Get Microsoft Office running on Linux with Wine using Claude
With spare time and a Claude Max subscription, the author had Fable hack on Wine until desktop Microsoft Office ran on Linux with no virtual machine, then packaged the setup as Nix flakes.
Source
tombert on Hacker News · 2026-09-17 · Project link
Written in our own words. Credit to the original author. Link checked 2026-10-16.
What they did
With spare time and a Claude Max subscription, the author had Fable hack on Wine until desktop Microsoft Office ran on Linux with no virtual machine, then packaged the setup as Nix flakes.
Result (as claimed)
Office running under Wine with no Windows VM; 97 points on Show HN.
Tools they used
Cost: Claude Fable 5.1: from $10 in / $50 out per 1M tokens.
Set it up
Pick a contained repo or task
Start on a branch or side project where mistakes are cheap.
Install and configure
Set up Claude Fable 5.1, Wine, Nix. Read what it can run on your machine and limit permissions where possible.
Run it on a real task
Give it a well-scoped issue and let it work. Review the diff like any pull request.
Add guardrails
Keep tests and CI in the loop, and never let an agent push to main or touch production secrets unattended.
Copy the full setup prompt
Paste into your agent and it will walk you through the setup, asking before anything that sends, posts or spends.
You are helping me set up this AI use case end to end in Claude Code. Goal: Get Microsoft Office running on Linux with Wine using Claude What the original author did: With spare time and a Claude Max subscription, the author had Fable hack on Wine until desktop Microsoft Office ran on Linux with no virtual machine, then packaged the setup as Nix flakes. Reported result (as claimed by the author): Office running under Wine with no Windows VM; 97 points on Show HN. Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49746401 Tools they used: Claude Fable 5.1, Wine, Nix Category: Dev & ops Please: 1. Ask me 3 short questions about my situation (accounts I have, budget, what I want the output to look like). 2. Propose a step-by-step plan using these tools or cheaper alternatives, with the time and cost of each step. Use official pricing pages; say "check pricing" if unsure. 3. Then do the setup with me one step at a time, waiting for my OK before anything that sends messages, posts publicly, spends money or deletes data. 4. Finish with a checklist to run it again next time.
You are helping me set up this AI use case end to end in Codex. Goal: Get Microsoft Office running on Linux with Wine using Claude What the original author did: With spare time and a Claude Max subscription, the author had Fable hack on Wine until desktop Microsoft Office ran on Linux with no virtual machine, then packaged the setup as Nix flakes. Reported result (as claimed by the author): Office running under Wine with no Windows VM; 97 points on Show HN. Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49746401 Tools they used: Claude Fable 5.1, Wine, Nix Category: Dev & ops Please: 1. Ask me 3 short questions about my situation (accounts I have, budget, what I want the output to look like). 2. Propose a step-by-step plan using these tools or cheaper alternatives, with the time and cost of each step. Use official pricing pages; say "check pricing" if unsure. 3. Then do the setup with me one step at a time, waiting for my OK before anything that sends messages, posts publicly, spends money or deletes data. 4. Finish with a checklist to run it again next time.
You are helping me set up this AI use case end to end in Grok Bot. Goal: Get Microsoft Office running on Linux with Wine using Claude What the original author did: With spare time and a Claude Max subscription, the author had Fable hack on Wine until desktop Microsoft Office ran on Linux with no virtual machine, then packaged the setup as Nix flakes. Reported result (as claimed by the author): Office running under Wine with no Windows VM; 97 points on Show HN. Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49746401 Tools they used: Claude Fable 5.1, Wine, Nix Category: Dev & ops Please: 1. Ask me 3 short questions about my situation (accounts I have, budget, what I want the output to look like). 2. Propose a step-by-step plan using these tools or cheaper alternatives, with the time and cost of each step. Use official pricing pages; say "check pricing" if unsure. 3. Then do the setup with me one step at a time, waiting for my OK before anything that sends messages, posts publicly, spends money or deletes data. 4. Finish with a checklist to run it again next time.
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