feat: consume wolfxl from GitHub/PyPI instead of local build

- Change [rust] optional dep from maturin to wolfxl (git URL for now)
- Update CI rust_smoke job: pip install wolfxl instead of maturin develop
- Add DEC-016: WolfXL extraction decision
- Update CLAUDE.md: wolfxl install instructions + next decision ID

Once wolfxl is published to PyPI, update dep from git URL to version spec.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Author: wolfiesch

.github/workflows/ci.yml

@@ -87,16 +87,11 @@ jobs:
 
       - uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v3
 
-      - uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@stable
-
       - name: Install deps (dev + rust)
         run: uv sync --extra dev --extra rust
 
-      - name: Build Rust extension (umya)
-        run: >
-          uv run maturin develop
-          --manifest-path rust/excelbench_rust/Cargo.toml
-          --features umya
+      - name: Verify wolfxl install
+        run: uv run python -c "import wolfxl; print(wolfxl.__version__)"
 
-      - name: Rust smoke tests
-        run: uv run pytest -k excelbench_rust_smoke -v
+      - name: Rust integration tests
+        run: uv run pytest tests/test_rust_integration.py -v

CLAUDE.md

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 > when you introduce new top-level modules, flows, or dependency directions.
 
 > **DECISION LOG**: When making a significant design or architecture decision, always add an entry
-> to `decisions.md` using the `DEC-NNN` format. Next ID: **DEC-015**.
+> to `decisions.md` using the `DEC-NNN` format. Next ID: **DEC-017**.
 
 ## What This Project Is
 
@@ -48,16 +48,16 @@ uv run ruff check
 uv run mypy
 ```
 
-### Rust Adapters (optional)
+### WolfXL (optional, from PyPI)
 
 ```bash
-uv sync --extra rust
-uv run maturin develop --manifest-path rust/excelbench_rust/Cargo.toml \
-  --features calamine,rust_xlsxwriter,umya
-uv run python -c "import wolfxl._rust as rust; print(rust.build_info())"
+uv sync --extra rust   # installs wolfxl from PyPI (pre-built wheel)
+uv run python -c "import wolfxl; print(wolfxl.__version__)"
 ```
 
-**Gotcha**: `uv sync` may uninstall the locally-built extension. Rerun `maturin develop` after syncing.
+For local development of wolfxl itself, see https://github.com/wolfiesch/wolfxl.
+
+**Note**: umya/basic calamine adapters still require local `maturin develop` from `rust/excelbench_rust/`.
 
 ### Fixture Generation (requires Excel installed)
 

decisions.md

@@ -40,6 +40,27 @@ Skip logging for routine bug fixes, refactors, or incremental test additions.
 
 ## Decisions
 
+### DEC-016 — Extract WolfXL to standalone GitHub repo + PyPI (2026-02-15)
+
+**Context**: WolfXL was embedded inside ExcelBench across `packages/wolfxl/` (Python wrapper) and
+`rust/excelbench_rust/` (Rust backend). This made it unusable for anyone not building ExcelBench
+from source. For adoption, WolfXL needs to be `pip install wolfxl`.
+
+**Decision**: Extract WolfXL to `wolfiesch/wolfxl` on GitHub. Publish the calamine fork as
+`calamine-styles` crate on crates.io (required because cargo disallows git deps in published
+crates). The standalone repo includes only the 3 core backends (calamine-styled, rust_xlsxwriter,
+wolfxl patcher) — umya and basic calamine stay in ExcelBench. ExcelBench's `[project.optional-dependencies] rust`
+now points to `wolfxl>=0.1.0` from PyPI instead of `maturin`.
+
+**Alternatives considered**: (1) Keep WolfXL in ExcelBench and add maturin wheel CI (rejected:
+couples product and benchmark releases). (2) Include all 5 backends in standalone (rejected: umya
+and basic calamine are ExcelBench-only benchmarking tools). (3) Publish calamine fork under
+original name (rejected: name collision on crates.io).
+
+**Consequences**: `pip install wolfxl` provides pre-built wheels for Linux/macOS/Windows. ExcelBench
+CI no longer needs Rust toolchain for WolfXL (just `pip install wolfxl`). The `excelbench_rust_shim`
+package can be deprecated. Calamine fork must be maintained as `calamine-styles` on crates.io.
+
 ### DEC-015 — Publish WolfXL as standalone + `wolfxl._rust` with shim compatibility (2026-02-15)
 
 **Context**: WolfXL started as an in-repo compatibility layer and used the native module name

pyproject.toml

@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ dev = [
     "mypy>=1.0",
 ]
 rust = [
-    "maturin>=1.0",
+    "wolfxl @ git+https://github.com/wolfiesch/wolfxl.git",
 ]
 docs = [
     "mkdocs-material>=9.5",
@@ -58,6 +58,9 @@ excelbench = "excelbench.cli:app"
 requires = ["hatchling"]
 build-backend = "hatchling.build"
 
+[tool.hatch.metadata]
+allow-direct-references = true
+
 [tool.hatch.build.targets.wheel]
 packages = ["src/excelbench"]