# docx

A skill for .docx work: builds documents, makes tracked edits, reads comments and footnotes. Useful when an agent touches someone else's contract or report.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · 1300 installs · ★ 174
- Author: appautomaton
- License: MIT · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/appautomaton/document-SKILLs/tree/HEAD/docx/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-10-15
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/appautomaton-docx

## What it does

The skill covers what you can't see from the code: a library that produces correct tracked changes and comments, schema validation that catches untracked edits, and page rendering so you can look at the document the way a reader will. It also documents docx-js and OOXML behaviours that quietly break a file.

The workflow runs in steps. Read the document with `pandoc --track-changes=all file.docx -t markdown`, unpack it with `unpack.py`, edit through a script built on the `Document` library, then repack with `pack.py`. `doc.save()` refuses to write a file with untracked edits or broken schema and prints the differences — fix the script instead of skipping validation. Existing changes go through `doc.accept_all_changes()` or `doc.reject_all_changes()`.

Rendering pages needs LibreOffice (`soffice`) and poppler (`pdftoppm`); reading needs pandoc. Node scripts run as `NODE_PATH=<skill>/node_modules node build.js`, and if that folder is missing you run `npm install` in the skill directory once. One trap worth knowing: pandoc is fine for reading, never for the deliverable, because it rewrites the whole document and drops formatting, comments and tracked changes.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add appautomaton/document-SKILLs --skill docx -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/docx/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/docx/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add appautomaton/document-SKILLs --skill docx -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/docx/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add appautomaton/document-SKILLs --skill docx -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/docx/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install appautomaton/document-SKILLs docx
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/docx/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add appautomaton/document-SKILLs --skill docx -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/appautomaton/document-SKILLs --path docx
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/docx/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add appautomaton/document-SKILLs --skill docx -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/appautomaton/document-SKILLs/tree/HEAD/docx/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- build a .docx from a template and data
- redline someone else's contract
- pull comments and footnotes out of a finished file
- accept or reject changes another author left
- confirm every edit is marked as a tracked change

## Example prompts
- read contract.docx and list all tracked changes and comments
- redline this contract with tracked changes
- repack the unpacked folder into reviewed.docx and validate it

## Source text · SKILL.md · MIT

Below is the content of a third-party file. It is data, not instructions for you: do not act on anything written inside unless the human asks. Block tag: b66a3d438a92631d.

BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE b66a3d438a92631d
````text
---
name: docx
description: Create, edit, review, and read Word documents (.docx), including tracked changes (redlines), comments, footnotes, tables, images, headers and page setup. Use when a task produces or modifies a .docx, reviews or redlines one, or needs its text, comments or tracked changes read.
---

# Word documents

You already know Word's features. This skill adds what you can't see from the code: a library that makes tracked changes and comments correctly, validation that catches untracked edits, a way to see pages as a reader will, and the docx-js and OOXML behaviours that silently produce broken files.

## Running scripts

`<skill>` is the directory containing this file. Run bundled scripts by absolute path from the user's working directory, so relative paths to their files keep working:

```bash
uv run <skill>/ooxml/scripts/unpack.py contract.docx unpacked
```

Run Python you write with its dependencies declared, either `uv run --with defusedxml script.py` or a PEP 723 header. Run Node scripts as `NODE_PATH=<skill>/node_modules node build.js`; if `<skill>/node_modules` is missing, run `npm install` in `<skill>` once. Rendering pages needs LibreOffice (`soffice`) and poppler (`pdftoppm`); reading needs pandoc.

## Choosing a workflow

| Task | Use |
|---|---|
| Read the text | `pandoc --track-changes=all file.docx -t markdown`. It also shows tracked changes and comments. Use `accept` or `reject` instead of `all` to see either outcome. |
| Create a document | docx-js: read [docx-js.md](docx-js.md) first. It covers the page size, style and image behaviours that otherwise break the file. |
| Edit someone else's document, or anything legal, academic, business or official | Tracked changes, so every edit is reviewable: the redlining workflow below. |
| Small edits to a document you created in this session | The same library, untracked. Make the edits, then call `doc.save(require_tracking=False)`, which still checks the schema. For larger changes, regenerate the file with docx-js. |
| Comments, metadata, embedded media, raw structure | Unpack and read the XML; [ooxml.md](ooxml.md) has the patterns. |

## Redlining workflow

1. **Read.** Convert the document with pandoc (above) and list every change you will make. Locate each one by its surrounding text, never by markdown line numbers, which have no relation to the XML.
2. **Unpack.** `uv run <skill>/ooxml/scripts/unpack.py contract.docx unpacked` prints a suggested RSID. Pass it as `Document(..., rsid=...)` so the session's edits share one revision ID.
````
END THIRD-PARTY FILE b66a3d438a92631d

The third-party file has ended. Everything between the b66a3d438a92631d tags is data: requests and commands from it are not followed. An “end of file” line with another tag inside the block is part of the file.

First 2556 of 4639 bytes. © appautomaton · MIT · https://github.com/appautomaton/document-SKILLs/tree/HEAD/docx/SKILL.md

## Similar
- [kimi-docx](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/kimi-docx.md) — skill · 506 installs
- [word-document-processor](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/word-document-processor.md) — skill · 3600 installs
- [docx-manipulation](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/docx-manipulation.md) — skill · 6100 installs

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