Quickstart ​

What is OpenDocBot? ​

OpenDocBot is an open-source AI agent and interface for Microsoft Office. It plugs into Word, Excel and PowerPoint and connects your documents to a broad range of AI providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Ollama, OpenRouter, OpenCode, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint) so the model can read, write and format your content directly inside the document.

Bring your own API keys and your own models: no single-provider monopoly, no vendor lock-in. Every action can pass through a human-in-the-loop approval gate, and the whole thing is self-hostable; your data never has to leave your infrastructure.

📺 Video walkthrough, coming soon. We're recording a short walkthrough showing installation and first use; it will be embedded right here.

Try the hosted instance ​

The quickest way to start: a public instance is hosted at opendocbot.com. That server only serves the add-in once, when your Office taskpane first loads it. From that moment the application runs entirely on your machine, inside your browser, and talks to your AI provider directly. No document data ever reaches our servers.

Requirements ​

  • Microsoft Office 365: Word, Excel or PowerPoint (desktop or web)
  • An LLM provider that allows browser access (see below)

1. Get the manifest ​

The hosted instance publishes a production manifest at:

https://opendocbot.com/manifest.xml

2. Sideload it in Office ​

The add-in can be sideloaded in a non-persistent way (it vanishes on page refresh) by uploading the manifest.xml directly into any Office 365 app (Word, PowerPoint or Excel), following this guide: Manually sideload an add-in to Office on the web.

⚠️ Microsoft Store, planned. We plan to publish the add-in to the Microsoft Store for a one-click install. Until then, sideload the manifest as described above; same add-in, same experience.

The add-in can also be sideloaded persistently using a network share, following this guide: Create a network shared folder catalog for task pane and content add-ins.

For Teams and IT-managed devices, the add-in can be deployed centrally by uploading the manifest.xml to the Microsoft 365 admin center, following this guide: Manage deployment of add-ins in the admin center.

3. Connect a provider ​

  1. Open the add-in Settings (gear icon)
  2. Pick a Preset, paste your API key
  3. Test Connection, then Apply

⚠️ Which providers work in the hosted instance? The hosted app calls providers directly from the browser, so they must allow browser-origin (CORS) requests. OpenAI, Google Gemini, Anthropic Claude and OpenRouter work out of the box. OpenCode Zen does not allow browser access; its preset is hidden in the hosted build and it only works on a self-hosted deployment with the proxy enabled. See Compatibility.

4. Talk to your document ​

Type a request and press Enter; for example, in Word: "Make the selected heading green and bold." Or in PowerPoint: "Turn this deck into a retro wine label style."

Self-hosting ​

If you want full control, or need the proxy for providers without browser CORS (like OpenCode Zen), you can run OpenDocBot on your own infrastructure. The full guide (Docker, Node, static hosting, HTTPS/TLS certificates, the proxy and production manifests) is on the Self-hosting page.

Next steps ​

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