refigure

Converters where figures survive.

DOCX/XLSX → Markdown that keeps charts and infographics machine-readable instead of losing them to OCR or a vision model: native OOXML chart data (numCache/strCache) recovers exact numbers with zero GPU calls, zero VLM calls, zero lost precision — by default, not as a fallback.

That default path is also why the base install (pip install "refigure[docx,xlsx]") is ~500x lighter than PyTorch-based alternatives (5.6MB vs. multi-GB) — the core conversion needs no ML model at all. That number is about the core architecture, not every distribution format: the Docker image trades it back deliberately, bundling VLM providers + LibreOffice for a turnkey composite-figure path (see Docker below).

VLM interpretation itself is there for the rare figure with no native data at all (a dashboard screenshot) — never required just to get real numbers out of a chart, on any distribution format.

Ships as a library, CLI, MCP server, and a one-click Claude Desktop bundle — every surface returns the same native-fidelity output, not a degraded summary for agents.

Features

• Native chart-data extraction — reads OOXML numCache/strCache directly; no rasterize/OCR/VLM step for charts, real numbers every time.
• Positioned zero-loss markers for composite figures (DOCX) — grouped shapes/infographics that mammoth would otherwise silently fragment into disconnected pieces get a clean marker instead, with position and any caption text preserved. Absent even in well-funded incumbents — see Docling issue #1287.
• Optional VLM interpretation (DOCX composite figures, [vlm] extra, --vlm/Config(use_vlm=True)) — cloud description + a real rendered mermaid diagram (26 supported diagram types — flowcharts, pie/xy charts, sequence/state/ER diagrams, Gantt/timeline/sankey/treemap and more, see Status below) on top of the zero-loss floor, for figures with no native chart data at all (e.g. a dashboard screenshot). Provider-agnostic — OpenRouter by default, or direct OpenAI/Ollama/vLLM/LM Studio/Anthropic via --vlm-provider ([vlm-direct] extra). --strict upgrades one specific failure (the system soffice/LibreOffice binary missing) from a graceful skip to a hard error; every other VLM failure still degrades.
• Rich, typed result — ConversionResult (markdown + warnings + chart/group counts + vlm_used), not a bare string.
• CLI included — refigure console command, stdin/stdout-first, native batch mode, typed exit codes (see below).
• MCP server included — refigure-mcp console command ([mcp] extra), stdio or Streamable HTTP, tools/resources/prompts, batch conve

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