openintern Docs Join the waitlist

Start

Getting started

Add OpenIntern to Excel, PowerPoint or Word, add a key from your AI provider, and ask for your first result. It takes a few minutes.

Before you start

You need:

  • Office. For the store add-in, a current version of Microsoft 365 on Windows or Mac, or Office on the web. For the local software, Microsoft 365 Excel, PowerPoint or Word on a Mac.
  • An API key from an AI provider. OpenAI and Anthropic are the providers we test most; Providers and keys lists the others. Your provider bills you for what your tasks use, at its normal rates. OpenIntern itself is free.
  • For the local software only: Node.js 24.

Neither way of installing is out yet: the store listing is in final testing and the local installer ships with the open-source release. The steps below are how each will work. Join the waitlist to hear when they are available.

Add the store add-in

  1. Add OpenIntern. In Excel, PowerPoint or Word, open Add-ins on the Home tab (or Insert > Get Add-ins), search for OpenIntern and choose Add. One add-in covers all three apps.
  2. Open the pane. On the Home tab choose Open OpenIntern. In Excel on the web, the button can sit in the ribbon's overflow menu.

A Microsoft 365 administrator can also deploy the add-in to an organisation from the Microsoft 365 admin center, under Integrated apps.

Or run it on your Mac

The local software runs the agent on your own computer, so your key and your documents go only to your AI provider. When the open-source release is out, one command installs it:

npx openintern

This installs the local server and Microsoft's localhost development certificate (macOS may ask for your login keychain password), registers the add-in with Excel, PowerPoint and Word, and opens Excel. Then open the pane from Home > Add-ins. Self-hosting and open source describes the server and its commands.

Add your API key

The first time you open the store add-in it shows a card that says what OpenIntern does, with an Add API key button and links to get a key. You can also add a key at any time:

  1. In the pane choose More (⋯), then Providers.
  2. Pick a provider, for example OpenAI or Anthropic, and paste your key.
  3. Choose Save, then Test connection. A test sends one tiny request through your key and reports the result.
  4. Choose Back to return to the conversation.

Don't have a key yet? Create one at platform.openai.com/api-keys or console.anthropic.com/settings/keys. Your provider may ask you to set up billing first. Where your key is kept explains what happens to it.

Run your first task

Type what you want in the box at the bottom of the pane and press Enter (Shift+Enter adds a line). Describe the outcome, not the steps. For example:

  • "Add a Summary sheet with revenue and margin by store, with formulas and a chart."
  • "Turn these figures into a five-slide board update."
  • "Draft a one-page memo on these results with a table."

While it works, the pane shows the plan and each step. The send button becomes a stop button, so you can stop the task at any time. When it finishes, the answer says what it did and which checks passed, and lists every change under What changed. Undo changes under the answer reverses the whole task.

Useful controls in the composer

  • Mode picker: how much OpenIntern does on its own. Start with Ask before edits, which asks you to approve each batch of changes, until you trust it with your documents. See Permission modes.
  • Model picker: the model for new tasks, from the providers you have set up.
  • Thinking: on by default. Off answers faster with lighter reasoning. See The Thinking switch.
  • + (Attach or connect): attach a CSV, XLSX, PDF, DOCX, PPTX, text or image file, or open the connectors.
  • @ references a sheet, range or open file, and / lists skills.

Try it on sample files

The review files are a made-up coffee company's workbook, a blank deck and a blank memo. Open the workbook in Excel and ask for a Summary sheet, then ask for a short board update deck in PowerPoint and a one-page memo in Word.

Next steps