generate-presentation

name	generate-presentation
description	Generate PowerPoint presentations from documents
user-invocable	true

Generate Presentation

Create professional PowerPoint presentations from any source material — structured notes, meeting transcripts, research, reports, or raw ideas. You analyze the content, distill key points, write a presentation-structured markdown file, then generate the PPTX via a script.

Your Task

1. Read the source material. This could be one file, multiple files, or an entire folder. The input may have no structure at all (e.g., a meeting transcript), or it may be a detailed report. Don't assume headings exist.

2. Analyze and distill. Identify the narrative arc, key messages, supporting data, and conclusions. Decide what belongs on slides vs. speaker notes vs. what should be cut entirely.

3. Ask about style preference. Built-in options:

   • Simple — clean and minimal, white background, no slide numbers
   • Business — professional with dark header accent bar, slide numbers
   • Report — formal with dark title slides, serif headings, slide numbers

   Also check for custom branded templates (.pptx files) in:

   • ~/Notesage/templates/ (global)
   • <project>/templates/ (project-specific)

   List any custom templates you find as options.

4. Write a presentation markdown file. Create a new file (e.g., presentation.md or a name the user suggests) following the Slide Format Reference below.

5. Generate the PPTX. Run the generation script:

   execute_skill_script("generate-presentation", "scripts/generate.mjs", [
     "presentation.md",
     "output.pptx",
     "--style", "business"
   ])
   

   With a custom template:

   execute_skill_script("generate-presentation", "scripts/generate.mjs", [
     "presentation.md",
     "output.pptx",
     "--template", "/path/to/template.pptx"
   ])
   

   Important: The script requires Node.js dependencies. If you get a "pptxgenjs not installed" error, run:

   execute_skill_script("generate-presentation", "scripts/install-deps.sh", [])
   

   Or ask the user to run npm install in the skill's scripts/ directory.

6. Report the result. Tell the user the PPTX has been generated and where to find it.

Script Flags

Flag	Values	Default	Description
--style	simple, business, report	simple	Built-in style preset
--template	path to .pptx/.potx	none	Custom template — extracts colors, fonts, backgrounds
--help	—	—	Show usage

--template overrides --style. If neither is provided, simple is used.

Slide Format Reference

When writing the markdown file, these rules control how the script converts it to slides:

Markdown	Slide Result
# Heading	New slide — heading becomes the slide title
## Subheading	Subtitle on the same slide
### Lower headings	Bold body text
---	Force a new slide (even without a heading)
- item / * item	Bullet points (indent with spaces for nesting)
1. item	Numbered points
GFM table (| col | col |)	Native PowerPoint table with styled header row (auto-pages for large tables)
Code block (triple backticks)	Monospace text with grey background
```chart code block	Native PowerPoint chart (bar, line, pie, doughnut, area) — see Charts section
:::columns ... :::	Two-column side-by-side layout — see Columns section
:::callout ... :::	Rounded accent box with border and shadow
:::highlight ... :::	Large centered metric box with accent background
	Embedded image (local paths only)
	Image with crop-to-fill sizing
	Image with circular crop
<!-- background: path -->	Slide background image (optional overlay=0.4 for dimming)
<!-- youtube: URL -->	Embedded YouTube video (click to play in PowerPoint)
<table>...</table>	HTML table converted to native PowerPoint table
[text](url)	Clickable hyperlink — opens in browser from PowerPoint
[text](#slide-N)	Cross-slide link — navigates to slide N within the deck
~text~	Subscript (e.g., H~2~O → H₂O)
^text^	Superscript (e.g., x^2^ → x²)
> [!notes] callout	Speaker notes (not visible on the slide)
> [!tip], > [!warning], etc.	Styled callout text
> plain quote	Italic body text

Note on escaped brackets: The script accepts both > [!notes] and > \[!notes\] (escaped brackets). Some markdown editors auto-escape square brackets — this is handled automatically. A warning is logged when escaped brackets are detected.

Frontmatter Metadata

Optional YAML frontmatter at the top of the markdown sets PowerPoint document properties:

---
author: Jane Doe
company: Acme Corp
title: Q4 Review
subject: Quarterly business review
---

All fields are optional. If title is omitted, it defaults to the first # Heading. These values appear in PowerPoint's File > Properties.

Charts

Embed native PowerPoint charts using a chart code block with YAML data:

```chart
type: bar
title: Revenue by Quarter
labels: [Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4]
series:
  - name: Revenue
    values: [12, 15, 18, 22]
  - name: Expenses
    values: [8, 10, 12, 14]
options:
  barDir: col
```

Supported chart types: bar, line, pie, doughnut, area, scatter, radar, bubble

Chart options (all optional):

• barDir: col (vertical) or bar (horizontal) — bar charts only
• barGrouping: clustered or stacked — bar charts only
• lineSmooth: true or false — line charts only
• holeSize: 0-100 — doughnut charts only
• radarStyle: standard, marker, or filled — radar charts only

Charts use theme-matched color palettes. Invalid YAML falls back to a regular code block.

Two-Column Layout

Use :::columns with a ---column--- separator for side-by-side content:

:::columns
- Left point 1
- Left point 2
- Left point 3
---column---
- Right point 1
- Right point 2
- Right point 3
:::

Each column independently supports bullet points, numbered lists, and plain text.

Callout and Highlight Boxes

Callout — rounded accent box for important notes:

:::callout
This is an important takeaway that should stand out.
:::

Highlight — large centered metric box with accent background:

:::highlight
$12.5M Total Revenue (+18% YoY)
:::

Example Markdown Structure

# Quarterly Review

## Q4 2026 Results

---

# Revenue Growth

- Total revenue: **$12.5M** (+18% YoY)
- Recurring revenue: $8.2M
- New customers: 142

> [!notes]
> Emphasize the growth trend. Compare with Q3 board deck.

---

# Key Metrics

| Metric | Q3 | Q4 | Change |
|--------|----|----|--------|
| NPS | 62 | 71 | +9 |
| CSAT | 4.2 | 4.5 | +0.3 |

Guidelines

• Tell a story. Slides should have a narrative flow, not just a bullet dump.
• One idea per slide. Two topics = two slides.
• Less is more. Aim for 4-6 bullet points per slide, each under 10 words. Move detail to speaker notes.
• Speaker notes are powerful. Use > [!notes] callouts for talking points, context, and data sources.
• Don't just reorganize — synthesize. A 1-hour meeting transcript should become 8-12 slides, not 40.
• Title slide matters. The first # Heading becomes the title slide. Make it compelling.
• Iterate freely. Modify the markdown and re-run the script to regenerate.

References

• references/TEMPLATES.md — Template descriptions and when to use each style