Using AI to create and update App Specification Excel Workbook to generate Sheetward Apps

Sheetward apps are always generated deterministically from an App Specification workbook — the AI never builds the app itself. Three optional assistants help you author that workbook, one for each moment in an app's life, and whatever they produce lands on the same review step as a hand-authored workbook: you check it, you approve it, Sheetward builds it.

• Draft with AI — create. Describe the app you need and the AI writes a brand-new App Specification workbook.
• Revise with AI — change or update. Describe a change and the AI edits your existing app's specification; you approve the exact change preview before anything is applied.
• Reshape with AI — error handling. When an upload is blocked because the workbook holds working data rather than a specification, the AI reshapes it into one (with your explicit consent).

Each generate, revision or reshape counts as one AI authoring on your plan's monthly allowance, plus one per additional language it drafts — see your workspace Usage meter.

What makes a description work well

These habits apply to all three assistants:

• Name the fields — "with details: A, B, C". Unlisted fields are guessed, and every guess is listed as an assumption for you to review.
• Put list values inline — "Department has list of values: Finance, HR, …" becomes a List_ sheet feeding a dropdown.
• Say what's required, what's the key, and what's auto-generated — these become Rules_ rows. Ask for "appropriate messages" to get custom error text instead of the defaults.
• Describe calculations in plain words — "Amount = Quantity × Unit Price", "Total is the sum of line amounts" become Formula_ rows.
• Dashboards only appear when asked — say "include a dashboard with …" to get a Report_ sheet.
• Additional languages appear when named — "support additional languages German, Japanese". Supported: German, Japanese, Arabic. Each additional language bills one extra AI authoring.
• Write in your own language — the specification itself is always authored in English (every app's base language); a description written in German, Japanese or Arabic automatically adds that language, so the app also displays in the language you wrote in.

Draft with AI — create a new app

On New app, choose Draft with AI, describe the app and give it a name — the name is required and also names the downloadable workbook ("<App name> Specification.xlsx"). Nine example prompts, from simple to ambitious:

1 · Student List — a simple single-form register.

Prompt: "Create a Student List with details – Student Name, Grade, Gender, Age, State, Photo."

What to expect: one form with typed fields (Age numeric). Photo becomes a real image-upload field — media types are recognized from field names (photo, picture, avatar → image; also video, audio, document).

2 · Budget — master-data lists.

Prompt: "Create a Budget application with details – Year, Department, Budget Item, Budget Category, Budget in $, LY Actuals in $. Department has list of values – Finance, HR, Purchasing, Warehouse, Corporate. Budget Category has list of values – Capital, Marketing, Maintenance, Special Project, Operations, Corporate."

What to expect: List_Department and List_Budget Category feeding dropdowns; the two $ fields typed as money.

3 · Expense Tracker — auto-numbering and validations with messages.

Prompt: "Create an Expense Tracker with details – Expense ID, Description, Date, Expense Category, Amount. Expense ID is auto generated. Expense Category has list of values – Rent, Mortgage, Car, Insurance, Grocery, Utilities, Entertainment, Travel, Charity, Others. Add validation to check Date should not be in the future. Description, Date and Amount are required fields. All validation errors should have appropriate messages."

What to expect: an auto-numbered Expense ID (the record key), required rules with your custom messages, a no-future-dates check, and the category dropdown.

4 · Purchase Orders — header + line items, calculated fields.

Prompt: "Create a Purchase Order application. Each PO has a PO Number, Supplier, Order Date and Status (Draft/Sent/Received). Lines have an Item, Quantity and Unit Price. Calculate the line Amount as Quantity times Unit Price and the PO Total as the sum of line amounts. PO Number is auto-generated starting at 1000. Supplier comes from a list: Acme Supplies, Globex Trading, Initech. Order Date defaults to today and is required."

What to expect: a two-section form (header + line-item table), live formulas for Amount and PO Total, auto-numbering from 1000, and today's date as the default Order Date.

5 · Invoices with a dashboard — dashboards on request.

Prompt: "Create an Invoicing app. Each invoice has an Invoice No, Customer, Invoice Date, Due Date and Status (Draft/Sent/Paid/Overdue). Lines have a Description, Quantity, Unit Price and Amount; calculate the line Amount and the Invoice Total. Due Date cannot be before the Invoice Date. Include a dashboard with a monthly revenue trend, revenue by customer, and an invoice-count KPI."

What to expect: everything from the Purchase Orders example plus a dashboard — a KPI, a monthly trend chart and a customer breakdown. Dashboards cost nothing extra (your plan's dashboard allowance applies).

6 · Multi-language app — named languages bill extra.

Prompt: "Create a Snack Inventory app: Item, Category (Chips/Candy/Drinks), Quantity and Unit Price. Quantity is required and at least 0. Support additional languages German, Japanese."

What to expect: a Translation_App sheet with German and Japanese labels, plus translated dropdown values. Billing: 1 AI authoring + 1 per language → 3 for this prompt.

7 · A prompt in German — write in your own language.

Prompt: "Erstelle eine Spesen-App. Formular 'Spesenabrechnung' mit den Feldern: Mitarbeiter, Datum, Kategorie (Reisen, Verpflegung, Büromaterial), Betrag, Beleg (Foto) und Bemerkungen. Der Betrag muss größer als 0 sein; Mitarbeiter und Datum sind Pflichtfelder."

What to expect: the specification is authored in English (Employee, Date, Category, Amount, Receipt, Remarks) — and because the description is written in German, German is added automatically as an app language, no need to name it. Receipt (Foto) becomes an image field. Billing: 2 AI authorings (1 + 1 for the implicit German).

8 · Work Orders — conditional validation and cross-field dates.

Prompt: "Create a Work Order tracker: Work Order No (auto-generated), Machine, Reported Date, Priority (Low/Medium/High), Status (Open/In Progress/Done), Completed Date and Notes. Completed Date is required if Status is 'Done' and cannot be before the Reported Date."

What to expect: a conditional rule (Completed Date required only when Status is Done) and a date bound that references another field.

9 · The vague one-liner — assumptions surface for review.

Prompt: "I need something to manage my small bakery."

What to expect: a sensible minimal draft — the AI never asks questions back; every guess it made (which forms, which fields, which lists) is stated in the assumptions panel so you can correct course, regenerate, or refine the workbook in Excel.

Revise with AI — change or update an existing app

Open your app's Change app dialog and choose Revise with AI. Short, targeted change requests work best — the AI edits the app's current specification, and you approve the standard change preview (exactly which fields are added or removed) before anything is applied. Example change requests:

• "Add a Reorder Level field (required, minimum 0) and a Supplier field to the item form."
• "Add a Discount % field to the line items and include it in the Amount calculation."
• "Add a dashboard with spend by category and a monthly total."
• "Rename the Status values to Open and Closed, and make Notes optional."
• "Also support Japanese." — adds Japanese translations and bills 1 AI authoring + 1 for the new language. Languages the app already has are free to keep: an ordinary revision on a multi-language app is still just one AI authoring.

Reshape with AI — when an upload is blocked

No prompt needed. If your upload is blocked because the workbook holds working data rather than an App Specification, the error panel offers Reshape with AI. This is the only assistant that sends your file's contents to the AI, so it asks for your explicit consent first — and values that look personal (email addresses, phone and card numbers) are removed before anything is sent. The reshaped draft replaces real-looking values with generic samples and goes through the usual review. The optional note box accepts a short steer, e.g.:

• "Track which customers owe money — the sheet lists the customer, a contact and the amount outstanding."

Good to know

• You always approve — every draft, revision and reshape passes the same checks as an uploaded workbook and lands on the review step; nothing is created or applied without you.
• The workbook is always yours — download "<App name> Specification.xlsx" anytime, polish it in Excel, and upload it like any workbook.
• Billing is visible — your plan's monthly AI authorings allowance shows on the workspace Usage meter; each generate, revision or reshape counts as one, plus one per additional language drafted.