Claude skills for Handsontable (data grid component) and HyperFormula (headless spreadsheet calculation engine). These skills give Claude deep knowledge of both products so it can help you build, configure, and debug faster.
| Skill | What it covers |
|---|---|
| handsontable | The data grid component — React/Angular/Vue/vanilla JS setup, configuration, theming, cell types, sorting, filtering, formulas (via HyperFormula), hooks, performance, and v17 migration. |
| hyperformula | The headless calculation engine — instance creation, CRUD, custom functions, named expressions, error handling, batch operations, and Node.js usage. |
When to use which: If you're building a visible grid in a web app, use handsontable. If you're evaluating formulas programmatically without a UI (server-side calculations, pricing engines, what-if analysis), use hyperformula. Both skills cross-reference each other.
/plugin marketplace add handsontable/handsontable-skills
/plugin install handsontable-skills@handsontable-skills
This installs both skills together. Claude Code will load handsontable and hyperformula automatically based on what you ask.
Download handsontable.zip and/or hyperformula.zip from the latest GitHub release, then drag the zip into the Cowork chat or upload it via Settings → Features → Skills on Claude.ai.
Clone the repo somewhere convenient:
git clone https://github.com/handsontable/handsontable-skills.gitThen copy the two skill folders into your Claude Code skills directory. Pick the scope that fits — both assume Claude Code is already set up so .claude/skills/ exists.
User-scope — skills available in every project (recommended for product-knowledge skills like these):
cp -r handsontable-skills/skills/handsontable ~/.claude/skills/
cp -r handsontable-skills/skills/hyperformula ~/.claude/skills/Project-scope — skills available only in one project. From inside that project's root:
cp -r /path/to/handsontable-skills/skills/handsontable .claude/skills/
cp -r /path/to/handsontable-skills/skills/hyperformula .claude/skills/Keep the cloned repo around to git pull updates and re-copy when this skill ships a new release.
Upload skills/handsontable/ and skills/hyperformula/ to the Skills API. Each folder contains the SKILL.md and references/ that the API expects.
We ship the skills in three forms because Anthropic's surfaces accept different inputs. Use whichever matches the platform you're installing into.
| Format | Where it lives | Use case |
|---|---|---|
| Raw skill folder | skills/<name>/ (this repo) |
Source of truth. Used directly by Claude Code (.claude/skills/), the Claude API (folder upload), and as the input to every other format. Edit here when contributing. |
.zip archive |
GitHub Releases (built from source on tag push) | Drag-and-drop install for Cowork and Claude.ai web. Both platforms require zip and reject other archive formats. |
-rag.md flat doc |
dist/ (this repo) |
Single concatenated markdown of SKILL.md + every reference file. For loading the skill into a RAG / vector store / chatbot context window where directory trees aren't supported. |
Earlier versions also shipped a
.skill(gzipped tar) artifact. That format isn't accepted by Cowork or Claude.ai web and isn't part of Anthropic's documented spec, so it was removed.
.
├── README.md
├── LICENSE.txt
├── .claude-plugin/
│ └── marketplace.json ← enables /plugin marketplace add
├── skills/ ← source of truth
│ ├── handsontable/
│ │ ├── SKILL.md
│ │ └── references/
│ └── hyperformula/
│ ├── SKILL.md
│ └── references/
├── dist/ ← generated artifacts (some tracked, some gitignored)
│ ├── handsontable-rag.md ← tracked
│ ├── hyperformula-rag.md ← tracked
│ ├── handsontable.zip ← gitignored, built on demand / by CI
│ └── hyperformula.zip ← gitignored, built on demand / by CI
├── scripts/
│ ├── build.sh ← regenerates dist/*.zip and dist/*-rag.md
│ └── check-links.sh ← verifies all skill URLs return 200
└── .github/workflows/release.yml ← builds zips on tag push, attaches to Release
After editing files in skills/, regenerate the dist artifacts:
./scripts/build.shThis checks all documentation links for 404s, then writes dist/handsontable.zip, dist/hyperformula.zip, dist/handsontable-rag.md, and dist/hyperformula-rag.md.
To skip the link check (e.g., offline, or in CI):
./scripts/build.sh --skip-linksTo check links independently, or auto-fix redirects:
./scripts/check-links.sh
./scripts/check-links.sh --fix-redirectsEach skill is tagged independently and the tag's version matches the underlying product version, so handsontable-skills/handsontable@v17.0.0 is the skill that targets Handsontable 17.0.0. Both skills live in one repo (rather than two) because they cross-reference each other constantly — a change in one almost always wants a paired check in the other, and a monorepo keeps that atomic.
Tag formats:
# Skill matches a Handsontable / HyperFormula product release
git tag handsontable/v17.0.0 && git push origin handsontable/v17.0.0
git tag hyperformula/v3.2.0 && git push origin hyperformula/v3.2.0
# Skill-only fix (typo, broken link, no product change) — same product version + suffix
git tag handsontable/v17.0.0+skill.1 && git push origin handsontable/v17.0.0+skill.1Each push triggers .github/workflows/release.yml, which builds the matching skill's zip and attaches it (plus the flat -rag.md) to a GitHub Release named after the tag. The other skill is unaffected.
Regenerate and commit the tracked dist/*-rag.md files before tagging so RAG consumers see the same content as the released zip.
These skills are provided under the MIT License. See LICENSE.txt for details.
Handsontable and HyperFormula themselves are separately licensed products. A commercial Handsontable license includes HyperFormula when used inside the grid. HyperFormula can also be purchased separately for standalone/headless use.
| Handsontable | HyperFormula | |
|---|---|---|
| Non-commercial | Free (licenseKey: 'non-commercial-and-evaluation') |
Free (GPLv3, licenseKey: 'gpl-v3') |
| Commercial | Paid, per developer/year includes HyperFormula | Paid, per user/year |
| Pricing | handsontable.com/pricing | sales@handsontable.com |
| License details | License key docs | Licensing guide |
We welcome contributions to improve these skills. A few things to know about how they're designed:
Design philosophy. These skills are intentionally conceptual rather than exhaustive. They teach Claude how to think about each product — when to use what, common patterns, pitfalls to avoid — rather than trying to replicate the full documentation. The goal is for the skills to remain useful across product versions with minimal updates.
Progressive disclosure via references/. Each skill keeps SKILL.md short (under ~500 lines) as the always-loaded entry point, and pushes detail into references/*.md files that Claude reads on demand. The handsontable skill currently uses one references/docs-map.md curated link directory; the hyperformula skill is split into seven topic-specific reference files (api-quickref, configuration, custom-functions, error-handling, general-pitfalls, getting-started, vue3) plus the docs map. Both patterns are valid — split when one file grows past readability.
Why this works. Claude reads SKILL.md on every invocation, so it always has the conceptual foundation. For specifics, it follows links from the docs-map (or the topic-specific references) to the live docs. This approach means a new product version typically only requires updating version numbers and adding new entries — not rewriting the skill.
Standards we followed when creating these skills:
- Keep SKILL.md under ~500 lines; use reference files for overflow.
- Lead with working code examples that can be copy-pasted.
- Include a "Common Pitfalls" section based on real issues users hit.
- Include a "What this skill does NOT cover" section to help Claude route to the right skill.
- Add "Last verified" dates to docs-map files so staleness is visible.
- Make skill descriptions slightly "pushy" — Claude tends to under-trigger skills, so descriptions should be generous with trigger phrases.
- Cross-reference related skills by name so Claude can point users to the right one.
If you're adding a new skill or updating an existing one, follow these patterns and submit a PR.