pptx-deck

name	pptx-deck
description	Build a PowerPoint deck (.pptx) from a structured spec. Use when the user asks for a deck, presentation, slide summary, or wants to package an analysis for stakeholders. Embed prior artifacts (charts, tables) by their id.

Building a PowerPoint deck

You have one tool for decks: generate_pptx. It takes a JSON spec and returns a downloadable .pptx artifact. The renderer is strict about character limits and rejects overflowing input — keep things short.

Surfacing the deck to the user (REQUIRED)

After generate_pptx succeeds, your final reply MUST link the deck artifact using the markdown artifact-link syntax so the UI renders a download card. Use the artifact id from the tool summary (the art_... prefix). Example final reply:

Done. Q3 Sales Review

Do NOT use a plain link, do NOT embed the file path, do NOT just write the title in plain text. Without the artifact: link, the user sees no card and cannot download.

When to use

• User asks for a "deck", "presentation", "slides", "powerpoint", "ppt".
• User says "wrap this up for stakeholders", "make a summary I can share", "turn this into slides".
• After an analysis has produced one or more chart/table artifacts and the user wants to package them.

Do NOT pre-emptively suggest a deck on every analysis. Only when the user asks or strongly implies they want one.

Slide types

Every slide is one of six types. The deck must have at least one slide. Mix types — a deck of all bullets looks AI-generated.

type	required fields	optional	use when
title	title	subtitle	first slide of the deck
section	title	eyebrow	divider between major topics
bullets	title, bullets (1-5)	—	text-only key points
chart	title, artifact_id	caption	embed an existing image artifact (matplotlib PNG)
table	title, artifact_id	caption, max_rows (2-20, default 8)	embed an existing table artifact
conclusion	bullets (1-5)	title, cta	final summary + optional call to action

Hard limits (renderer rejects on overflow)

• deck.title ≤ 100 chars
• slide.title ≤ 60-80 chars (varies by type)
• bullets[i] ≤ 140 chars each
• bullets length: 1 to 5
• caption ≤ 200 chars
• Total slides ≤ 30

Anti-AI-tell rules

• Vary slide types. A deck of nothing but bullets is the dead giveaway.
• Title slides ≤ ~8 words. Long titles read as content slides, not covers.
• Bullets ≤ ~15 words each. If a bullet wraps to 3 lines, split or trim.
• Lead with a section slide before each major topic shift.
• Always pair a chart slide with a one-sentence takeaway in caption ("Revenue grew 18% YoY, driven by mid-market"). Never leave a chart caption blank or write "see chart".
• End with a conclusion slide with 3 bullets — never 5.
• Keep eyebrows short (≤ 3 words, e.g. "Q3 RESULTS", "RISKS").

Attaching artifacts

Tool calls (sql_query, python_exec) return artifact ids of form art_xxxxx…. The agent sees those ids in tool results. To embed:

{"type": "chart", "title": "Quarterly revenue", "artifact_id": "art_abc123def456",
 "caption": "Q3 grew 18% YoY, mid-market segment leading."}

The artifact must already exist — generate the chart/table in a prior turn (with python_exec or sql_query), then reference its id here. Wrong-kind ids (e.g. pointing a chart slide at a kind=table artifact) will error. Fix with the right id and retry.

Example call

{
  "deck": {
    "title": "Q3 Sales Review",
    "author": "Analytics team",
    "date": "2026-04-28",
    "slides": [
      {"type": "title", "title": "Q3 Sales Review", "subtitle": "Top-line, channels, segments"},
      {"type": "section", "title": "Top-line", "eyebrow": "Q3 RESULTS"},
      {"type": "chart", "title": "Quarterly revenue",
       "artifact_id": "art_abc123def456",
       "caption": "Revenue +18% YoY, $42M total."},
      {"type": "table", "title": "Top customers",
       "artifact_id": "art_def456abc789",
       "caption": "Concentration steady; top-5 = 31% of revenue.",
       "max_rows": 8},
      {"type": "bullets", "title": "What changed",
       "bullets": [
         "Mid-market segment +27% on enterprise pricing rollout.",
         "Churn -2pp after onboarding revamp.",
         "EU pipeline +40% but conversion lagging."
       ]},
      {"type": "conclusion", "title": "Takeaways",
       "bullets": [
         "Scale mid-market pricing to EU in Q4.",
         "Invest in EU sales engineering to lift conversion.",
         "Hold churn gains by extending onboarding to existing accounts."
       ],
       "cta": "Decision needed by 2026-05-15."}
    ]
  }
}

Escape hatch

If you genuinely need something the schema does not express (custom shapes, complex layouts, animations), use python_exec with python-pptx directly — read prior artifacts via read_artifact(id) and write the .pptx to the sandbox cwd. This is uncommon — try the structured tool first. The structured tool is faster and produces consistent output.