Core concepts

This page explains the handful of terms everything else builds on: workbook, inputs, outputs, AI areas, draft and published, save versus publish, and tokens.

Workbook

The workbook is your spreadsheet inside a service: the sheets, cells and formulas. You import it from Excel or Google Sheets, or build it in the editor on the Configuration (Konfiguration) tab. It stays on the server and is never sent to callers. See Import an Excel file.

Inputs

An input is a cell a caller may fill. Each input has a name that callers use, a title for people, a type, and optionally a default, a minimum, a maximum or a list of allowed values. When a call arrives, its input values are written into these cells and the workbook recalculates. See Add inputs.

Outputs

An output is a cell or a range whose calculated value goes back to the caller. A single cell returns one value; a range returns a table of values. See Add outputs.

Inputs and outputs together are called parameters. You manage them in the parameter panel under Parameters (Parameter).

AI areas

The parameter panel has a second tab, AI Areas (KI-Bereiche). An AI area is a region of the workbook that an AI assistant may explore as a whole, within the permissions you give it, instead of single cells. In the app, adding an AI area is currently marked "coming soon". See AI areas.

Draft and published

A service is in one of two states:

• Draft (Entwurf): you can edit and test it in the app. It has no public address; calls answer HTTP 404.
• Published (Veröffentlicht): it has an address and answers calls over the API, AI, apps and automation tools.

Drafts are free and unlimited on every plan. How many services may be published at the same time depends on the plan; see Published services limit.

Save versus publish

These are two separate steps:

The published version is a snapshot. If you change and save a published service, callers keep getting the old version until you republish. To republish or unpublish, click the status button Published in the header.

See Save changes and Publish and republish.

Tokens

A published service is either public or protected:

• Public: anyone who has the address can call it.
• Protected: a call must carry a token, a secret text you create under API → Access (Zugriff).

Creating the first token switches protection on; revoking the last token switches it off. This takes effect at once, without republishing. A token is shown only once, when you create it. See Tokens and access.

For developers and agents

• Input names are matched without regard to upper and lower case.
• POST body: {"inputs": {"name": value}}. GET: inputs as query parameters.
• Token on a call: header Authorization: Bearer <token>, or ?token=<token> on GET.
• A draft or unpublished service answers HTTP 404 with "Service not found or not published".
• A missing or invalid input or token answers HTTP 400; the text in error says which. See Error reference.

FAQ

What is the difference between save and publish?

Save stores your changes for you; publish puts the saved state online for callers. Changes to a published service reach callers only after you save and then republish.

I changed a formula. Why do callers still get the old result?

The published version is a snapshot of the service at the time you published. Save the change, then click Published and choose Republish.

What is an input and what is an output?

An input is a cell a caller fills; an output is a cell or range whose calculated value is returned. A cell with a formula is normally an output, a cell with a typed value an input.

What is a draft?

A draft is a service that is not online. You can edit and test it in the app, it does not count against the plan's published services, and calls to it answer HTTP 404.

Do I need a token?

Only if you want to restrict who can call the service. Without tokens the service is public for everyone who has the address; with at least one token, every call must carry a valid token.

Does a caller change my workbook?

No. Each call calculates with the values it sends and returns the results. The workbook you published stays as it is.

Can I add AI areas?

The AI Areas tab is visible in the parameter panel, and adding an area is marked "coming soon" in the app. Use inputs and outputs to open cells to an AI; see AI overview.

As an agent, how do I know whether a service is a draft or published?

Over the API, a draft answers HTTP 404. Through an account connection, the service list returns each service's state, and running a draft answers with the code not_published.