Menu
Presentation toolkit (.pptx). Create/edit slides, layouts, content, speaker notes, comments, for programmatic presentation creation and modification.
Document toolkit (.docx). Create/edit documents, tracked changes, comments, formatting preservation, text extraction, for professional document processing.
Comprehensive citation management for academic research. Search Google Scholar and PubMed for papers, extract accurate metadata, validate citations, and generate properly formatted BibTeX entries. This skill should be used when you need to find papers, verify citation information, convert DOIs to BibTeX, or ensure reference accuracy in scientific writing.
Create professional research posters in LaTeX using beamerposter, tikzposter, or baposter. Support for conference presentations, academic posters, and scientific communication. Includes layout design, color schemes, multi-column formats, figure integration, and poster-specific best practices for visual communication.
All-in-one web toolkit powered by parallel-cli, with a strong emphasis on academic and scientific sources. Use this skill whenever the user needs to search the web, fetch/extract URL content, enrich data with web-sourced fields, or run deep research reports. Covers: web search (fast lookups, research, current info — prioritizing peer-reviewed papers, preprints, and scholarly databases), URL extraction (fetching pages, articles, academic PDFs), bulk data enrichment (adding fields to CSV/lists from the web), and deep research (exhaustive multi-source reports grounded in academic literature). Also handles setup, status checks, and result retrieval. Use this skill for ANY web-related task — even if the user doesn't mention 'parallel' or 'web' explicitly. If they want to look something up, fetch a page, enrich a dataset, investigate a topic, find academic papers, check citations, or review scientific literature, this is the skill to use.
Look up current research information using parallel-cli search (primary, fast web search) or the Parallel Chat API (deep research). Automatically routes queries to the best backend. Use for finding papers, gathering research data, and verifying scientific information.
Create publication-quality scientific diagrams using Nano Banana 2 AI with smart iterative refinement. Uses Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview for quality review. Only regenerates if quality is below threshold for your document type. Specialized in neural network architectures, system diagrams, flowcharts, biological pathways, and complex scientific visualizations.
| name | pptx |
| description | Presentation toolkit (.pptx). Create/edit slides, layouts, content, speaker notes, comments, for programmatic presentation creation and modification. |
| license | Proprietary. LICENSE.txt has complete terms |
A .pptx file is a ZIP archive containing XML files and resources. Create, edit, or analyze PowerPoint presentations using text extraction, raw XML access, or html2pptx workflows. Apply this skill for programmatic presentation creation and modification.
When creating documents with this skill, always consider adding scientific diagrams and schematics to enhance visual communication.
If your document does not already contain schematics or diagrams:
For new documents: Scientific schematics should be generated by default to visually represent key concepts, workflows, architectures, or relationships described in the text.
How to generate schematics:
python scripts/generate_schematic.py "your diagram description" -o figures/output.png
The AI will automatically:
When to add schematics:
For detailed guidance on creating schematics, refer to the scientific-schematics skill documentation.
To read the text contents of a presentation, convert the document to markdown:
# Convert document to markdown
python -m markitdown path-to-file.pptx
Raw XML access is required for: comments, speaker notes, slide layouts, animations, design elements, and complex formatting. For any of these features, unpack a presentation and read its raw XML contents.
python ooxml/scripts/unpack.py <office_file> <output_dir>
Note: The unpack.py script is located at skills/pptx/ooxml/scripts/unpack.py relative to the project root. If the script doesn't exist at this path, use find . -name "unpack.py" to locate it.
ppt/presentation.xml - Main presentation metadata and slide referencesppt/slides/slide{N}.xml - Individual slide contents (slide1.xml, slide2.xml, etc.)ppt/notesSlides/notesSlide{N}.xml - Speaker notes for each slideppt/comments/modernComment_*.xml - Comments for specific slidesppt/slideLayouts/ - Layout templates for slidesppt/slideMasters/ - Master slide templatesppt/theme/ - Theme and styling informationppt/media/ - Images and other media filesWhen given an example design to emulate: Always analyze the presentation's typography and colors first using the methods below:
ppt/theme/theme1.xml for colors (<a:clrScheme>) and fonts (<a:fontScheme>)ppt/slides/slide1.xml for actual font usage (<a:rPr>) and colors<a:solidFill>, <a:srgbClr>) and font references across all XML filesWhen creating a new PowerPoint presentation from scratch, use the html2pptx workflow to convert HTML slides to PowerPoint with accurate positioning.
CRITICAL: Before creating any presentation, analyze the content and choose appropriate design elements:
Requirements:
Choosing colors creatively:
Example color palettes (use these to spark creativity - choose one, adapt it, or create your own):
Geometric Patterns:
Border & Frame Treatments:
Typography Treatments:
Chart & Data Styling:
Layout Innovations:
Background Treatments:
For slides with charts or tables:
html2pptx.md completely from start to finish. NEVER set any range limits when reading this file. Read the full file content for detailed syntax, critical formatting rules, and best practices before proceeding with presentation creation.<p>, <h1>-<h6>, <ul>, <ol> for all text contentclass="placeholder" for areas where charts/tables will be added (render with gray background for visibility)html2pptx.js library to convert HTML slides to PowerPoint and save the presentation
html2pptx() function to process each HTML filepptx.writeFile()python scripts/thumbnail.py output.pptx workspace/thumbnails --cols 4To edit slides in an existing PowerPoint presentation, work with the raw Office Open XML (OOXML) format. This involves unpacking the .pptx file, editing the XML content, and repacking it.
ooxml.md (~500 lines) completely from start to finish. NEVER set any range limits when reading this file. Read the full file content for detailed guidance on OOXML structure and editing workflows before any presentation editing.python ooxml/scripts/unpack.py <office_file> <output_dir>ppt/slides/slide{N}.xml and related files)python ooxml/scripts/validate.py <dir> --original <file>python ooxml/scripts/pack.py <input_directory> <office_file>To create a presentation that follows an existing template's design, duplicate and re-arrange template slides before replacing placeholder context.
Extract template text AND create visual thumbnail grid:
python -m markitdown template.pptx > template-content.mdtemplate-content.md: Read the entire file to understand the contents of the template presentation. NEVER set any range limits when reading this file.python scripts/thumbnail.py template.pptxAnalyze template and save inventory to a file:
template-inventory.md containing:
# Template Inventory Analysis
**Total Slides: [count]**
**IMPORTANT: Slides are 0-indexed (first slide = 0, last slide = count-1)**
## [Category Name]
- Slide 0: [Layout code if available] - Description/purpose
- Slide 1: [Layout code] - Description/purpose
- Slide 2: [Layout code] - Description/purpose
[... EVERY slide must be listed individually with its index ...]
Create presentation outline based on template inventory:
outline.md with content AND template mapping that leverages available designs# Template slides to use (0-based indexing)
# WARNING: Verify indices are within range! Template with 73 slides has indices 0-72
# Mapping: slide numbers from outline -> template slide indices
template_mapping = [
0, # Use slide 0 (Title/Cover)
34, # Use slide 34 (B1: Title and body)
34, # Use slide 34 again (duplicate for second B1)
50, # Use slide 50 (E1: Quote)
54, # Use slide 54 (F2: Closing + Text)
]
Duplicate, reorder, and delete slides using rearrange.py:
scripts/rearrange.py script to create a new presentation with slides in the desired order:
python scripts/rearrange.py template.pptx working.pptx 0,34,34,50,52
Extract ALL text using the inventory.py script:
Run inventory extraction:
python scripts/inventory.py working.pptx text-inventory.json
Read text-inventory.json: Read the entire text-inventory.json file to understand all shapes and their properties. NEVER set any range limits when reading this file.
The inventory JSON structure:
{
"slide-0": {
"shape-0": {
"placeholder_type": "TITLE", // or null for non-placeholders
"left": 1.5, // position in inches
"top": 2.0,
"width": 7.5,
"height": 1.2,
"paragraphs": [
{
"text": "Paragraph text",
// Optional properties (only included when non-default):
"bullet": true, // explicit bullet detected
"level": 0, // only included when bullet is true
"alignment": "CENTER", // CENTER, RIGHT (not LEFT)
"space_before": 10.0, // space before paragraph in points
"space_after": 6.0, // space after paragraph in points
"line_spacing": 22.4, // line spacing in points
"font_name": "Arial", // from first run
"font_size": 14.0, // in points
"bold": true,
"italic": false,
"underline": false,
"color": "FF0000" // RGB color
}
]
}
}
}
Key features:
default_font_size in points extracted from layout placeholders (when available)bullet: true, level is always included (even if 0)space_before, space_after, and line_spacing in points (only included when set)color for RGB (e.g., "FF0000"), theme_color for theme colors (e.g., "DARK_1")Generate replacement text and save the data to a JSON file Based on the text inventory from the previous step:
alignment property on when "bullet": true"bold": true"bullet": true, "level": 0 (level is required when bullet is true)"alignment": "CENTER" for centered text)"font_size": 14.0, "font_name": "Lora")"color": "FF0000" for RGB or "theme_color": "DARK_1" for theme colorsreplacement-text.jsonExample paragraphs field showing proper formatting:
"paragraphs": [
{
"text": "New presentation title text",
"alignment": "CENTER",
"bold": true
},
{
"text": "Section Header",
"bold": true
},
{
"text": "First bullet point without bullet symbol",
"bullet": true,
"level": 0
},
{
"text": "Red colored text",
"color": "FF0000"
},
{
"text": "Theme colored text",
"theme_color": "DARK_1"
},
{
"text": "Regular paragraph text without special formatting"
}
]
Shapes not listed in the replacement JSON are automatically cleared:
{
"slide-0": {
"shape-0": {
"paragraphs": [...] // This shape gets new text
}
// shape-1 and shape-2 from inventory will be cleared automatically
}
}
Common formatting patterns for presentations:
"bullet": true, "level": 0Apply replacements using the replace.py script
python scripts/replace.py working.pptx replacement-text.json output.pptx
The script will:
Example validation errors:
ERROR: Invalid shapes in replacement JSON:
- Shape 'shape-99' not found on 'slide-0'. Available shapes: shape-0, shape-1, shape-4
- Slide 'slide-999' not found in inventory
ERROR: Replacement text made overflow worse in these shapes:
- slide-0/shape-2: overflow worsened by 1.25" (was 0.00", now 1.25")
To create visual thumbnail grids of PowerPoint slides for quick analysis and reference:
python scripts/thumbnail.py template.pptx [output_prefix]
Features:
thumbnails.jpg (or thumbnails-1.jpg, thumbnails-2.jpg, etc. for large decks)python scripts/thumbnail.py template.pptx my-grid
workspace/my-grid)--cols 4 (range: 3-6, affects slides per grid)Use cases:
Examples:
# Basic usage
python scripts/thumbnail.py presentation.pptx
# Combine options: custom name, columns
python scripts/thumbnail.py template.pptx analysis --cols 4
To visually analyze PowerPoint slides, convert them to images using a two-step process:
Convert PPTX to PDF:
soffice --headless --convert-to pdf template.pptx
Convert PDF pages to JPEG images:
pdftoppm -jpeg -r 150 template.pdf slide
This creates files like slide-1.jpg, slide-2.jpg, etc.
Options:
-r 150: Sets resolution to 150 DPI (adjust for quality/size balance)-jpeg: Output JPEG format (use -png for PNG if preferred)-f N: First page to convert (e.g., -f 2 starts from page 2)-l N: Last page to convert (e.g., -l 5 stops at page 5)slide: Prefix for output filesExample for specific range:
pdftoppm -jpeg -r 150 -f 2 -l 5 template.pdf slide # Converts only pages 2-5
IMPORTANT: When generating code for PPTX operations:
Required dependencies (should already be installed):
pip install "markitdown[pptx]" (for text extraction from presentations)npm install -g pptxgenjs (for creating presentations via html2pptx)npm install -g playwright (for HTML rendering in html2pptx)npm install -g react-icons react react-dom (for icons)npm install -g sharp (for SVG rasterization and image processing)sudo apt-get install libreoffice (for PDF conversion)sudo apt-get install poppler-utils (for pdftoppm to convert PDF to images)pip install defusedxml (for secure XML parsing)