Every spreadsheet app needs an initial state — an empty workbook with one sheet ready for the user to start typing. Without a factory, you'd manually construct the nested object structure (WorkbookData with sheets, SheetData with id, name, empty cells map, column widths, merged regions, filters), scatter that seed-data logic across your app, and risk subtle differences (missing properties, wrong activeSheetId) that cause undefined behavior when cell operations run.

createEmptyWorkbook() is a zero-argument factory function that returns a WorkbookData object shaped for the <Spreadsheet> component. It initializes one sheet (id “sheet-1”, name “Sheet 1”) with empty cells, no column overrides, no merged regions, no filters, and that sheet set as active. The returned workbook is JSON-serializable and agent-compatible — all properties are primitives, arrays, and plain objects.

Import from @particle-academy/fancy-sheets, call createEmptyWorkbook() with no arguments, and pass the result to <Spreadsheet defaultData={createEmptyWorkbook()}> or use it as the seed value in your state management. For controlled spreadsheets, you can mutate or serialize the returned workbook via data prop and onChange callback.