| name | google-slides |
| description | Use this skill any time the user wants to create a Google Slides deck from a template, mentions "Google Slides" with a template in mind, provides a Google Slides URL plus a content brief, or asks to "make slides", "build a deck", "generate a presentation", or "fill this template" in a Google Workspace context. Requires the Studio Google Slides + Google Drive MCP connectors. Do NOT use for PowerPoint (.pptx) creation (use the pptx skill), for editing without a template, or for authoring a new template (template authoring has its own skill). |
Google Slides (Template-Driven Deck Editor)
Generate a Google Slides deck by picking pattern slides from a template
deck, duplicating them, filling content via style-preserving text
replacement, and hiding the originals. Every visible slide is a copy of a
pre-styled pattern, so the template's fonts, colors, layouts, and theme
survive without any explicit styling work from the agent.
Why this shape? The Google Slides API lets you edit text and structure
but gives you no judgment about typography or layout. Treating each
template slide as one finished pattern (not a parts catalog) keeps the
agent out of styling decisions. replaceAllText edits text runs in place,
so run-level styling — font, size, weight, color — is preserved
automatically.
Prerequisites
Both connectors must be connected in Treasure Studio → Settings →
Connected Services:
| Connector | Purpose |
|---|
| Google Drive | Copying the template deck (files.copy) |
| Google Slides | Inspecting and editing the working deck |
Confirm both are connected before proceeding. If either is missing, stop
and ask the user to connect it.
Template Requirements (Author Contract)
The template deck must follow the complete-slide pattern convention:
- Each slide is one reusable layout, ready to be used whole
- No "parts catalog" slides that group multiple tables, CTAs, or boxes for
users to extract pieces from — the Slides API cannot move elements
between slides without losing fidelity
- Placeholder text uses recognizable tokens like
[Title], [Body],
[Metric Name], [CTA] — the agent replaces them by exact string match
- Slide titles, when present, follow
Pattern: <layout description>
(e.g., Pattern: Stat Callout (3 columns)) so the agent can pick from
the catalog confidently
If the template violates these rules, explain the constraint and ask the
user to update the template — working around it silently produces decks
that do not match the template's design language.
Tools You Will Use
All tools are in the Studio MCP server (mcp__tdx-studio__*). Full tool
schemas live in the tdx repo at studio/electron/services/google-tools.ts
under createGoogleSlidesTools.
| Tool | Role |
|---|
google_drive_copy | Copy the template into a new working deck |
google_slides_list_slides | Discovery — lightweight list of slides (id, title, skipped flag, element count) |
google_slides_get_slide | Per-slide full detail — untruncated text, placeholder types, element geometry |
google_slides_get | Full deck structure (heavier; prefer list_slides + get_slide on large decks) |
google_slides_get_thumbnail | Renders a slide to a temp file path; pair with the built-in Read tool to actually load the image into the conversation for visual inspection |
google_slides_duplicate_slide | Copy a pattern slide (optional insertion_index to pre-place the copy) |
google_slides_replace_text | Fill placeholder text (style-preserving) |
google_slides_hide_slides | Mark pattern originals as isSkipped (array — one call for all at once) |
google_slides_batch_update | Table rows/columns, element transforms, image replacement, text styling, multi-request batches |
google_slides_replace_text and google_slides_batch_update take
YAML-encoded lists — see references/batch-update-recipes.yaml
for the recipe library. Copy a recipe, fill in object IDs, pass the YAML
string straight through as requests_yaml or replacements_yaml.
Workflow
The full step-by-step workflow lives in references/workflow.md.
Read it before planning a deck — it explains what to verify at each step
and how to recover from common mistakes. Short version:
1. Confirm both connectors, collect template URL + brief
2. Copy template deck (google_drive_copy)
3. List slides (google_slides_list_slides)
4. Plan deck (propose slide plan, get user sign-off)
5. Inspect chosen patterns (google_slides_get_slide per plan entry;
inventory text, table cells, empty placeholders,
AND images — template stock images are replaceable content)
6. Duplicate into final position (google_slides_duplicate_slide with insertion_index —
either reverse-iterate at index 0, or forward-iterate
with growing index; see workflow.md Step 6)
7. Fill content (google_slides_replace_text for text, google_slides_batch_update insertText for empty
placeholders, google_slides_batch_update replaceImage for images. Agent-
generated images go through generate_image → google_drive_upload
→ google_drive_share → replaceImage)
8. Hide all used originals (one google_slides_hide_slides call with the full array)
9. QA (load google-slides-review skill — independent
sub-agent review; loop until 0 findings)
10. Return the working deck URL plus a summary of patterns used
Prefer hiding a pattern slide (step 8) over deleting it: hiding is
reversible, keeps the template readable as a reference, and lets you
recover the pattern if QA surfaces a problem.
Pattern Selection
How to read thumbnails, match a brief to patterns, and avoid
misclassification is covered in references/pattern-selection.md.
Read it when building the slide plan in step 4.
QA
Step 9 hands off to the google-slides-review
skill — see that skill's Inputs and Loop contract for how to
invoke and when to stop. The leak sub-agent needs the per-element
text snapshot captured during Step 5; do not skip that capture.
Failure Modes and Recovery
Non-obvious failures the agent is prone to. Generic issues (rate
limits, YAML syntax errors) are not listed — the agent handles those
from its own reading of error messages.
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|
| "Click to add text" / "Click to add subtitle" visible in the final deck | Empty placeholder shape was targeted with google_slides_replace_text — Google's UI hint is not a real text run | Use google_slides_batch_update insertText on the shape's objectId. get_slide flags these with isEmptyPlaceholder: true |
| Landscape / picture icon showing where an image should be | Empty placeholder: "PICTURE" shape was never filled | google_slides_batch_update createImage reusing the placeholder's size + transform, then deleteObject on the placeholder |
| Template stock photos / icons still visible | Agent treated type: "image" elements as template decoration | Inventory images in Step 5; swap via replaceImage using a user-supplied URL or the generate → upload → share → replaceImage pipeline |
google_slides_batch_update fails when Google fetches an image URL | Drive file not shared publicly, or /view URL used instead of /uc?id=… | Call google_drive_share with role: reader, type: anyone; use the uc?id= form |
Table cell reads "011" / "<new>Item One" | insertText was used on a non-empty cell — it prepends, not replaces | Use google_slides_replace_text with the cell's existing fullText as find. get_slide returns cells[].fullText |
| Stale rows like "5 Item Five" visible | Unused template table rows were left | google_slides_batch_update deleteTableRow per unused row, iterating from the bottom |
| All content lands in column 1 of a multi-column pattern | Column order not determined | Sort shapes sharing a placeholder role by transform.translateX before binding content |
Japanese line breaks on wrong characters (） at start, （ at end, English words split) | Manual \n was injected; Slides API does not auto-apply kinsoku shori | Compose paragraphs as free-flowing text, break only at semantic boundaries. See references/filling-content.md kinsoku rules |
| Partial replacement inside one string | Template split the phrase across runs; replaceAllText matches within one run only | Fix the template; do not patch with updateTextStyle |
