Office Suite

Overview

The Allternit Office Suite is a family of document surfaces built on the @allternit/office-* engine and editor packages. Every editor runs inside the platform shell as a first-class ACI view, on dedicated desktop windows for “Open with” workflows, and inside the iOS read-only viewer. A single artifact contract stores the real file bytes, so the same .docx, .xlsx, .pptx, or .pdf can move between web, desktop, and mobile without conversion.

Allternit Docs

OpenXML word-processing editor (.docx) with byte-preserving save and a web-worker round-trip pipeline.

Allternit Sheets

OpenXML spreadsheet editor (.xlsx) with server-side IronCalc recalculation through the office engine.

Allternit Slides

OpenXML presentation editor (.pptx) with engine patch-save and web-worker round-trip.

Allternit PDF

PDF viewer built on pdf.js with page navigation, zoom, text extraction, and a handoff to Allternit Sign.

Allternit Sign

Native, client-side PDF signing — add signers, place fields, draw or type signatures, and download the signed document.

All five surfaces are reachable from the unified launcher at /office, which is also embedded in the shell’s Office & Extensions hub.

Routes and shell view types

Surface	Route	Shell view type	What it accepts
Allternit Docs	`/docs/:artifactId?`	`docs`	Blank document, artifact ID, or file handoff
Allternit Sheets	`/sheets/:artifactId?`	`sheets`	Blank workbook, artifact ID, or file handoff
Allternit Slides	`/slides/:artifactId?`	`slides`	Blank deck, artifact ID, or file handoff
Allternit PDF	`/pdf/:artifactId?`	`pdf`	Artifact ID or file handoff (viewer only)
Allternit Sign	`/sign`	`sign`	Upload a PDF or receive a handoff from the PDF viewer
Office Launcher	`/office`	`browser-extensions` / standalone	Create-new cards and “Open a file” for any supported format

Each route is optional-artifactId, so /docs opens a blank document and /docs/art_018f3a7c... loads that artifact directly.

Artifact section kinds

Every editor persists (or reads) the same artifact payload, regardless of whether it is opened from the shell, a desktop window, or the iOS viewer.

Editor	Binary section kind	Plaintext section kind	Notes
Allternit Docs	`docs-editor/binary`	`docs-editor/plaintext`	Base64-encoded `.docx` bytes are the source of truth; plaintext is extracted for search and iOS
Allternit Sheets	`sheets-editor/binary`	`sheets-editor/plaintext`	Base64-encoded `.xlsx` bytes; plaintext extracted for search and iOS
Allternit Slides	`slides-editor/binary`	`slides-editor/plaintext`	Base64-encoded `.pptx` bytes; plaintext extracted for search and iOS
Allternit PDF	`pdf-viewer/binary`	—	Viewer only; the original PDF bytes are read but not written back
Allternit Sign	`pdf`	—	The signed output is saved as a `pdf` data-URL section in a document artifact

Legacy section kinds such as docs-editor/<block>, sheets-editor/sheet, slides-editor/slide, and pdf-viewer/page are upgraded on load where needed; new saves write the binary/plaintext pair above.

Desktop integration

On the Electron desktop app (surfaces/allternit-desktop), the suite follows a shell-first model. In normal use, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and PDF open as ACI shell views using the same docs/sheets/slides/pdf view types as the web platform. The Office launcher at /office — and the shell’s Office & Extensions hub — reuses a single OfficeSuiteSection component that calls the registry’s open to launch in-shell editors. Dedicated desktop windows are reserved for two cases: “Open with Allternit” file associations and explicit pop-out / multi-window use. The desktop registers fileAssociations for .docx, .xlsx, .pptx, and .pdf; macOS open-file, Windows second-instance, and cold-start argv are all routed through openOfficeWithFile(). The payload is delivered to the renderer over office:open-file IPC, the platform’s desktop-bridge.ts stashes it in the one-shot file handoff, and the launcher navigates to the correct editor route. Because the same artifact section contract drives routes, shell views, desktop windows, and mobile, a document saved on the web opens byte-for-byte identically on desktop and iOS.

iOS read-only viewer

Editing on iOS is deferred until the web editor fully stabilizes; the current mobile surface is a read-only viewer. The iOS feature lives in surfaces/allternit-mobile/ios/Features/Office/ and includes:

OfficeArtifactClient — artifact-service client for fetching documents.
OfficeDocumentsView — list presented from the Artifacts library toolbar.
OfficeDocumentView — native read-only rendering of every editor’s section mapping (doc blocks, slide cards, sheet TSV grid, and PDF pages).
OfficeEditorWebView — WKWebView to the platform editor route with a Bearer-signed initial navigation.

DEBUG builds support -open-office-documents and -open-office-document-id <id> regression arguments. The flow is verified end-to-end in the iPhone simulator: a live artifact from the gateway is listed, and the native read-only view renders its heading and paragraphs.

Office AI assistant

The suite includes an Allternit-backed AI assistant via the @allternit/office-ai package. It replaces the upstream editor’s chat transport with one that streams from the platform’s own agent runtime:

streamOfficeAi() POSTs /api/agent-chat and normalizes the platform SSE {chunk_type, chunk} stream into delta, tool-call, tool-result, done, and error chunks.
OfficeAgentLoop exposes the same AgentLoop interface (busy, run, cancel, reset, restore, and the usual events) so the vendored AI panels work unchanged.
The Docs editor uses a real AiPanel.tsx implementation that streams document blocks as context. Sheets, Slides, and PDF re-export the loop through their agent stubs so their existing panels connect immediately.
A settings gate returns provider allternit with a platform-managed key, satisfying the panel’s configuration check without shipping real credentials to the client.

The E2E suite at surfaces/ai.allternit.com/tests/office-ai.spec.ts streams answers into all four editor assistant panels from a mocked SSE endpoint.

Opening editors from code

Shell view registry

Inside the platform shell, use the registry’s open helper with a view type and optional context:

// Open an existing artifact
open('docs', { artifactId: 'art_018f3a7c...' });
open('sheets', { artifactId: 'art_018f3a7c...' });
open('slides', { artifactId: 'art_018f3a7c...' });
open('pdf', { artifactId: 'art_018f3a7c...' });

// Open a blank editor
open('docs');
open('sign');

File handoff

For files that do not already live as artifacts, stash the bytes and pass the handoff ID:

import { stashFile } from '@/views/office/file-handoff';

const handoffId = stashFile({ name: 'report.docx', bytes: docxUint8Array });
open('docs', { handoffId });

The launcher uses the same stashFile/takeFile one-shot handoff, so desktop file associations and the Open a file button flow through the exact same path. If you are outside the shell (for example, in a standalone page or a test), navigate to the route directly:

navigate('/docs/art_018f3a7c...');
navigate('/sheets', { state: { handoffId } });
navigate('/office');

Get Started

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Guides

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Release Notes

Overview

Allternit Docs

Allternit Sheets

Allternit Slides

Allternit PDF

Allternit Sign

Routes and shell view types

Artifact section kinds

Desktop integration

iOS read-only viewer

Office AI assistant

Opening editors from code

Shell view registry

File handoff

Direct route navigation

​Overview

Allternit Docs

Allternit Sheets

Allternit Slides

Allternit PDF

Allternit Sign

​Routes and shell view types

​Artifact section kinds

​Desktop integration

​iOS read-only viewer

​Office AI assistant

​Opening editors from code

​Shell view registry

​File handoff

​Direct route navigation

​Related pages

Overview

Routes and shell view types

Artifact section kinds

Desktop integration

iOS read-only viewer

Office AI assistant

Opening editors from code

Shell view registry

File handoff

Direct route navigation

Related pages