list: Microsoft's "Excel functions (alphabetical)" support page, fetched
2026-10-10 and parsed (506 rows), plus 15 names the page lists under combined entries (FIND/FINDB,
LEFT/LEFTB, LEN/LENB, MID/MIDB, REPLACE/REPLACEB, RIGHT/RIGHTB, SEARCH/SEARCHB, BETA.INV) and
COPILOT and PY: 523 functions. Ours: every
f!(…)spec incrates/functions/src/*.rsplusSPECIAL_FUNCTIONSincrates/calc/src/eval.rs(evaluator special forms), minus the test-onlyADD2: 505, all of them Excel names. - Ribbon catalog:
crates/engine/src/catalog.rs(292 unique ids across 15 tabs) against the 313 command ids registered incrates/engine/src/cmd/*.rs, recomputed from source by script and identical to the committedparity-checklist.md. The catalog is our own transcription of Excel's main ribbon tabs; it leaves out most contextual tabs (Picture Format, Shape Format, Header & Footer, Sparkline, Slicer, Timeline), the Developer and Help tabs and sub-menu items, so 89% of it is roughly 60–65% of Excel's full command surface (estimated). - Depth and readiness: source reading (the model types in
crates/model/src/features.rs, readers and writers incrates/xlsx/src, the evaluator), 478#[test]functions, and the issue tracker: 60 open issues and 50 open PRs on 2026-10-10, 82 issues filed in total. - No cargo build or test ran for this pass (disk constraints); numbers come from source.
Weights
Percentages are weighted by what Excel users actually do, not by item count. Feature-area weights (sum 100) reflect a typical business, finance and analyst workload: formulas, functions, editing and formatting dominate; Power Query, VBA and the data model matter to fewer users but are decisive for those who use them.
Dimension weights for ready for real work: features 45, file formats 15, UI/UX 12, performance 8, stability 8, localization 4, hardware 2, platforms 2, ecosystem 2, AI 2.
Feature areas
| Area | Weight | Breadth | Ready | Hours | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Formula language and calculation | 18 | ~92% | ~72% | 20–30 | A1/R1C1 parser, reference adjustment, dependency-graph recalc, dynamic arrays and #SPILL!, A1#, LET/LAMBDA and helpers, structured references, names, 3-D references. Open correctness bugs: 15-digit equality (#57), stale spills after structural edits and cleared blockers (#133, #139), 3-D span endpoint deletion (#140), sheet rename and qualified names (#134). Single-threaded |
| Worksheet functions | 12 | 98.1% (measured) | ~82% | 16–26 | 513 / 523 names, 504 working. Missing: GETPIVOTDATA, IMAGE plus cloud functions. No conformance suite against Excel-computed oracles; edge-case bugs keep surfacing (#137, #138). function-parity.md |
| Editing, navigation, clipboard, fill | 12 | ~90% | ~70% | 15–25 | Point mode, F4, AutoComplete, Paste Special, AutoFill, Flash Fill, Find/Replace, Go To Special. Bugs: rectangular drag-select (#28), monthly fill (#132), cut across sheets (#128), Insert Copied Cells missing (#21), key tips only on part of the Home tab (#43; #33, #49). ui-parity.md |
| Cell formatting, styles, conditional formatting | 10 | ~95% | ~80% | 8–14 | Full number-format language, borders, 47 cell styles, 60 table styles, all CF rule kinds including data bars, colour scales and icon sets. Gaps: font weights beyond regular/bold (#168), system fonts list (#4), themes |
| Sort, filter, tables, validation, outline | 8 | ~82% | ~70% | 10–16 | Multi-level sort, AutoFilter, Advanced Filter, tables with totals, validation, outline, subtotals, consolidate. Advanced Filter copy-to preserves cells outside its result and rejects worksheet overflow (#1031). Bugs: subtotal header (#131), validation edits (#129), table style panic caught (#130); no slicers on tables |
| PivotTables | 7 | ~65% | ~45% | 25–40 | Insert/Recommended, field list, three layouts, values on rows or columns, date grouping, show-values-as, refresh, calculated fields, XLSX round-trip. Missing: slicers, timelines, calculated items, PivotCharts, value/label filters, number grouping, GETPIVOTDATA, data-model pivots. Round-trip never checked in Excel |
| Charts and sparklines | 8 | ~50% | ~30% | 40–60 | 25 chart kinds, all 2-D. The chart model holds title, legend position, a data-labels flag, gridlines flag, axis titles and chart data tables (legend keys, borders, XLSX round-trip and print/PDF); no axis scaling, trendlines, error bars, per-point formatting, chart sheets, 3-D, surface, map, Pareto. Several kinds don't survive XLSX round trip (open PRs #158, #161). chart-parity.md |
| Page layout, print, PDF | 5 | ~80% | ~55% | 12–20 | Page setup, print titles, breaks, page order, Page Break Preview, headers/footers, PDF export and printing. Paper sizes match Japanese Excel: B4/B5/B6 are the JIS sizes, ISO B4/B5/B6 stay reachable by name, and Japanese Postcard (はがき), Japanese Double Postcard (往復はがき), the chou/kaku envelopes and A6 are available. No true Page Layout view; the PDF writer uses only the 14 standard fonts without embedding (no CJK or other non-Latin text in PDF); web print only exports (#141, #143) |
| Charts and sparklines | 8 | ~50% | ~30% | 40–60 | 25 chart kinds, all 2-D. The chart model holds title, legend position, a data-labels flag, gridlines flag, axis titles and chart data tables (legend keys, borders, XLSX round-trip and print/PDF); no axis scaling, error bars, per-point formatting, chart sheets, 3-D, surface, map, Pareto. Kinds survive XLSX round trip (#158, #161). chart-parity.md |
| Page layout, print, PDF | 5 | ~80% | ~55% | 12–20 | Page setup, print titles, breaks, page order, Page Break Preview, headers/footers, PDF export and printing. No true Page Layout view; the PDF writer uses only the 14 standard fonts without embedding (no CJK or other non-Latin text in PDF); web print only exports (#141, #143) |
| What-if and analysis | 4 | ~50% | ~40% | 22–35 | Goal Seek, Scenario Manager, data tables, Analysis ToolPak (all 19 tools, no charts), Solver (Simplex LP, a local nonlinear method and Evolutionary; Answer and Limits reports; Load/Save Model, Reset All and Solver Options; no Sensitivity report), Forecast Sheet. Missing: Analyze Data |
| Get & Transform, external data, data model | 5 | ~15% | ~10% | 60–100 | Import of CSV/TSV, JSON, HTML. No Power Query editor, no From Web, database or folder sources, no connections or refresh, no relationships or data model, no external workbook links (dropped with a warning) |
| Insert objects | 3 | ~55% | ~45% | 25–40 | Pictures, 8 shape kinds (Excel has ~170), text boxes, own icon set, ink with Ink to Shape, hyperlinks, checkboxes. Missing: SmartArt, WordArt, equations, signature line, objects, 3-D models, screenshot, pictures in cells (PR #105) |
| Review, comments, protection, collaboration | 4 | ~55% | ~40% | 35–55 | Threaded comments, notes, spelling (system dictionary), thesaurus, sheet and workbook protection, Allow Edit Ranges with Excel-compatible password hashes (#307). Missing: comment navigation, Show Changes, notes-to-comments conversion, accessibility checker, co-authoring, opening password-encrypted files (refused with a message since #17) |
| Automation | 4 | ~30% | ~20% | 12–20 | Recorded, editable GridCraft scripts (Automate tab). Typed macros in the engine (macro.*: recorder, runner with input checks and a footprint dry run, debugger; macros.md), recorded from Automate › Macros, edited and debugged in a step editor, and run from the Macros dialog or a Ctrl+Shift shortcut. VBA is out of scope by owner decision: an .xlsm keeps its VBA project unchanged on save and never runs it. No Office Scripts compatibility |
| Weighted | 100 | ~75% | ~59% | 300–485 |
Dimensions
| Dimension | Weight | Ready | Hours | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Features | 45 | ~59% | 300–485 | Table above |
| File formats | 15 | ~50% | 80–120 | XLSX read/write is broad but unproven on a real corpus and in Excel; XLSB and ODS are values-only import; no XLS, XML Spreadsheet 2003, SYLK, DIF, PRN; VBA dropped; 100 MB XLSX fails (#175). file-format-parity.md |
| UI/UX fidelity | 12 | ~55% | 50–80 | Excel-style ribbon, galleries, dialogs, formula bar, status bar; 59 commands with shortcuts vs Excel's 200+; key tips on part of the Home tab only; short context menu; a native window per workbook window on the desktop (one on the web). ui-parity.md |
| Performance | 8 | ~35% | 35–55 | Performance |
| Stability | 8 | ~60% | 15–25 | Never-crash rules enforced by lint, every command fuzzed with hostile params, random command sequences fuzzed against undo/redo, XLSX round-trip and full-recalc invariants, last-resort guard in Session::execute. Field reports: Windows Intel GPU crash (#120), error on close (#117), freeze opening from Finder (#166), screen flashing (#76) |
| Localization | 4 | ~10% | 100–165 | Ribbon-only catalog in five languages (ja, zh, ko, pt-BR, ru; ~12% of strings each), CJK/Thai/Hebrew font fallback, no shaping or RTL. localization-parity.md |
| Hardware | 2 | ~40% | 25–40 | GPU UI via wgpu; single-threaded calc; no pen pressure; a native window per workbook window, Arrange All on one monitor. hardware-parity.md |
| Platforms | 2 | ~80% | 30–60 | Platforms |
| Ecosystem / add-ins | 2 | ~10% | 25–40 | Ecosystem and AI |
| AI features | 2 | ~15% | 30–50 | Ecosystem and AI |
| Ready for real work | 100 | ~50% (51.6 computed: 0.45 × 59.0 features + the other rows × their weights) | ~700–1,100 |
How the full number is built: features ready is the weighted mean of the area table (59.0 with charts at 30%); ready for real work is the weighted mean of this table with the weights written under Weights. Re-checked after the 10-10 merges: charts were corrected from 38% to 30% (round-trip loss, #190 chart resize) and localization rose from 5% to 10% (#31, #104, #82, #38). The two moves cancel: 51.6 before and after, so ~50% stands.
Mainstream practitioner
The typical professional Excel user: an analyst, accountant or manager who builds and maintains models, cleans and summarizes data, makes charts and pivots, and exchanges workbooks with Excel users every week. Left out: Power Query and the data model, VBA and add-ins, Copilot and cloud functions, co-authoring and admin, specialist hardware, and languages beyond the user's own (localization is reported separately).
| Area (weekly use) | Weight | Depth | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Formula language and calculation | 20 | 72 | Feature-area table |
| Common worksheet functions | 15 | 85 | Missing functions are niche (ETS, odd-period bonds, cloud); edge bugs in common ones (#137, #138, #57) |
| Editing, navigation, clipboard, fill | 15 | 70 | Feature-area table |
| Cell formatting, styles, conditional formatting | 13 | 80 | Feature-area table |
| Sort, filter, tables, validation | 10 | 70 | Feature-area table |
| PivotTables (core: fields, layouts, grouping, refresh) | 8 | 60 | Slicers and calculated fields excluded as less frequent |
| Charts (column, bar, line, pie, scatter, combo) | 9 | 45 | Common kinds work and survive save; no axis options or trendlines; resize broken (#190) |
| Page layout, print, PDF | 5 | 60 | Latin text exports |
| Comments, notes, protection | 3 | 55 | Feature-area table |
| Pictures and shapes | 2 | 45 | Feature-area table |
| Average depth | 100 | 69.5 |
Discounts for what still stops real work:
| Discount | Factor | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Interaction fidelity | × 0.90 | 59 command shortcuts vs Excel's 200+; key tips only on part of the Home tab (#43); rectangular selection bug (#28); charts can't be resized (#190); missing horizontal scrollbar report (#176) |
| Stability on real machines | × 0.92 | Never-crash lints, fuzzed commands and the Session::execute guard; but field reports of a startup crash on Intel UHD (#120), an error on close (#117), a freeze opening from Finder (#166) and screen flashing (#76) |
| File exchange with Excel users | × 0.88 | Excel opening our output is unverified across features; unmodelled parts dropped on save; advanced chart kinds lose their type; 100 MB files fail (#175); .xls and encrypted files are refused with a clear message (#17) rather than opened. Harsher than a drawing app's discount because spreadsheets are exchanged constantly |
Mainstream practitioner: 69.5 × 0.90 × 0.92 × 0.88 = 50.6 → ~50% (estimated). Unlike most apps it is not higher than the full number: GridCraft's breadth is wide (functions, formatting, ribbon), so excluding the long tail removes little, while the discounts land on exactly what mainstream users do every week (exchange files with Excel users).
Essentials user
Someone who only touches the core: opens a workbook someone sent, types data and simple formulas, formats, sorts, makes a basic chart, saves and prints. Advanced options, pro workflows and exchange edge cases are left out, along with everything excluded from the mainstream number.
| Core feature | Weight | Depth | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typing data, simple formulas, AutoSum (SUM, AVERAGE, arithmetic) | 20 | 88 | Solid; 15-digit equality (#57) is rare at this level |
| Basic formatting: fonts, bold, fills, borders, currency/percent/date formats | 15 | 85 | |
| Copy, paste, fill handle, undo/redo | 15 | 78 | Selection bug (#28), monthly fill (#132) |
| Rows and columns: insert, delete, widths, AutoFit | 10 | 82 | AutoFit fixed (#42, #88); rows auto-fit oversized fonts on open and row formatting (#833) |
| Sort and filter | 10 | 82 | |
| Save, Save As, reopen XLSX | 10 | 85 | |
| A basic chart | 8 | 55 | Created easily; can't be resized (#190) |
| Print and PDF | 7 | 65 | Desktop works; web PDF gives no file or feedback (#141) |
| Find and replace | 5 | 85 | |
| Average depth | 100 | 80.2 |
| Discount | Factor | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Launch and stability | × 0.92 | Startup crash on some Intel GPUs (#120), "Issue executing" (#59), error on close (#117) |
| Discoverability and UI clarity | × 0.95 | The Excel-style ribbon is familiar and labelled; system language by default (#31); small gaps (#176 scrollbar, #170 macOS window controls) |
| Opening files people send them | × 0.90 | Double-clicking a workbook in Finder freezes or errors on macOS (#166, #69; drag-and-drop works; fixes in PRs #164, #167); .xls and encrypted files are refused with a message |
Essentials user: 80.2 × 0.92 × 0.95 × 0.90 = 63.1 → ~63% (estimated).
User evidence
Counted from all 83 GitHub issues and 109 PRs on 2026-10-10; none of the issues were filed by the maintainer.
- Praise: 3 explicit ("this is brilliant. Tiny fast native binaries", #16; "Thanks for the great work on GridCraft", #61; "i didnt have excel kind app on my macos", #69), plus polite thanks in feature requests (#39, #45, #142).
- "Switched from Excel" reports: 0. One counter-signal: "without macro support most professionals cannot switch from excel" (#6).
- Issues by kind: 50 core-path bugs (30 open, 20 closed) and 33 niche or feature requests (25 open, 8 closed). 18 of the core-path bugs came from one auditing contributor (coygeek).
- Contributors: 104 PRs from 28 people outside the maintainer in five days, which shows strong interest but not yet daily use.
Performance
Excel recalculates on every core (multi-threaded recalculation), streams large files, and handles 1,048,576 × 16,384 sheets with millions of formulas.
| Measure | GridCraft | Excel | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sheet size limits | 1,048,576 × 16,384 | same | measured (crates/core/src/addr.rs) |
| Recalc threads | 1 | all cores | measured (no threading in crates/calc) |
| Edit → recalc, 100k dependents | ~0.4 s (2026-10-07), target < 100 ms | tens of ms | measured on the owner's machine; #66 since made range-formula recalc linear, not re-timed |
| Grid scrolling | virtualised, O(log n) geometry with custom row heights | smooth | measured in code |
| Open a ~100 MB XLSX | fails (#175) | opens | user report |
| Whole-sheet operations | Fill and Remove Duplicates on a whole-sheet selection run out of memory or time (fix in PR #152) | fine | open PR |
Work: streaming XLSX reader with shared-string and style dedup, multi-threaded recalc of
independent chains (native only; WASM stays single-threaded), whole-column reference
clamping, a cargo xtask bench with fixed workbooks so the numbers become measured.
Platforms
| Platform | Excel | GridCraft |
|---|---|---|
| Windows x64 / arm64 | yes | yes (signed MSI and portable zip; also x86) |
| macOS (Apple silicon, Intel) | yes | yes (signed, notarized universal DMG) |
| Web | Excel for the web | yes (WASM; local files, no cloud) |
| iOS / iPadOS / Android | yes | no |
| Linux | no | yes (AppImage, Flatpak, deb, rpm, tarball; x86_64, aarch64, riscv64) |
| FreeBSD | no | yes |
Mobile is the gap (30–60 h for a touch layout over the same engine). GridCraft is ahead on Linux, BSD and RISC-V, where Excel doesn't run.
Ecosystem and AI
- Add-ins: Excel has Office JavaScript add-ins, COM/XLL add-ins, VBA, Office Scripts and Power Automate. GridCraft has its own recorded scripts, plus a control channel, MCP server and CLI that reach every command. VBA is out of scope (owner decision). A plugin or custom-function API (for example LAMBDA libraries and WASM custom functions) is the open-equivalent path: 25–40 h.
- AI: Excel has Copilot, the COPILOT() function, Analyze Data, Python in Excel and Flash Fill. GridCraft has Flash Fill and best-in-class agent control (any MCP client can drive every command headless or live), but no in-app assistant, no natural-language formulas and no Analyze Data. Local-model equivalents: 30–50 h; model choice needs the owner.
Stage
Alpha. All six core workflows in the alpha gate pass end to end on macOS with save and reopen (two pass with non-blocking fidelity loss). Core workflows exist end to end, but depth, fidelity and file compatibility are rough
(ready ~50%, inside the 40–75% alpha band). Not beta: the main format, XLSX, has not been proven
on real-world files or confirmed to open in Excel without repair, large files fail, .xls is
missing and text in several scripts doesn't render. Distance to beta: ~25 points of readiness and
~160–240 h, itemized in roadmap.md.
Effort and calibration
Hours are Opus 5.5 agent wall-clock hours, one agent working sequentially, including tests and verification.
Calibrated against this repo's history:
- First pass, 2026-10-05 → 10-07: M0–M13 (about 72,000 lines of Rust: engine, 478 functions, XLSX, UI, charts, PivotTables, PDF, MCP, CLI, web, packaging) landed in commits from 22:09 on 10-05 to 02:08 on 10-06, built by several parallel agents with work that preceded the first commits; we put it at ~50–80 agent-hours for 0 → ~50% ready, so ~1–1.5 h per point for the broad first pass.
- Recent single features: ODS import (#100, +2,232 lines with tests) and XLSB import (#101, +1,212 lines) each fit in one agent session of roughly 2–3 h; the linear-recalc fix (#66, +477 lines) about 1 h; single-function fixes (ROUND, DATE 1900, SUMIF sizing) 0.3–0.5 h each. That is roughly 600–1,000 lines per agent-hour including tests.
- Tail factor: what remains is verification-heavy (Excel as the oracle for files, functions
and rendering), and much of it is large self-contained subsystems (Power Query, Solver,
localization,
.xls). We apply 5–7× the first-pass rate: ~6–10 h per point of readiness.
Parallelism: ~70% of the work splits cleanly by area (functions, charts, pivots, formats, localization, Power Query) across 4–6 agents with one integrator; with five agents, beta is about 40–60 wall-clock hours away. Needs a human: checking our files in Excel (the owner's Mac), native-speaker review of every language, scope decisions (co-authoring, cloud functions, in-app AI models, mobile), and Windows hardware for GPU-driver crashes.
What works today
The inventory carried over from the 2026-10-07 ROADMAP.md, updated for what landed since. Presence, not parity: the tables above grade depth.
- Engine: A1/R1C1 formula parser with reference adjustment, dependency-graph recalculation with
dynamic arrays (spill +
#SPILL!), cycle detection, LET/LAMBDA/MAP/REDUCE/SCAN/BYROW/BYCOL/ MAKEARRAY, structured table references, defined names, INDIRECT/OFFSET/INDEX references, 505 worksheet functions (478 at M0) (math, statistics and distributions, text and regex, lookup incl. XLOOKUP/FILTER/SORT/UNIQUE/VSTACK, dates, financial incl. bonds, engineering incl. complex numbers and Bessel, database, information). - Number formats: Excel's full format-code language (sections, conditions, colours, dates and elapsed time, fractions, scientific, accounting fill), General narrowing to column width.
- Files: XLSX read/write (styles, themes, merges, CF, validation, tables, comments, hyperlinks, charts, pictures, sparklines, print settings, defined names, shared/array/dynamic formulas), CSV/TSV with encoding and delimiter detection, HTML export, JSON; XLSB and ODS data import (values only, 10-10).
- Editing: cell entry with type detection and auto-formats, in-cell and formula-bar editing, point mode (click/drag/arrow references), reference colouring, F4 anchor cycling, function autocomplete and argument hints, copy/cut/paste and Paste Special (values, formats, transpose, operations, link, skip blanks), AutoFill series (numbers, dates, months, weekdays, custom lists, text+number), Fill Series, Flash Fill, find/replace with wildcards, Go To / Go To Special, undo/redo with history, format painter. Quick selection drags retain their final endpoint; the fill handle explains how to fill versus select cells.
- Formatting: fonts, fills, all border styles, alignment (wrap, indent, rotation, merge), number formats, 47 cell styles, 60 table styles, conditional formatting (cell rules, text, dates, duplicates, top/bottom, averages, data bars, colour scales, icon sets, formulas), automatic row heights, autofit, hide/unhide, freeze panes. Border presets include visual diagrams; Format Cells previews draft borders before applying.
- Data: sort (multi-level, by colour, custom lists), AutoFilter (values, custom, top 10, average, colour), tables with totals rows, remove duplicates, text to columns, data validation with error alerts, grouping/outline, subtotals.
- PivotTables: Insert/Recommended PivotTables, field list pane, compact/outline/tabular layouts, values on rows or columns, date grouping, sort, filters, show-values-as, refresh, and XLSX round-trip.
- Page layout & print: Page Break Preview, print settings, PDF export and printing.
- What-if: Goal Seek, scenarios, data tables. Spelling (system word list) and thesaurus.
- Draw: pen, highlighter, eraser, ink strokes and Ink to Shape. Task panes: Comments (threaded replies, resolve), Watch Window, Selection, Format Chart.
- Charts: column, bar, line, area, pie, doughnut, scatter, bubble, radar, histogram, waterfall, funnel, treemap, sunburst, box & whisker, stock and combo charts; sparklines.
- UI (egui): Excel-style title bar with Quick Access Toolbar and AutoSave, the full ribbon with galleries (cell styles, table styles, colour palettes, conditional formatting menus), contextual Table/Chart Design tabs, formula bar with Name Box, virtualised grid (smooth scrolling, zoom, frozen panes, text overflow), sheet tabs (rename, reorder, colour, hide), status bar with Sum/Count/Average and zoom, dialogs (Format Cells, Insert Function, Find and Replace, Sort, Name Manager, Data Validation, Paste Special…), command palette, dark mode.
- Agents: every action is an engine command; JSON control channel in the desktop app (pointer,
keyboard, dialogs, screenshots); MCP server (headless or bridged); CLI (
info,convert,eval,cat,run,commands,functions,mcp,send). - Platforms: macOS, Windows, Linux, FreeBSD; web (WASM via trunk). Release workflows for signed/notarized macOS universal DMG, signed Windows x64/x86 MSI + zip, Linux AppImage/deb/rpm/ tar.gz + Flatpak manifest, FreeBSD tarball and a web zip.
Not measured yet
- Pixel comparison against Excel screenshots (planned; screenshots stay in
plan/excel/). - Function results against Excel-computed oracles (a corpus repo is the planned home).
- Recalc and open-time benchmarks on fixed workbooks (no
cargo xtask benchyet). - Whether Excel opens our XLSX output without repair, across features.
Revision history
| Date | Change | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-11-01 | minor | What-if and analysis: Analysis ToolPak has all 19 tools (was 13 of 19; no charts); no score change |
| 2026-11-01 | minor | Charts: data tables for column, bar, line, area and compatible combo charts, with legend keys and borders; live source values, native XLSX round-trip and shared print/PDF rendering. Readiness estimates unchanged. |
| 2026-11-01 | minor | Page layout and print: Page Setup's page order (Down, then over or Over, then down), kept in XLSX; no score change |
| 2026-10-31 | minor | The Insert Function dialog is named as in Excel (it was called Formula Builder); no score change |
| 2026-10-31 | minor | What-if and analysis: Solver Options (no score change) |
| 2026-10-31 | minor | What-if and analysis: Solver Load/Save Model and Reset All; Forecast Sheet moved from Missing to the list of tools, as gaps.md §13 records (no score change) |
| 2026-10-25 | minor | Automation: macro interface (Automate › Macros, the Macros and Record Macro dialogs, the step editor, shortcuts) (no score change) |
| 2026-10-25 | trivial | Catalog count 276 / 292 in the summary table and the method, as cargo xtask parity measures (no score change) |
| 2026-10-22 | minor | Several windows on the desktop: a native window per workbook window, New Window on the same workbook, Switch Windows and Arrange All; "one window" removed from UI/UX fidelity, Hardware and the interaction-fidelity discount; no score change |
| 2026-10-21 | minor | Page Setup paper sizes: B4/B5/B6 are the JIS sizes Japanese Excel uses (ISO B4/B5/B6 by name), and Japanese Postcard, Japanese Double Postcard, the chou/kaku envelopes and A6 are added; PDF MediaBox and file.print follow, and the Size menu lists them |
| 2026-10-18 | trivial | Stale chart notes: all chart kinds survive XLSX round-trip (PRs #158, #161) and trendlines landed |
| 2026-10-16 | minor | Advanced Filter copy-to clears only its actual output and rejects overflow without changing cells (#1031) |
| 2026-10-15 | minor | Row auto-fit: line breaks count only in wrapping cells (Excel: wrap off shows one line, AutoFit gives one line); unwrapped multi-line cells from files no longer grow rows on open (no score change) |
| 2026-10-21 | minor | Automation: typed macros in the engine and macro.* commands, no interface yet (no score change); catalog 274 / 290 → 275 / 291 (View › Macros › Record Macro) |
| 2026-10-12 | minor | Essentials AutoFit evidence: rows auto-fit oversized fonts on open and row formatting (#833) |
| 2026-10-12 | minor | Sheet tabs: reveal the selected tab on navigation and resize while preserving manual scrolling (#681); no score change |
| 2026-10-12 | minor | PivotTables: values on rows (Σ Values in Rows at any position, all three layouts; pivot.moveField and the field pane move it; dataOnRows round-trips) (no score change) |
| 2026-10-11 | minor | Stability: command-sequence fuzz harness (crates/engine/tests/it/command_sequence_fuzz.rs) checks random command sequences against undo/redo, XLSX round-trip, full-recalc and structure invariants; the sequence bugs it found are fixed (no score change) |
| 2026-10-11 | minor | Password-encrypted workbooks open (#11): Essentials file-opening work 24–36 h |
| 2026-10-11 | minor | Worksheet functions 505 / 523 (96.6%; 496 working): ODDFPRICE, ODDFYIELD, ODDLPRICE, ODDLYIELD |
| 2026-10-11 | minor | Worksheet functions 503 / 523 (96.2%; 494 working): PERCENTOF, EUROCONVERT |
| 2026-10-11 | minor | Worksheet functions 502 / 523 (96.0%; 493 working): BAHTTEXT |
| 2026-10-11 | minor | Worksheet functions 502 / 523 (96.0%; 493 working): TRIMRANGE |
| 2026-10-11 | minor | View › Formula Bar and Zoom 100% are engine commands (CLI/MCP); catalog 258 → 260 / 290 (#289) |
| 2026-10-11 | minor | Review › Allow Edit Ranges; catalog 258 → 259 / 290 (#307) |
| 2026-10-11 | minor | PivotTables: calculated fields (pivot.calculatedField) |
| 2026-10-11 | minor | PivotTables: PivotCharts (insert.pivotChart) |
| 2026-10-10 | minor | Readiness-by-audience table: hours to ~95% for each of the three numbers (full 650–1,050, mainstream 200–310, essentials 60–100). Full number confirmed as the additive weighted sum over the written dimension weights (no change) |
| 2026-10-10 | minor | Added Mainstream practitioner (~50%) and Essentials user (~63%) with written weights and discounts, and user-evidence counts; re-checked the full number after the 10-10 merges (charts 38→30, localization 5→10; still 51.6, ~50%) |
| 2026-10-10 | minor | Stage checked against the new alpha gate (six core workflows, all pass): stays alpha |
| 2026-10-10 | major | Created. Full re-measure against Excel for Mac 16.113.4: functions 501 / 523 measured against Microsoft's list, catalog 258 / 290, breadth ~75%, ready ~50%, alpha; replaces the estimate tables previously in ROADMAP.md and keeps its "Working today" inventory |