slides_gen

Turn a rough topic into a deck people actually want to listen to.

slides_gen is a topic-to-deck workflow for people who have real experience, messy notes, and a point of view, but do not yet have a clear presentation.

It helps you move from:

rough topic -> narrative spine -> throughlines -> SlideSpec -> StyleSpec -> renderer handoff

The goal is not to make another generic PPT generator. The goal is to make the thinking before the deck repeatable, reviewable, and good enough that the final slides feel authored.

Why Use This

Most AI-generated decks fail because they jump from prompt to layout too early.

They usually miss:

• the speaker's actual point of view
• the narrative logic across the talk
• the 1-3 ideas that should echo from beginning to end
• a page-level SlideSpec before rendering
• a repeatable visual system
• a contact-sheet review loop

slides_gen slows down the right part of the process: the thinking. Then it speeds up rendering.

What You Can Use It For

• Turn a vague talk topic into a clear slide-by-slide plan.
• Convert personal practice notes into a narrative deck.
• Build reusable prompts and templates for future presentations.
• Extract and reuse a deck style system.
• Create an HTML contact sheet before exporting to Presentation, Canva, Figma Slides, PPTX, or PDF.
• Audit AI-generated decks for story, rhythm, density, and editability.

Start Here

If you only have a topic, use this path:

Step	Artifact	Start with
1	Brief	templates/brief.md
2	Story outline	prompts/story_outline.md
3	Throughlines	prompts/throughline_map.md
4	SlideSpec	prompts/slide_spec.md
5	StyleSpec	templates/stylespec.md
6	Renderer handoff	templates/renderer_handoff.md

The shortest useful loop:

1. Fill the brief.
2. Write 5-8 story beats.
3. Identify 1-3 throughlines.
4. Map each beat to one or two slides.
5. Pick a style pack.
6. Render a contact sheet.
7. Export only after the story and style are stable.

How It Works

flowchart LR
  A["Topic / rough notes"] --> B["Brief"]
  B --> C["Narrative spine"]
  C --> D["Throughline map"]
  D --> E["SlideSpec"]
  E --> F["StyleSpec"]
  F --> G["Contact sheet"]
  G --> H["Renderer handoff"]
  H --> I["Presentation / Canva / Figma / PPTX / PDF"]

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Each artifact has one job:

• Brief: define audience, goal, point of view, constraints, and source material.
• Narrative spine: decide what should be said first, next, and last.
• Throughline map: identify the ideas that quietly connect the whole deck.
• SlideSpec: turn story beats into page-level claims and exhibits.
• StyleSpec: define the visual system before rendering.
• Renderer handoff: choose the right final surface for editability and polish.

Worked Example

The first example is a practice-based product team sharing deck:

AI大跃进下的一些思考分享
当执行不再稀缺，审美就是上限

Explore the example:

• Brief
• Story outline
• Throughlines
• SlideSpec
• StyleSpec
• Workflow retrospective
• HTML demo

The example demonstrates a full loop: raw sharing idea, narrative tightening, throughlines, page specs, visual style, HTML contact sheet, and editable PPTX handoff path.

Included

docs/
  principles.md
  workflow.md
  topic-to-deck-workflow.md
  renderer-handoff.md
  open-source-checklist.md
  slide-quality-checklist.md

prompts/
  topic_intake.md
  story_outline.md
  throughline_map.md
  slide_spec.md
  style_extract.md
  visual_review.md

templates/
  brief.md
  story_outline.md
  throughlines.md
  slidespec.md
  stylespec.md
  renderer_handoff.md

skills/
  topic-to-deck/

style_packs/
  ai_product_field_notes/
  bain_memo/
  developer_zine/

examples/
  ai_product_second_brain/

renderer/
  html/

evals/
  readability_checklist.md
  screenshot_review.md

Renderer Options

The workflow is renderer-agnostic. Pick the final surface by job:

Surface	Use when	Notes
HTML	Fast review, versioning, contact sheets	Lowest dependency path and easiest to inspect
Presentation	Editable PPTX with native text and shapes	Best for corporate PowerPoint delivery
Canva	Visual polish and collaborative editing	Useful when design iteration matters
Figma Slides	Design-system-heavy collaboration	Useful for teams already working in Figma
PDF	Read-only sharing	Export only after story and layout are stable

See docs/renderer-handoff.md for the decision rules.

What This Is Not

• Not a one-click generic PPT generator.
• Not a replacement for the presenter's judgment.
• Not tied to one AI model, design tool, or slide renderer.
• Not a source of official product logos, brand assets, or factual claims.

Principles

• One slide, one message.
• Start with the argument, not the template.
• Style is a system: typography, metadata, layout rhythm, motifs, density, and anti-patterns.
• HTML is a useful intermediate artifact because it is inspectable, versionable, and easy to screenshot.
• Real materials beat decorative icons: screenshots, workflows, notes, artifacts, and source snippets create trust.
• The best deck is not the one with the most information; it is the one where the audience remembers the right thing.

Roadmap

See ROADMAP.md.

Near-term priorities:

• Add a minimal structured HTML renderer.
• Add a second fully public example deck.
• Add style-pack gallery previews.
• Add renderer adapters that share the same SlideSpec.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome for style packs, prompts, examples, renderer adapters, and quality checklists.

Read CONTRIBUTING.md before opening a PR, especially the public-safety checklist for examples and generated artifacts.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.