Today's Agent Skill: Spreadsheet Data Validator
What It Does
Bad data in spreadsheets compounds silently until someone makes a decision based on wrong numbers. This skill scans spreadsheet data for common errors — duplicates, format inconsistencies, outliers, and missing values — before they become problems.
How It Works
The Spreadsheet Data Validator reads CSV or Excel data and runs a battery of checks: duplicate rows, blank required fields, format mismatches (dates as text, currency without decimals), statistical outliers, and cross-column logic errors. It produces a clean error report with row-level citations so you fix issues at the source.
How to Deploy It
Run this skill before any data import, report compilation, or analysis task. For semi-autonomous use, wire it as a pre-processing step in your data pipeline so every spreadsheet gets validated before it hits your database or reporting tool.
SKILL.md — Ready to Deploy
# Spreadsheet Data Validator
## Description
Scan spreadsheet data for duplicates, format errors, missing values, outliers, and logic inconsistencies.
## Trigger
"validate this spreadsheet", "check this data for errors", "clean this CSV"
## Input
- Spreadsheet file (CSV, TSV, or pasted tabular data)
- Optional: column definitions with expected types and constraints
## Steps
1. Parse the data and identify columns with their apparent types
2. Check for duplicate rows (exact and near-duplicates)
3. Check for missing/blank values in each column
4. Validate format consistency per column (dates, currencies, percentages, emails)
5. Detect statistical outliers (values > 3 standard deviations from column mean)
6. Check cross-column logic (e.g., end_date > start_date, total = qty * price)
7. Produce error report with severity levels
## Output Format
```markdown
# Data Validation Report — [filename]
**Rows scanned:** 1,247 | **Errors found:** 23 | **Warnings:** 8
## Critical Errors
- Row 45: "total" (500.00) does not equal qty (10) * price (45.00) — expected 450.00
- Rows 112, 113: Exact duplicates
## Warnings
- Column "date": 3 values in MM/DD/YYYY format, rest in YYYY-MM-DD
- Column Copy the full SKILL.md file and drop it into your agent's skills directory to activate this skill.