gdocs-tab-writer

Write structured, formatted content to a specific tab in a Google Doc.

Why This Skill Exists

Most gdocs write commands (write, import-md --update) do NOT support the --tab flag. The only reliable way to write to a specific tab is:

GDOCS=/google/bin/releases/gemini-agents-gdocs/gdocs
$GDOCS batch DOC_ID -f batch.json --tab TAB_ID

Quick Reference

Step 1: Find the tab ID

$GDOCS list-tabs DOC_ID

Step 2: Build a batch JSON file

Every object MUST have an "op" field. The "level" field on headings MUST be a string, not a number.

[
  {"op": "heading", "text": "My Title", "level": "1"},
  {"op": "append", "text": "\nSome body text.\n"},
  {"op": "heading", "text": "Section", "level": "2"},
  {"op": "append", "text": "\nMore content here.\n"},
  {"op": "bullet-list", "text": "First point"},
  {"op": "bullet-list", "text": "Second point"},
  {"op": "numbered-list", "text": "Step one"},
  {"op": "numbered-list", "text": "Step two"},
  {"op": "insert-table", "table_data": [["Col A", "Col B"], ["val1", "val2"]], "table_header_bg_color": "#e8f0fe", "table_header_bold": true}
]

Step 3: Execute the batch

$GDOCS batch DOC_ID -f /path/to/batch.json --tab TAB_ID

To replace all existing content in the tab:

$GDOCS batch DOC_ID -f /path/to/batch.json --tab TAB_ID --replace-all

Gotchas (Things That Do NOT Work)

Available Ops

All ops support optional styling: bold, italic, font_family, font_size, text_color, alignment, paragraph_bg_color.

Full Workflow Example

GDOCS=/google/bin/releases/gemini-agents-gdocs/gdocs
DOC_ID="1GwoW3rTCg0_tuW5VWK7bKUJ0o3s5M7pqYWF7Yb4flZw"

# 1. List tabs to find the target
$GDOCS list-tabs $DOC_ID

# 2. Save batch JSON to a scratch file
# (use write_to_file to create /path/to/batch.json)

# 3. Write to the tab
$GDOCS batch $DOC_ID -f /path/to/batch.json --tab t.8mtzp4dajt86

# 4. Verify
$GDOCS read $DOC_ID --tab t.8mtzp4dajt86