| name | presenterm |
| description | Create, edit, and structure terminal-based slide presentations using presenterm markdown format. Covers slide syntax, commands, code highlighting, columns, images, themes, and speaker notes.
|
Presenterm Slide Authoring
Presenterm renders markdown files as terminal slide decks. This skill covers
the slide format, all special commands, and best practices for readable
terminal presentations.
Docs: https://mfontanini.github.io/presenterm/introduction.html
Slide Structure
- Slides are separated by
<!-- end_slide --> (not ---)
- Front matter is YAML between
--- fences at the top of the file
- Setext-style headers (underlined with
===) render as styled slide titles
---
title: My Presentation
sub_title: Optional subtitle
author: Author Name
---
Opening Slide Title
===
Content here.
<!-- end_slide -->
Second Slide
===
More content.
Commands Reference
All commands are HTML comments. For full details see references/commands.md.
Pauses and flow:
<!-- pause --> — pause content until keypress<!-- end_slide --> — slide boundary<!-- incremental_lists: true --> — reveal bullets one at a time<!-- incremental_lists: false --> — disable incremental reveal
Layout:
<!-- column_layout: [1, 1] --> — define columns with proportions<!-- column: 0 --> — switch to column by index (0-based)<!-- reset_layout --> — return to single-column<!-- alignment: center --> — text alignment (left/center/right)<!-- jump_to_middle --> — vertically center remaining content
Spacing:
<!-- new_line --> — explicit line break<!-- new_lines: 3 --> — multiple line breaks
Content inclusion:
<!-- include: path/to/file.md --> — embed external markdown
Metadata:
<!-- speaker_note: Your note here. --> — speaker notes (not rendered in slides)<!-- no_footer --> — hide footer on this slide<!-- skip_slide --> — exclude slide from presentation
Comments:
<!-- // your comment --> — non-rendered comment
Code Blocks
Presenterm highlights 70+ languages. Key options go after the language name:
```rust +line_numbers
fn main() { }
**Options:**
- `+line_numbers` — show line numbers
- `+exec` — allow executing the snippet with a keypress
- `+exec_replace` — execute and replace block with output
- `+no_background` — remove code block background
- `{1,3,5-7}` — highlight specific lines
- `{1-3|5-7|all}` — dynamic highlighting across sub-slides (pipe-separated groups)
**External file snippets:**
````markdown
```file +line_numbers
path: src/example.rs
language: rust
start_line: 5
end_line: 20
## Images
```markdown
```
- Paths are relative to the presentation file
- Remote URLs are not supported — use local files
- Supports kitty, iterm2, sixel protocols (auto-detected)
- Images auto-scale to preserve aspect ratio
## Columns
```markdown
<!-- column_layout: [1, 2] -->
<!-- column: 0 -->
Left column (narrower).
<!-- column: 1 -->
Right column (wider).
<!-- reset_layout -->
```
Column proportions are relative (e.g., `[1, 2]` = 1/3 + 2/3). Columns combine
well with pauses — you can show one column first and reveal the other.
## Colored Text
```markdown
<span style="color: #ff0000">Red text</span>
<span style="color: red; background-color: blue">Styled</span>
```
Use `<span class="my_class">` with a theme palette for reusable styles.
## Theme Overrides in Front Matter
```yaml
---
title: My Talk
theme:
override:
footer:
style: template
left: "My Company"
center: "**{current_slide}** / {total_slides}"
right: ""
height: 3
palette:
classes:
highlight:
foreground: "#ff6600"
---
```
## Speaker Notes
Add notes inline — they are invisible during presentation.
**Important:** all command values are parsed as YAML. If a value contains
colons (`:`) or other YAML-special characters, it must be wrapped in
double quotes. Always quoting speaker notes is the safest habit.
```markdown
<!-- speaker_note: "Always quote your notes to avoid YAML parsing errors." -->
```
Run two terminals for speaker notes:
- `presenterm --publish-speaker-notes slides.md` (audience view)
- `presenterm --listen-speaker-notes slides.md` (speaker view)
## Slide Transitions
Three built-in transitions (configured in YAML or config):
- `fade`
- `slide_horizontal`
- `collapse_horizontal`
## Font Size
`<!-- font_size: N -->` (values 1-7) only works on **kitty terminal** v0.40.0+.
Theme `font_size` under `slide_title` also requires kitty. Other terminals
(ghostty, iTerm2, WezTerm) silently ignore these settings.
**Workarounds for non-kitty terminals:**
- Increase the terminal's own font size before presenting (e.g. `Cmd+=` in ghostty)
- Use a dedicated terminal profile with a larger `font-size` for presentations
- Set `defaults.max_columns` in presenterm config to limit width, giving text more room
## ASCII Art Diagrams
When creating box-drawing diagrams in code blocks:
- Use `┌─┐│└─┘` for boxes, `┬┴├┤┼` for connectors
- **Never place `▼` directly above `─`** — the arrow visually floats above the box border
- Connect boxes vertically using `┬` (bottom of box) → `│` (line) → `┴` (top of next box):
```
┌───────────┐
│ Box A │
└─────┬─────┘
┌─────┴─────┐
│ Box B │
└─────┬─────┘
```
- For branching, use `┬` at the split point and `┴` at each target:
```
└──┬──────┬──┘
│ │
┌──┴──┐┌──┴──┐
│Left ││Right│
└─────┘└─────┘
```
- Keep all boxes in a vertical chain the same width
## Best Practices for Terminal Slides
- One message per slide — keep slides focused
- Short lines — terminals are typically 80-120 columns wide
- Use pauses to reveal content progressively
- Use columns for side-by-side comparisons
- Prefer ASCII diagrams over images when possible for maximum compatibility
- Dark terminal backgrounds are common — avoid images with black text on white
- Add speaker notes for non-obvious transitions
- Code slides should have working examples — use `+exec` for live demos
- Keep a static fallback if a live demo might fail
- Test with `presenterm` locally — hot reload is enabled by default
## Key Bindings (default)
| Key | Action |
|-----|--------|
| Right/Down/l/j/Space/PgDn/Enter | Next slide |
| Left/Up/h/k/PgUp | Previous slide |
| gg | First slide |
| G | Last slide |
| `<n>`G | Jump to slide n |
| Ctrl+e | Execute code snippet |
| Ctrl+p | Slide index |
| ? | Help |
| Ctrl+c / q | Quit |
