PPTClaw Skill Reference

PPTClaw is a local-first presentation editor. Decks are JSON files on disk — you create and edit them directly, and the editor syncs changes live via WebSocket.

Setup

If pptclaw is not installed, install it globally:

pnpm add -g pptclaw    # or: npm install -g pptclaw

Deck Format

A deck is a folder with this structure:

my-deck/
├── manifest.json           # Title, theme, viewport, slide order
├── slides/
│   ├── 001-abc123.json     # Slide files: <NNN>-<id>.json
│   ├── 002-def456.json
│   └── ...
└── assets/                 # Images and other media
    ├── hero.jpg
    └── ...

manifest.json

{
  "title": "My Presentation",
  "format": "1",
  "viewport": { "width": 1920, "ratio": 0.5625 },
  "theme": {
    "primary": "#2563eb",
    "secondary": "#7c3aed",
    "tx1": "#1e293b",
    "accents": ["#2563eb", "#7c3aed", "#5b9bd5", "#ff6b6b", "#4ecdc4", "#95e1d3"],
    "fontHeading": "YouSheBiaoTiHei",
    "fontBody": "Microsoft YaHei"
  }
}

• viewport.ratio is height/width (0.5625 = 16:9, giving 1920x1080)
• theme.accents is an array of 6 colors used sequentially for chart series, infographic items, etc.

Slide JSON

Each slide file contains one slide object:

{
  "id": "abc123",
  "elements": [ /* PPTElement objects */ ],
  "background": { "type": "solid", "color": "#ffffff" },
  "remark": "Speaker notes text",
  "type": "content"
}

• type: "cover", "contents", "transition", "content", "end"
• elements: array of typed element objects (see below)
• background: optional, defaults to white
• remark: optional speaker notes (plain text)

Canvas

• Size: 1920 x 1080 pixels
• Origin: top-left corner (0, 0)
• All position/size values are in pixels

Base Element Fields

Every element shares these fields:

id: string        // Unique element ID
left: number      // X position (px from left edge)
top: number       // Y position (px from top edge)
width: number     // Element width (px)
height: number    // Element height (px)
rotate: number    // Rotation in degrees, default 0
lock?: boolean    // Lock element from editing
groupId?: string  // Elements with same groupId form a group
name?: string     // Display name
link?: { type: 'web' | 'slide', target: string }

Exception: line elements omit height and rotate — they use start/end points instead.

Theme Colors

Use CSS variable references instead of hardcoded hex values to stay consistent with the deck's theme:

Brightness variants — append a suffix to any theme variable:

• var(--primary-plus-50) — lighter (+50 brightness)
• var(--primary-minus-25) — darker (-25 brightness)
• Works for all theme colors: secondary, tx1, accent1-6

Theme fonts:

• var(--font-heading) — for titles, subtitles, headers
• var(--font-body) — for body text, content, items

Common Style Types

Outline (border)

{ style?: 'solid' | 'dashed' | 'dotted', width?: number, color?: string }

Shadow

{ offset: number, angle: number, blur: number, color: string, alpha: number }
// offset: 0-100, angle: 0-359, blur: 0-100 (pt), alpha: 0-100 (0=transparent)

Gradient

{
  type: 'linear' | 'radial',
  colors: [{ pos: number, color: string, alpha?: number }],  // pos: 0-100%
  rotate?: number,
  radialStart?: 'center' | 'top-left' | 'top-right' | 'bottom-left' | 'bottom-right'
}

Text Element (Inline Reference)

Text is the most common element type, so its full schema is included here. For other element types, run pptclaw element-docs <type>.

interface PPTTextElement extends PPTBaseElement {
  type: 'text'
  content: string           // ProseMirror HTML
  defaultColor: string      // Fallback color (overridden by inline HTML styles)
  fill?: string             // Background fill color
  lineHeight?: number       // Line height multiplier, default 1.5
  wordSpace?: number        // Letter spacing, default 0
  paragraphSpace?: number   // Paragraph spacing (px), default 5
  opacity?: number          // 0-1, default 1
  vertical?: boolean        // Vertical text mode
  outline?: Outline
  shadow?: Shadow
  textType?: 'title' | 'subtitle' | 'content' | 'item' | 'itemTitle' | 'notes' | 'header' | 'footer'
}

HTML Content Format

The content field uses ProseMirror HTML with inline styles:

<p style="font-size: 72px; font-family: var(--font-heading); font-weight: bold;">Title Text</p>
<p style="font-size: 36px; font-family: var(--font-body);">Body paragraph</p>

Supported inline styles: font-size (px), color, font-weight, font-style, text-decoration, text-align, font-family.

Font Size Rules

Font sizes in HTML are in px, which equals 2x the PowerPoint pt value. This matters because presentations are viewed on large screens — small text becomes unreadable.

Common mistake: using web-scale sizes like 14px, 16px, 18px — these are too small for presentations.

Slide Background

{
  "background": {
    "type": "solid",
    "color": "var(--primary-plus-80)"
  }
}

Types: "solid" (with color) or "gradient" (with gradient object). Set backgrounds on the slide object, not by creating a full-canvas shape.

Layout Conventions

Standard Content Page

• Title: left: 80, top: 80, font-size: 72px, bold
• Content area: left: 80, top: 200, width: 1760, height: 800
• Large elements (charts, infographics, tables) should fill the content area when shown alone

Centering

To horizontally center an element: left = (1920 - width) / 2

Note: left: 960 does NOT center — it places the element's left edge at the midpoint, pushing it right.

Layout Self-Check

Before finalizing element positions, verify:

1. No overlap — element rectangles don't unintentionally intersect
2. Readable text — all font sizes >= 32px, content fits within element bounds
3. Edge margins — elements stay >= 60px from canvas edges
4. Element spacing — >= 20px gap between elements
5. Consistency — use 20px card gap and 10px border-radius across all slides

Element Types

Beyond the text element documented above, PPTClaw supports these element types:

Get the full schema for any type:

pptclaw element-docs <type>           # e.g., pptclaw element-docs image
pptclaw element-docs chart table      # multiple types at once
pptclaw element-docs                  # list all types

CLI Reference

All commands support -p, --port <port> (default: 3059).

pptclaw serve [deck]

Start the editor server as a background daemon. Optionally open a deck immediately.

pptclaw serve                    # start server
pptclaw serve ./my-deck          # start and open deck
pptclaw serve --port 4000        # custom port

Exit code: 0 on success, 1 if server fails to start.

pptclaw open <path>

Open a deck folder in the running editor.

pptclaw open ./my-deck
pptclaw open ./my-deck --session custom-id

Output: session ID, path, slide count.

pptclaw validate <path>

Validate a deck folder structure and content. Returns JSON with valid, errors, warnings.

pptclaw validate ./my-deck

Exit code: 0 if valid, 1 if errors found. Requires running server.

pptclaw list-decks

List active sessions (open decks) with slide counts.

pptclaw list-decks

pptclaw status

Show server status, auth state, and active sessions as JSON.

pptclaw init

Copy the PPTClaw skill file to .claude/skills/pptclaw/SKILL.md in the current directory.

pptclaw element-docs [type...]

Print element type documentation.

pptclaw element-docs              # list available types
pptclaw element-docs image        # print image element docs
pptclaw element-docs chart table  # print multiple

pptclaw search-images <query>

Search Unsplash images. Returns JSON array of results with id, description, dimensions.

pptclaw download-image <url> --deck <path>

Download an image to a deck's assets folder.

Workflows

Create a New Deck

1. Create the folder structure:

   mkdir -p my-deck/slides my-deck/assets
   

2. Write manifest.json with title, theme, and viewport

3. Create slide files in slides/ (numbered: 001-<id>.json, 002-<id>.json, ...)

4. Validate:

   pptclaw validate ./my-deck
   

5. Open in editor:

   pptclaw serve ./my-deck
   

Edit an Existing Slide

1. Read the slide JSON file
2. Modify the elements array — add, update, or remove elements
3. Write the file back — the editor picks up changes automatically via file watcher
4. Validate if needed: pptclaw validate ./my-deck

Add Images

1. Search for images:

   pptclaw search-images "mountain landscape"
   

2. Download to deck assets:

   pptclaw download-image <url> --deck ./my-deck
   

3. Reference in slide JSON via imageSource field on an image element