Sg Full Workflow

Slide Generator: Full Workflow

Run the complete 7-step presentation generation pipeline end-to-end. Takes a topic string and produces a finished PowerPoint file through: Research, Outline, Draft, Optimize, Validate Graphics, Generate Images, and Build.

Pre-loaded Context

Working directory: !pwd

Slide-generator installation check: !sg --version 2>&1 || echo "NOT INSTALLED"

API key status: !sg health-check 2>&1 | head -15

Available templates: !sg list-templates 2>&1 || echo "Cannot list templates"

Preflight Check (Required First Step — Fail Fast)

Before running any pipeline step, confirm sg is actually installed and on PATH:

command -v sg >/dev/null 2>&1 && sg --version || echo "SG_MISSING"

If this reports SG_MISSING (or the "Slide-generator installation check" above shows NOT INSTALLED), STOP immediately. Do not proceed to Research or any other step. Report to the user, verbatim:

slide-gen requires the external sg engine from davistroy/slide-generator (currently a PRIVATE repo — owner-only). Install it and ensure sg is on PATH before running. This plugin ships only the pipeline skills, not the engine.

This check exists so the pipeline never dies several steps in with an opaque sg: command not found — see ADR-0008 (docs/adr/0008-slide-gen-dependency-model.md) for why the engine is external rather than bundled, and the slide-gen README's "External Dependency" section for the current owner-only status.

Prerequisites

• slide-generator package installed (pip install -e ".[all]" from the private davistroy/slide-generator repo — owner-only access as of this writing)
• ANTHROPIC_API_KEY set in environment (required for steps 1-5)
• GOOGLE_API_KEY set in environment (required for step 6, unless --skip-images)

Input Validation

Required:

• <topic> - The presentation topic (quoted string)

Optional:

• --template <name> - Presentation template (default: generic)
• --output <dir> - Output directory (default: ./output)
• --skip-images - Skip image generation (steps 1-5 + 7 only)
• --resolution <level> - Image resolution: small, medium, high (default: high)
• --tone <tone> - Content tone: professional, casual, academic, technical
• --audience <audience> - Target audience description
• --target-slides <N> - Target slide count (default: 20)
• --no-interactive - Non-interactive mode (no prompts)

Instructions

Step 0: Preflight Check

Run the preflight check above before anything else. If sg is missing, stop and report the message verbatim — do not attempt the Quick Path or Step-by-Step Path below.

Quick Path (Single Command)

For most use cases, the sg full-workflow command handles everything:

sg full-workflow "<topic>" --template generic --no-interactive

This runs all 7 steps sequentially with automatic error handling, retries, and progress reporting.

Step-by-Step Path (More Control)

If you need to inspect or modify artifacts between steps, run each step individually:

Step 1: Research

sg research "<topic>" --output research.json

Produces research.json — autonomous web research via Claude Agent SDK.

Step 2: Outline

sg outline research.json --output outline.json

Produces outline.json — structured slide outline with extended thinking.

Step 3: Draft

sg draft outline.json --output presentation.md

Produces presentation.md — full slide content with batched generation.

Step 4: Optimize

sg optimize presentation.md

Updates presentation.md — quality analysis and improvement across 5 dimensions.

Step 5: Validate Graphics

sg validate-graphics presentation.md

Updates presentation.md — ensures image descriptions are concrete and generation-ready.

Step 6: Generate Images

sg generate-images presentation.md --resolution high

Produces images/slide-*.png — AI-generated visuals via Gemini Pro.

Step 7: Build

sg build presentation.md --template generic

Produces final .pptx file — assembled PowerPoint with all content and images.

Resume After Interruption

If the pipeline is interrupted at any step:

sg resume

Or check status and resume manually:

sg status

Error Handling

Cost Considerations

Image generation dominates the cost of a full workflow run. Research, outline, draft, and optimize stages are comparatively cheap compared to generating 20 high-resolution images. To minimize costs, use the --skip-images flag to run steps 1-5 and 7 without image generation, eliminating most of the expense. You can always generate images later if needed.

Output

The full workflow produces in the output directory:

• research.json — Raw research findings
• outline.json — Slide structure
• presentation.md — Full slide content
• images/ — Generated slide visuals
• <topic>.pptx — Final PowerPoint file

Configuration

Override defaults via environment variables:

SG_TEMPLATE=generic          # Default template
SG_OUTPUT_DIR=./output       # Output directory
SG_IMAGE_RESOLUTION=high     # Image quality
SG_TARGET_SLIDES=20          # Target slide count
SG_TONE=professional         # Content tone
SG_API_TIMEOUT=120           # API timeout (seconds)
SG_MAX_RETRIES=3             # Retry attempts