Overview

You can use ONLYOFFICE Document Builder to generate documents from .js script files via the command line (CLI). To launch it, run:

Windows

docbuilder.exe mydocument.js

Linux

documentbuilder mydocument.js

macOS

documentbuilder mydocument.js

Use the full path to the executable if running from a different folder. Replace mydocument.js with the path to your script file.

Visit the Script file section for more information about file structure and syntax rules.

Server integration

For examples of using Document Builder CLI on servers with different programming languages (C#, Node.js, PHP, Ruby), see the document-builder-integration repository.

builder vs builderJS

There are two objects available for working with documents. Both provide access to CDocBuilder methods, but they differ in how they handle JavaScript variables.

Object	Description	JS variables
builder	Line-by-line parser. Best for simple scripts with static values.	Wrap with jsValue: "jsValue(myVar)"
builderJS	Native JavaScript wrapper. Best for dynamic values and complex logic.	Use directly: myVar

Example

const outputPath = "result.docx";

// builder - requires jsValue wrapper
builder.CreateFile("docx");
builder.SaveFile("docx", "jsValue(outputPath)");
builder.CloseFile();

// builderJS - use variables directly
builderJS.CreateFile("docx");
builderJS.SaveFile("docx", outputPath);
builderJS.CloseFile();

Incorrect

const outputPath = "result.docx";
builder.SaveFile("docx", outputPath);              // Will not work!
builderJS.SaveFile("docx", "jsValue(outputPath)"); // Will not work!

Working with multiple files

Document Builder works with one file at a time. To work with multiple files in a script, close the current file before opening another:

builderJS.CreateFile("docx");
// ... work with first document
builderJS.SaveFile("docx", "first.docx");
builderJS.CloseFile();

builderJS.CreateFile("xlsx");
// ... work with second document
builderJS.SaveFile("xlsx", "second.xlsx");
builderJS.CloseFile();

OpenTmpFile

The builderJS object provides an additional OpenTmpFile method beyond CDocBuilder. To open another file for manipulation (document comparison, mail merge, etc.) without affecting the main document:

const tmpFile = builderJS.OpenTmpFile("document.docx");

The returned object has the following methods:

Name	Description
IsValid	Returns true if the temporary file is valid.
GetBinary	Returns Uint8Array with the doct/pptt/xlst binary content.
GetFolder	Returns the path to the temporary folder with the file contents.
Close	Closes the file and removes the temporary folder contents.
GetImageMap	Returns a dictionary with imageId -> imagePath pairs for inserting into the document.

Passing arguments

You can pass arguments from the command line to your script using the --argument flag. Arguments are passed as a JSON object and accessed via the global Argument object.

See Using command line arguments for details and examples.

GlobalVariable

Use the global GlobalVariable object to share data between documents. Variables persist after closing a file and can be accessed in subsequently opened files.

See Sharing data between files for details and examples.