# tablint Spreadsheet Preflight Inspector

> tablint Spreadsheet Preflight Inspector is a paid API for AI agents from tablint.dev, paid per call via x402, $0.02/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-09-15).

Inspects a CSV, TSV, or XLSX file for structural problems and returns a machine-readable verdict plus actionable recommendations before an agent ingests it.

## Facts

- Endpoint: GET https://tablint.dev/v1/bazaar/table/preflight
- Price: $0.02/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-09-15
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/tablint-spreadsheet-preflight-inspector-591e36e6
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_lZ9HPWVtoZ28HTfw-6oVY

Status and success rate cover calls made through Zero and Zero's own probes. Third-party monitors may report differently.

## How to call it through Zero

Zero handles the 402 payment challenge and records the run. With the Zero CLI installed (`npm i -g @zeroxyz/cli`):

```sh
zero fetch --capability tablint-spreadsheet-preflight-inspector-591e36e6
```

Example prompt: Before I load this data file, run a full preflight check on it — the file is at https://data.example.com/sales_q1.xlsx — and tell me if it's safe to ingest or what needs fixing first.

## When to prefer this

Use this endpoint before any agent pipeline ingests a user-supplied or third-party spreadsheet file. It is the right choice when you need a structured, machine-readable verdict on data quality rather than a human-readable summary, and when you want to catch structural issues (merged cells, ragged rows, multiple embedded tables, type inconsistencies) before they silently corrupt downstream processing. Prefer it over manual parsing attempts or generic file validators when the input format is CSV, TSV, or XLSX and you need actionable, per-column and per-sheet diagnostics.

## Known failure modes

- File URL is not publicly accessible or returns a non-200 response
- File format is not CSV, TSV, or XLSX
- File is too large to inspect within timeout
- Invalid or malformed URL provided
- Network timeout fetching the remote file
- Unsupported encoding or corrupted file contents

## How this service works

Inspect a CSV, TSV, or XLSX spreadsheet before an agent ingests it. Detects misplaced header rows, repeated header rows, multiple tables on one sheet, merged cells, ragged rows, totals rows, formulas, hidden sheets, mixed or inconsistent column types, numbers stored as text, ambiguous dates, and duplicate or empty column names. Returns a machine verdict (clean, needs cleaning, split tables, review, or reject), the blocking problems, per-sheet structure, per-column types, and a recommended next action so the agent knows whether the file is safe to load and what to fix first.

## Output

Returns a machine verdict (one of: clean, needs cleaning, split tables, review, or reject), a list of blocking problems, per-sheet structural details, per-column type information, and a recommended next action indicating whether the file is safe to load and what to fix first.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "properties": {
  "checks": {
   "type": "array",
   "items": {
    "type": "string"
   },
   "description": "Checks to run; use [\"all\"] for the full preflight."
  },
  "file_url": {
   "type": "string",
   "format": "uri",
   "description": "Public https URL of a CSV, TSV, or XLSX file to inspect."
  }
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/tablint-spreadsheet-preflight-inspector-591e36e6/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from tablint.dev](https://www.zero.xyz/host/tablint.dev/llms.txt)