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Documentation›First steps

Quickstart

Run one real task end to end, from prompt to approved write to verified build.

This walks a single task so you see the whole loop once: what the agent reads, what it asks permission for, and how it checks its own work.

You need Excelente installed with a model connected. Any workbook will do.

1. Open the pane and ask for something#

Click excelente on the Home tab. In the Chat tab, type:

Build a five-year cash flow on a new sheet. Year 1 NOI of $1,200,000,
3% annual growth, and a 10% capital reserve deducted each year.

Press Enter.

2. Watch it read before it writes#

The first lines in the transcript are read-only tool calls, marked with a ·:

· inspect_workbook    Workbook outline
· get_selection       Sheet1!A1

Read tools run silently because they cannot change anything. The agent is building a picture of what already exists so it does not overwrite your work or duplicate a sheet you already have. See What the agent can see.

On a build of more than a step or two, the next thing you see is a Tasks card. That is the agent's own checklist, and its last item is always verification.

3. Approve the writes#

When the agent is ready to change something, everything stops and an approval card appears:

create_sheet wants to modify the workbook.

Then, once the sheet exists:

write_range wants to modify the workbook. Cash Flow!A1:F14 — 84 cells

Show full input expands the exact JSON being written, so you can read the formulas before they land. Three buttons:

  • Approve runs this one call.
  • Deny refuses it and tells the agent why it got nothing, so it can adapt.
  • Approve all stops asking for the rest of this conversation.

Tables get written in chunks of ten rows or fewer, so a large build produces several prompts. Approve all is the answer once you trust what it is doing. It resets when the conversation does.

4. Read the change cards#

Each completed write collapses into a change card:

Wrote values / formulas

Hover it for the range. The most recent card carries an undo icon. Click it and the range goes back to exactly what it held before, formulas included.

5. Let it verify#

Before summarizing, the agent screenshots what it built and looks at the result, then spawns a Reviewer sub-agent to critique it independently. The Reviewer reads the workbook and reports back on correctness, concerns, and suggestions with cell citations.

If the Reviewer finds real problems, the agent fixes them and reviews again before it says anything to you. What reaches you is the final state plus the verdict. See Sub-agents and verification.

6. Undo if you want it gone#

Three ways, all equivalent:

  • The undo arrow in the composer toolbar.
  • The undo icon on the most recent change card.
  • Typing /undo.

Only the newest un-reverted write reverts in place. Older cards read superseded, and you get back to them by reverting the newer ones first. See Approvals and undo.

Try Plan mode next#

Ask for something larger, then click Plan in the composer toolbar before you send it. The agent investigates read-only and hands back a numbered plan instead of building. You read it, then click Promote to Work to execute or Request review to have a sub-agent critique the plan first.

Plan mode earns its keep on anything touching a model you already rely on, because the agent shows you what it intends to change before a single cell moves.

Where to go from here#