Install

You need Node.js 22.12 or newer. Nothing else is required.

In VS Code

1. Install Slide Agent from the VS Code Marketplace. A getting-started guide opens by itself.
2. Click Slide Agent in the status bar → Set up Slide Agent. About a minute, no admin rights.
3. Click it again → Create a presentation, describe the deck, and pick the model that should design it.

Setting up the extension also teaches GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Codex and other assistants on your machine to build decks.

For any AI assistant

One command installs a user-local CLI and MCP server, registers the skill with the assistants it finds, and checks the installation:

npx --yes --package @slide-agent/core@latest -- slide-agent install

No clone, no sudo. Then start a new chat and ask:

Make me a 10-slide deck on our Q3 results. Clean and modern.

It works with Claude Code, Codex, GitHub Copilot CLI, Gemini, and any MCP app such as Cursor or Zed.

Check it worked

slide-agent doctor

doctor lists each assistant integration and whether it is registered and verified. slide-agent doctor --deep also builds a real deck end to end.

Over MCP

Add the server to your MCP host:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "slide-agent": { "command": "slide-agent-mcp" }
  }
}

See MCP for the tools and resources it exposes.

As a library

npm install @slide-agent/core

See the library API.

Optional: faithful previews and PDF export

LibreOffice and Poppler let Slide Agent render PDF and PNG previews and run its render checks. Without them it draws schematic previews of the deck's geometry instead.

slide-agent install --with-render-deps

Uninstall

slide-agent uninstall

Next: the quickstart.