# Marp Deck > Write a keynote-grade slide deck in Marp Markdown (deck.md) — the structure of a great talk, the copy rules, the two keynote themes and their slide classes, offline art (wallpapers, charts, device frames), the check, and the export. - Skill: `autonomous-ai/marp-deck` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add autonomous-ai/marp-deck` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/autonomous-ai/marp-deck/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Docs & Writing - Author: autonomous-ai (https://skillmd.com/u/autonomous-ai) - Updated: 2026-09-21 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/autonomous-ai/marp-deck --- # marp-deck A deck here is a **keynote**: black or white, one idea per slide, type you can read from the back of the room, and a picture whenever a picture says it better. This skill is the whole craft. Read it once, then write. ## 1. The shape of a keynote Every talk, whatever the subject, follows this arc. Use it as the outline; drop what the talk does not need, never reorder what it keeps. | # | Slide | Class | What it does | |---|-------|-------|--------------| | 1 | Opening | `hero` | The promise, in a sentence the audience will repeat. A wallpaper behind it. | | 2 | The world today | `statement` | The problem, felt from the audience's seat. No product yet. | | 3 | So we asked | `statement` | The question that led to the idea. Tension, not answer. | | 4 | The idea | `section` | The answer, named. A wallpaper. This is the reveal. | | 5 | Three pillars | `pillars` | What makes it work. Three names, three lines. Never four. | | 6 | See it | `image` | The product, the prototype, the screen — full bleed or in a device frame. | | 7 | The number | `number` | One figure, made human. "1,000 songs in your pocket", not "5 GB". | | 8 | Proof | `chart` or `quote` | A chart from real numbers, or one voice who tried it. | | 9 | Available | `closing` | When, where, how much. Plain. | | 10 | One more thing | `omt` | Optional. Only if there is really one more thing. | | 11 | Close | `hero` | The promise again, shorter. The wallpaper from slide 1. | Ten slides for a ten-minute talk. A longer talk repeats 2–8 per act. A shorter one keeps 1, 4, 5, 7, 11. Section openers (`section`) mark each act. ## 2. Copy: write like the person on stage - **The headline is the sentence you would say out loud.** Eight words or fewer. If it needs a comma, it is two slides. - **Say what it does for someone, not what it is.** Benefit, then feature — if the feature is needed at all. - **One idea per slide.** The check warns above 40 words; a keynote slide usually has fewer than 15. Everything else goes in the speaker notes. - **Numbers made human.** Convert to something a person can feel: time saved a day, songs in a pocket, cups of coffee. Round it. One number per slide. - **Threes.** Three pillars, three reasons, three words. Not two, not five. - **Verbs, plain words, no jargon.** No "leverage", "seamless", "robust", "solution". No adjectives that do not earn their place. No exclamation marks. - **Tension, then release.** Problem, question, answer. The reveal slide is short; the audience finishes the sentence. - **Speaker notes carry the argument** (`` under a slide). The slides carry the punch. Write the notes as spoken sentences, two to five per slide, so the presenter can read them cold — the pane's Presenter view shows them large beside the next slide, and that is where the user rehearses. - **Never a bulleted paragraph on a slide.** If a list is unavoidable, it is three lines of three to five words each. The themes render lists as a clean stack with hairlines, no bullets. ## 3. Design: two themes, one accent, nothing else Front matter — pick one theme for the whole deck: ```markdown --- marp: true theme: keynote-dark # or keynote-light. Never both in one deck. paginate: true --- ``` - `keynote-dark` — black, white type. The keynote. Use it unless the talk is about paper, light, health, or the user asks for white. - `keynote-light` — white, near-black type. Airy, daytime. Rules the themes assume: - **Huge type, generous space.** Headlines up to 132px. Do not shrink text to fit; cut words. - **One image per slide at most.** Full bleed (`![bg](…)`) or centred (`![w:1000](…)`). No image next to a paragraph. - **Art is generated, not found.** No clip art, no stock photos, no emoji, no icons. Wallpapers for hero/section/closing, charts for numbers, device frames for screens (section 4). A photo the user supplies goes full bleed or in a frame. - **One accent colour per deck**, `#2997ff` by default (links, chart bars). Change it only with a reason, then keep it. - **Consistency is the design.** Same overline style, same positions, same wallpaper palette through the deck. Pick a palette on slide 1 and stay with it. ### The slide classes Set one per slide with a scoped directive on the slide's first line, then the content: ```markdown ![bg](assets/hero.svg) # The best way to give a talk. Now on every Mac. ``` | Class | Content | Notes | |-------|---------|-------| | `hero` | `![bg](…)` + `# headline` + one line | Centred, 132px, no page number. Slides 1 and 11. | | `statement` | `# one sentence` (+ one quiet line) | Left, 92px, wraps at 14 characters wide. Problem, question. | | `section` | `![bg](…)` + `# name` | An act opener or the reveal. | | `pillars` | `#### overline` + `## headline` + a 3-column block (below) | Three names, three lines. | | `image` | `![bg](…)` + one caption line | Full bleed. Caption bottom-left. | | `number` | `# 3×` + one line | 300px gradient figure. The line says what it means. | | `chart` | `## headline` + `![](assets/chart.svg)` | Centred, chart as wide as the slide. | | `quote` | `> the words` + `— who` | 60px, curly quotes drawn for you. | | `closing` | `# headline` + lines | Availability: when, where, price. | | `omt` | `# One more thing.` | Then the next slide is the thing. | | (none) | `#### overline` + `## headline` + text or a list | The plain slide. Use rarely. | Pillars block: ```markdown #### What makes it work ## Three things.
### Fast Opens before you sit down.
### Quiet No fans. No noise. Ever.
### Yours Every setting, on every device.
``` Blank lines inside the `
`s matter: they let Markdown render inside HTML. Keep them. Other directives you may use: `` on a slide, `![bg right:40%](…)` for a half-image slide, `![w:800](…)`/`![h:400](…)` for a sized inline image, `` only on an image slide whose picture is light. Nothing else; no inline styles, no other HTML. ## 4. Art: `art.mjs`, offline, in seconds Every deck gets art. All of it is generated into `assets/` from the toolchain, deterministic from a seed, no network, no accounts: ```sh # wallpapers: gradient light on black (or --light). Palettes: aurora sunset ocean graphite spectrum "$MARP_TOOLCHAIN/art" wallpaper -o assets/hero.svg --palette aurora --seed 7 "$MARP_TOOLCHAIN/art" wallpaper -o assets/reveal.svg --palette aurora --seed 12 # a chart from the talk's real numbers: bar (default) or line, in the accent colour "$MARP_TOOLCHAIN/art" chart -o assets/growth.svg --data "2023:12,2024:31,2025:64" --label "Teams on it" --type bar # a screenshot or photo in a device, on a wallpaper: phone (default), laptop, window "$MARP_TOOLCHAIN/art" frame -o assets/demo.svg --image assets/screen.png --kind laptop --palette ocean ``` - Same palette across the deck; vary `--seed` so slides differ. Seeds 1–99 all look good. - Charts only from numbers in the talk; never decorate. Four to six points, label the axis in words (`--label`). Add `--light` for `keynote-light`. - Frames want a real image in `assets/` (PNG, JPG, WebP, SVG). Ask the user for the screenshot if the talk shows a product and none is there; use a wallpaper `image` slide until it arrives. - Never reference an image that is not in the workspace. The check fails the deck. ## 5. The check ```sh "$MARP_TOOLCHAIN/check" # deck.md "$MARP_TOOLCHAIN/check" other.md # another file ``` Writes `.harness/verdict.json` (what the pane header shows) and prints every finding. Errors: the deck does not render, a slide is empty, an image is missing. Warnings: over 40 words on a slide, no image anywhere in the deck, no heading on the first slide, fewer than three slides, no `marp: true`. Ready = no errors and at least three slides. Polish = no warnings either. The viewer runs the same check on every save; run it yourself to read the list. ## 6. Export ```sh "$MARP_TOOLCHAIN/marp" deck.md --theme-set "$MARP_THEMES" --allow-local-files --no-stdin -o dist/deck.pdf "$MARP_TOOLCHAIN/marp" deck.md --theme-set "$MARP_THEMES" --allow-local-files --no-stdin -o dist/deck.pptx "$MARP_TOOLCHAIN/marp" deck.md --theme-set "$MARP_THEMES" --allow-local-files --no-stdin -o dist/deck.html ``` `--theme-set` is what makes the keynote themes real outside the viewer; without it the export falls back to the default theme. PDF and PPTX render through a Chromium-family browser — the machine's, or the headless one setup fetched when it had none; `toolchain/doctor.sh` says which. HTML needs nothing. `--no-stdin` matters in a tool shell. Keynote (the app) opens the PPTX.