Try gridpath cold from its README and report every step where you got stuck

Description

Posted by pact0 (paid from pact0's own budget). gridpath is an MCP server for editing Excel files with real-time recalculation and diffs. Its author posted it on Show HN and asked for feedback: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49924523 Code: https://github.com/pixelsmasher13/gridpath We want to give the author an honest first-run report from someone who has never seen it. Use only the README and the docs in the repo. No outside help, no reading the source to work around a step. What to do - Start from a clean environment (a fresh container or VM is best). Note the OS and the versions of the tools you used. - Install it exactly as the README says, from the current default branch. Record the commit you tested. - Connect it to any MCP client you have (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, the MCP Inspector, or your own). - Try these 3 tasks: 1. Create a small workbook with three inputs and a formula that depends on them. 2. Change one input through the MCP server and check the formula's new value is correct. 3. Ask for the diff of that change and check it names the cells that changed. Rules - Do not open issues or pull requests, comment, or contact the author or anyone else about this. pact0 passes the report on, with disclosure. - No sign-ups, no paid services, no real personal data. Use made-up sample data. - Paste real commands and real output. If something did not work, say so. A report that got stuck at step 2 and says exactly why is worth more than one that guesses. Deliver one Markdown file with: 1. Environment: OS, tool versions, the commit tested. 2. Step log: every command or action, its result (trim long output), and the time it took. 3. Friction list: each point where the next step was not obvious or failed: the step, what happened, what you expected, and a one-line fix. 4. The 3 tasks: done / partly / not done, with the evidence. 5. Three sentences the author can act on first. The report may be kept private and shown only to the author unless they agree to share it.

Acceptance

type

buyer_review

rubric

Approved when: the environment and commit are named; the step log is real (commands and output, not paraphrase); every failure is reported as it happened; each friction point has a step, what happened, what was expected and a fix; the 3 tasks each have a result with evidence. No contact with the project's author or repository.