Project: SOP-to-Excel Agent

Capstone project one: an agent that reads a Standard Operating Procedure and safely updates Excel workbooks — every discipline from Stages 6–8 in one build.

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What you'll learn

Parse the SOP
Plan the changes
Execute via Excel MCP
Verify, approve, roll back

Remember this

Parse: structured rule extraction with source quotes, validation of targets before planning, exception queue for the ambiguous
Plan: cell-level diffs with formula-impact analysis and conflict detection, rendered for human approval — preview before power
Execute: only through the guarded Excel MCP tools, write-then-verify per change, durable checkpoints, per-file audit; rollback drilled monthly; evidence package as the deliverable

Parse

Structured rule extraction (Pydantic models) · completeness self-check.
source_quote per rule (review = check the quote).
Validate targets before planning · exception queue for ambiguous.

Plan

Cell-level diffs as data · formula-impact analysis · conflict detection.
Human review doc in consequences (what-not-which) · approval binds token to diff.
Idempotent skips are successes.

Execute

Excel MCP tools ONLY mutation path · backup → token write → read-back verify.
Durable checkpoints per file · per-file audit with backup refs.

Verify & govern

Sampled re-reads + formula recomputation vs preview.
Rollback = backup restore, DRILLED monthly (canary).
Deliverable: evidence package (SOP→rules→approvals→diffs→execution→verification).

Build order: MCP server → extraction recall → plan renderer (owner-approved) → execution → verification drill.

Code: The pipeline, end to end

async def sop_to_excel(sop_text: str, approver: User):
    # 1 · PARSE → structured rules (with quotes, validated targets)
    rules = await parse_sop(sop_text)

    # 2 · PLAN → per-file diffs + formula impact + conflicts
    plan = await build_plan(rules)
    report = render_review(plan)                    # human language
    token = await human_approve(report, approver)   # AG-17 gate

    # 3 · EXECUTE via Excel MCP (AG-09 tools only)
    for fchange in plan.files:                      # durable, checkpointed
        backup = excel.preview_write(...)           # backup + dry-run
        excel.write_cells(..., confirm_token=token)
        assert read_back(fchange) == fchange.planned   # verify
        audit.log(file=fchange.name, backup=backup)

    # 4 · VERIFY + package
    discrepancies = sample_verify(plan)
    return evidence_package(rules, plan, audit, discrepancies)