render

name	render
description	Generate an editable SmartArt carrier .pptx from a spec. Accepts a SmartArt spec (graphic_type, items or tree, layout_id), renders the carrier file, and returns the path.
argument-hint	--spec-file PATH | --graphic-type TYPE --items "item1;item2;item3" [--layout-id ID] [--output-dir DIR]
allowed-tools	Bash(python *)

/render

Generate an editable SmartArt carrier .pptx from a structured spec.

Locate Plugin

PLUGIN_ROOT=$(python3 -c "
from pathlib import Path
import sys, os
if os.environ.get('JACK_TAR_MSFT_SMARTART_ROOT'):
    print(os.environ['JACK_TAR_MSFT_SMARTART_ROOT']); sys.exit()
home = Path.home()
for base in [home / '.claude' / 'plugins' / 'cache']:
    for p in base.rglob('jack-tar-msft-smartart/.claude-plugin/plugin.json'):
        print(str(p.parent.parent)); sys.exit()
dev = Path.cwd() / 'plugins' / 'jack-tar-msft-smartart'
if dev.exists():
    print(str(dev)); sys.exit()
print('NOT_FOUND')
" 2>/dev/null)
if [ -z "$PLUGIN_ROOT" ] || [ "$PLUGIN_ROOT" = "NOT_FOUND" ]; then echo "ERROR: jack-tar-msft-smartart not found" && exit 1; fi

Parse Arguments

Parse $ARGUMENTS:

• --spec-file PATH: Path to a JSON file containing a complete SmartArt spec
• --graphic-type TYPE: SmartArt graphic type (e.g., flowchart, cycle, org_chart, list)
• --items "item1;item2": Semicolon-separated items for flat-list layouts
• --layout-id ID: Specific layout ID (e.g., process1, cycle2). Optional — will use default for the graphic type.
• --output-dir DIR: Directory to write carrier file (default: ./tmp/smartart/)

If --spec-file is provided, read it as the spec. Otherwise build a spec from --graphic-type and --items.

Build Spec

If building from arguments, construct (note the required data wrapper):

{
  "graphic_type": "<TYPE>",
  "layout_id": "<LAYOUT_ID or null>",
  "data": {"items": ["<item1>", "<item2>"]}
}

The engine requires a top-level data key — items (flat-list types) or tree (hierarchical types) go INSIDE data. A spec with top-level items/tree raises RenderError("spec is missing required key 'data'").

For hierarchical types (org_chart, hierarchy), --items is not valid — require --spec-file whose data holds a tree key:

{
  "graphic_type": "org_chart",
  "layout_id": "<LAYOUT_ID or null>",
  "data": {"tree": {"...": "..."}}
}

Render Carrier

PYTHONPATH="$PLUGIN_ROOT" python3 -c "
import json, sys
from pathlib import Path

spec = $SPEC_DICT
output_dir = '$OUTPUT_DIR'
Path(output_dir).mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)

from src.engine import render
result = render(spec, output_dir)
print(json.dumps({
    'output_path': str(result.output_path),
    'layout_id': result.layout_id,
    'layout_uri': result.layout_uri,
    'node_count': result.node_count,
    'engine': result.engine,
}, indent=2))
"

The render() function returns a RenderResult dataclass with these fields:

• output_path (Path): path to the generated carrier .pptx file
• layout_id: the layout that was used
• layout_uri: the OOXML layout URI for that layout
• node_count (int): number of data nodes rendered
• engine: the rendering engine identifier

On failure the function raises RenderError (e.g. a missing data key) rather than returning an error status — catch the exception to report failure.

Report

Report the carrier file path (output_path), layout used (layout_id), and node count. On error, report the RenderError message.