Slides Creator

Overview

• •Build slide decks in Markdown (text-first).
  • •Prefer bullets -> subbullets -> subsubbullets (deep nesting encouraged).
  • •Keep phrasing short (avoid long, complete sentences).

Non-negotiables

• •Start with flow (outline) before drafting slides.
  • •Align on narrative + slide list first.
• •After flow is approved: draft exactly ONE slide per turn.
  • •Show only the slide being drafted/edited (not the whole deck).
  • •Ask for approval/edits, then wait for user feedback.
• •Keep slides concise.
  • •Short phrases, abbreviations OK, no paragraphs.
  • •If a line gets long, split into sub/subsub bullets.
• •Final deck must be ASCII-only.
  • •Avoid smart quotes, unicode dashes, unicode bullets, etc.

Inputs to collect (ask in bullets)

• •Audience + goal
  • •Who is this for?
    • •What should they do/decide after?
• •Constraints
  • •Target format/tool (default: generic Markdown)
  • •Images/diagrams? (default: no; text-first)
  • •File path (default: slides.md in current dir)
• •Length + depth
  • •Talk length, Q&A, how technical
  • •Target slide count (or time budget per slide)

Deck format (default)

• •One slide = title + bullets
  • •Title: # ...
  • •Bullets: - ...
    • •Indent 2 spaces per nesting level
    • •Encourage subsubbullets over long lines
• •Slide separator (when assembling a full deck file): --- on its own line

Example slide (Markdown):

# Title (2-6 words)
- Top point (short phrase)
  - Sub point (detail)
    - Subsub point (if needed)

Workflow

1) Flow pass (no full slides yet)

• •Propose a deck flow (outline) first.
  • •If user is unsure, offer 2-3 flow options.
    • •Problem -> approach -> results -> next steps
    • •Context -> decision -> plan -> risks
    • •Goal -> constraints -> options -> recommendation
• •Write an outline as bullets:
  • •Slide 1: title
    • •1-line goal
• •Ask the user to confirm:
  • •Reorder/add/delete slides
  • •Any "must-include" points

2) Slide-by-slide loop (exactly ONE slide per turn)

For slide i:

• •Confirm slide title + goal (1 line each).
• •Draft the slide in Markdown (title + bullets).
  • •Aim for 3-6 top-level bullets
    • •Use sub/subsub bullets for detail
• •Ask for edits + approval.
  • •Keep questions minimal (1-3).
• •Do not draft the next slide until the user approves the current slide.

3) Finalize

• •Ensure the deck is assembled in the agreed file (default: slides.md).
• •Run ASCII validation on the final deck markdown:
  • •python3 .codex/skills/slides-creator/scripts/check_ascii.py slides.md
  • •If needed: add --replace, then re-run until clean.

Resources

• •scripts/check_ascii.py
• •references/flows-and-templates.md (optional)