Show HN: I created a spreadsheet in a plain text file

A developer released Ordinate, an open-source plain-text spreadsheet format and desktop app that supports formulas and lets AI read and edit workbooks directly without spreadsheet-specific tools. The developer said the project began with small tasks like tracking a dog's health records and organizing tax-season records, and that the in-app agent is available on the desktop version with ChatGPT sign-in. The developer said the goal is for Ordinate to do for spreadsheets what Markdown did for documents.

I built a plain-text spreadsheet format and an app for working with it. It began with small tasks like tracking my dog's health records and organizing records for tax season. Full spreadsheet apps always felt excessive, while Markdown tables don't support formulas. Also, its compact and readable syntax lets AI read and edit a workbook directly, without spreadsheet-specific tools. You can try the in-app agent on the desktop version with ChatGPT sign-in. Ordinate is now open source and available to try. My hope is for it to do for spreadsheets what Markdown did for documents. For more about it: https://ordinate.dev https://ordinate.dev Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50298001 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50298001 Points: 1 Comments: 0