Insert a pivot table from a range (first vertical slice)

What it does

Select a range and choose Insert ▸ Pivot table. A "Create pivot table" dialog opens — a Data range field and an Insert-to choice (New sheet is the only destination this first slice builds) — matching Google Sheets' own dialog shape. Confirming it groups the range's first column and sums its second, writing the result into a brand new sheet: the row field's own header name, a SUM of <value field> column, one row per distinct group, and a Grand Total row.

A blank or non-numeric value cell is skipped, never treated as zero. Editing a cell inside the pivot's source range updates the output immediately — there is no manual refresh button to click, because the output is recomputed from the live data on every relevant edit rather than cached.

Try it

What this slice deliberately does not do

Full Sheets pivot parity is epic-sized, so this first slice ships one real path end to end and defers the rest (each tracked as its own follow-up issue, filed alongside this manifest):

• Exactly one row field and one value field, SUM only. No Rows/Columns/Values/Filters picker panel yet — the range's first two columns are the only input. No COUNT, AVERAGE, MAX, MIN, or any other aggregation.
• No Columns (cross-tab) field, no Filters zone.
• "Existing sheet" is not a real destination yet — the dialog shows the radio (oracle fidelity) but it stays disabled.
• Live recompute covers only the single-cell/batch commit path. A source range edited via paste, fill, sort, import, clear-range, or a structural row/column insert/delete does not retrigger the pivot yet — the same "known gap, not silent corruption" posture Store.applyStructuralShift already documents for a chart's own range field (which has never re-pointed through a structural edit either). A pivot chained off ANOTHER pivot's own output does not cascade either.
• A value-column cell holding a FORMULA is not summed — computePivotTable reads raw input only, not an engine-resolved value (a documented v1 trade-off, not an oversight; see "How it works").
• No wire command or MCP tool yet (pivot:insert et al.) — the pure core and Store method are already headless-composable (no React dependency), so a thin wire adapter is a fast follow-up, not a redesign.

Verified behavior

Matches Google Sheets: Live-verified in the reference workbook (this feature's oracle brief, "Observed behavior" #1-#3): Insert ▸ Pivot table is a plain menu item (no submenu) sitting directly after Chart in Sheets' own Insert-menu order. Clicking it opens a modal "Create pivot table" dialog — a "Data range" text field (empty unless a real selection was active) with a range-picker icon, an "Insert to" choice of "New sheet" (checked by default) or "Existing sheet", and Cancel/Create buttons. This is the one clear divergence from this app's own Insert ▸ Chart, which never shows a dialog at all. Everything about the pivot EDITOR itself — the Rows/Columns/Values/Filters panel, the aggregation dropdown, the output's exact row/column shape, and whether a manual refresh exists — could not be reached this session (the live automation used to drive the reference workbook could enter a range selection or a menu click, but not type text into a cell to populate a usable source range; see the oracle brief's own "Session method (transparency)" section for the detailed, reproducible account). That part of this manifest's ground truth is Studio's own reading of long-public, extensively documented Sheets/Excel-family pivot table conventions (the classic row-field header / "SUM of X" column header / Grand Total shape), explicitly flagged in the oracle brief as REPORTED, NOT LIVE-VERIFIED — not a claim of direct observation.

Insert ▸ Pivot table groups the selection's first column and sums its second, into a new sheet

Given

• A1 = Region
• B1 = Sales
• A2 = East
• B2 = 10
• A3 = West
• B3 = 15
• A4 = East
• B4 = 20
• A5 = West
• B5 = 25

When I click menu item insert.pivotTable, then fill pivot-dialog-range with A1:B5, then click pivot-dialog-create

Then

• A1 shows Region
• B1 shows SUM of Sales
• A2 shows East
• B2 shows 30
• A3 shows West
• B3 shows 40
• A4 shows Grand Total
• B4 shows 70

The destination sheet is named "Pivot Table 1", the first free counter value

Given

• A1 = Region
• B1 = Sales
• A2 = East
• B2 = 10
• A3 = West
• B3 = 15

When I click menu item insert.pivotTable, then fill pivot-dialog-range with A1:B3, then click pivot-dialog-create, then switch to sheet Pivot Table 1

Then

• A1 shows Region

A 1-column range is refused — an error shows and no sheet is created

Given

• A1 = Region
• A2 = East

When I click menu item insert.pivotTable, then fill pivot-dialog-range with A1:A2, then click pivot-dialog-create

Then

• [data-testid="pivot-dialog-error"] is visible

Editing a source cell inside the pivot's range updates the pivot output immediately

Given

• A1 = Region
• B1 = Sales
• A2 = East
• B2 = 10
• A3 = West
• B3 = 15

When I click menu item insert.pivotTable, then fill pivot-dialog-range with A1:B3, then click pivot-dialog-create, then switch to sheet Sheet1, then type 100 into B2, then switch to sheet Pivot Table 1

Then

• B2 shows 100
• B4 shows 115

Editing a source cell OUTSIDE the pivot's range leaves the pivot output untouched

Given

• A1 = Region
• B1 = Sales
• A2 = East
• B2 = 10
• A3 = West
• B3 = 15
• D10 = untouched

When I click menu item insert.pivotTable, then fill pivot-dialog-range with A1:B3, then click pivot-dialog-create, then switch to sheet Sheet1, then type changed into D10, then switch to sheet Pivot Table 1

Then

• B2 shows 10

A blank or non-numeric value cell is skipped by the pivot, not summed as zero

Given

• A1 = Region
• B1 = Sales
• A2 = East
• B2 = 10
• A3 = East
• B3 = n/a

When I click menu item insert.pivotTable, then fill pivot-dialog-range with A1:B3, then click pivot-dialog-create

Then

• A2 shows East
• B2 shows 10
• A3 shows Grand Total
• B3 shows 10

A recompute that shrinks the distinct-group count clears the previous output's stale rows

Given

• A1 = Region
• B1 = Sales
• A2 = East
• B2 = 10
• A3 = West
• B3 = 15
• A4 = East
• B4 = 20

When I click menu item insert.pivotTable, then fill pivot-dialog-range with A1:B4, then click pivot-dialog-create, then switch to sheet Sheet1, then type East into A3, then switch to sheet Pivot Table 1

Then

• A3 shows Grand Total
• B3 shows 45
• A4 shows null
• B4 shows null

Undo of a live-recompute-triggering edit reverts what's on screen, not just the stored edit

Given

• A1 = Region
• B1 = Sales
• A2 = East
• B2 = 10
• A3 = West
• B3 = 15

When I click menu item insert.pivotTable, then fill pivot-dialog-range with A1:B3, then click pivot-dialog-create, then switch to sheet Sheet1, then type 100 into B2, then click A1, then undo, then switch to sheet Pivot Table 1

Then

• B2 shows 10
• B4 shows 25

A typed range extending past the sheet's used content is refused

Given

• A1 = Region
• B1 = Sales
• A2 = East
• B2 = 10

When I click menu item insert.pivotTable, then fill pivot-dialog-range with A1:B999999, then click pivot-dialog-create

Then

• [data-testid="pivot-dialog-error"] is visible

Undo after inserting a pivot table removes the sheet and the record in one step

Given

• A1 = Region
• B1 = Sales
• A2 = East
• B2 = 10
• A3 = West
• B3 = 15

When I click menu item insert.pivotTable, then fill pivot-dialog-range with A1:B3, then click pivot-dialog-create, then switch to sheet Sheet1, then undo

Then

• [data-menu-trigger="insert"] is visible