| name | pptx-profile |
| description | STEP 1 of the PPTX-from-layouts pipeline. Profile a PowerPoint template to discover its real slide-master layouts and emit a layout catalog + render config. Use when the user wants to "use my own PowerPoint template", "see what layouts my deck has", "onboard a template", "profile this pptx", or before authoring slides against a custom (non-Inner-Chapter) template. Pairs with pptx-author (Step 2) and pptx-from-layouts (Step 3). |
Step 1 — Profile (pptx-profile)
Turn any .pptx into a map of its real layouts so the next steps can target
them precisely. This is the answer to "what layouts does my template actually
have, and what is each one for?"
STEP 1 — PROFILE STEP 2 — AUTHOR STEP 3 — RENDER
pptx-profile pptx-author pptx-from-layouts
─────────────── ─────────────── ─────────────────
your-template.pptx slides.md (+ [HINT:]) slides.md + config
│ │ │
▼ ▼ ▼
catalog.py ──catalog.md──▶ write & lint ──slides──▶ generate.py ─▶ deck.pptx
└────────────────── config.json ───────────────────▲ (validated)
"what layouts do I "write slides that "fill the template's
have?" name real layouts" actual placeholders"
You are here: Step 1. Output feeds Steps 2 and 3.
Dependencies
Python 3.10+ and python-pptx (pip install python-pptx). The config step
shells out to the sibling pptx-from-layouts skill, which ships in this repo.
Run it
python scripts/catalog.py /path/to/your-template.pptx \
--name your-template --output-dir ./build
This writes two files into ./build:
| File | For whom | Purpose |
|---|
your-template-layout-catalog.md | you / Step 2 author | Human-readable menu of every hintable layout: its [HINT:] name, placeholders, and when to use it. |
your-template-config.json | Step 3 render engine | Machine map of capability → real layout index/name. Passed to generate.py --config. |
Options: --catalog-only skips the config (catalog only); --name sets the
output basename (defaults to the filename).
What the catalog gives you
The catalog's Hintable layouts table lists only layouts the engine knows how
to populate — every name there is a safe [HINT:] value. A collapsed section
lists all raw layouts in the file for reference. Each row shows the layout
index, the exact hint name to copy, its placeholders (e.g. picture, body,
center-title), and a one-line "when to use".
Then what
- Step 2 — author: open the catalog, write
slides.md using
[HINT: layout_name] per slide, and lint with
pptx-author/scripts/lint_hints.py slides.md --config your-template-config.json.
- Step 3 — render:
pptx-from-layouts/scripts/generate.py slides.md -o deck.pptx --template your-template.pptx --config your-template-config.json --validate.
Notes
- You only profile a template once. Reuse the catalog + config for every
future deck on that template.
- The bundled Inner Chapter template is already profiled (see
templates/inner-chapter-config.json) and is the default if you skip Step 1.
- For a fully automated, on-brand onboarding (brand colors, fonts, smoke-test),
the
pptx-template-onboarder subagent wraps this step.
