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SlideX is a presentation language and editor built around a readable .slx document. It combines a constrained XML DSL, a visual desktop/browser editor, a shared viewer, and exports to PNG, PDF, HTML, and PPTX. The document remains the source of truth whether a person edits on the canvas, a script changes an object, or an AI assistant proposes a patch.
There is a gap between writing code that produces a PPTX file and knowing what an audience will actually see. A script can place shapes and text at coordinates, but text wrapping, fonts, layout, and unsupported features still need to be inspected in a renderer. Directly editing the generated PPTX also makes the next scripted revision hard to reconcile. Native PPTX libraries are useful when Office editability is the primary goal; SlideX is for workflows that also need a readable source, repeatable edits, and a visual feedback loop.
Raw HTML/CSS solves a different part of the problem: browsers can lay out and preview slides, but arbitrary DOM and CSS make a poor, bounded interchange language for slide objects. SlideX uses XML to describe intent: slides, stable object IDs, geometry, themes, groups, and animation targets. Tags express hierarchy, attributes express parameters, and a small rich-text subset handles text. The schema can be validated, formatted, diffed, and changed by ID. It is not an arbitrary HTML document.
.slx + local media
│
└── parse / validate → shared slide model
├── HTML/SVG render → editor, viewer, PNG, PDF, image-based PPTX
└── native-object mapping → editable PPTX + capability report
The editor and viewer use the same slide-rendering path. An AI workflow can therefore generate or patch XML, validate it, render selected pages to images, inspect those images, and iterate before exporting. An editable PPTX is a separate tradeoff: supported content becomes native Office objects; complex content may become images, and Office fonts or line breaks can differ. SlideX reports those fallbacks instead of promising that editability and visual fidelity are identical.
<deck version="1" title="Quarterly review" width="960" height="540">
<slide id="summary" background="#FFFFFF">
<text id="headline" x="64" y="56" w="832" h="72" font-size="40" color="#172033">
<p><strong>Quarterly review</strong></p>
</text>
<shape id="accent" name="rect" x="64" y="152" w="200" h="8" fill="#0C7B85"/>
<text id="takeaway" x="64" y="192" w="760" h="160" font-size="28">
<p>One conclusion, backed by evidence.</p>
</text>
</slide>
</deck>A project can be one .slx file or an entry file with included pages and local media/ assets. Keep the project directory together when moving it. The language also supports masters, tables, charts, images, shapes, formulas, code, themes, groups, and animation; see the language specification and multi-file guide. The current editor writes canvas edits back to the original page/chapter files and offers per-file source tabs, project diagnostics and F12 navigation. See source-file editing for writeback and recovery rules.
For the CLI and browser editor, install the scoped package. Node.js 22 is used in CI (the package declares Node.js 18 or newer). Current release candidates use the npm next tag; the unscoped npm package named slidex is unrelated.
npm install -g @xiahan/slidex@next
slidex version
slidex init my-deck
slidex validate my-deck/deck.slx --json
slidex serve my-deck/deck.slxserve starts the local browser editor and opens it by default. In another terminal, use slidex present my-deck/deck.slx for the player, or run these tools:
slidex format my-deck/deck.slx --check
slidex format my-deck/deck.slx --write
slidex inspect my-deck/deck.slx
slidex export my-deck/deck.slx -f png --pages 1 --manifest --json
slidex export my-deck/deck.slx -f pptx --editable --json--write changes the specified file; --check only tests formatting. inspect lists project version and IDs. For version-checked incremental changes, use slidex patch <deck.slx> <patch.json> --dry-run before applying a patch; see the patch protocol. slidex language <deck.slx> --offset N exposes completion and definition data to tools.
PNG/PDF/PPTX rendering needs a local Chrome, Edge, or Chromium installation; set CHROME_PATH if automatic discovery fails. CLI exports go to the document's out/ directory. --pages and --manifest apply to PNG; PDF and PPTX currently export the whole deck. Each export includes a .report.json capability report, which should be checked for missing fonts, degraded output, or fallback objects.
For the packaged Electron editor/viewer, download the Windows, macOS, or Linux build from GitHub Releases. The npm CLI does not install the Electron runtime. Desktop builds are currently unsigned/not notarized; your OS may show a security warning.
| Format | Use it for | Important limit |
|---|---|---|
| PNG | Page previews, visual review, images for an AI assistant | Static image; supports a page range and manifest |
| Sharing or printing | Static result; font availability can affect layout | |
| HTML | A standalone browser player | Explicitly remote user media may still need network access |
| PPTX | A visually oriented handoff | Full-slide images by default; individual objects are not editable |
PPTX --editable |
Editing supported objects in PowerPoint | Mixed native objects and image fallbacks; Office rendering may differ |
PNG and image-based PPTX use page images at the deck's native resolution (1×). This avoids PowerPoint resampling at that size; enlarging the PPTX may soften the image. Editable PPTX keeps higher-resolution internal captures for unsupported objects. See PowerPoint visual QA.
Static exports show the final visual state, not the viewer's full animation behavior. See export fidelity and limitations.
The current source includes experimental lossy PPTX import; older published runtimes may not expose it. After building this checkout:
node dist/cli.js import presentation.pptx --out imported-project --json
node dist/cli.js serve imported-project/deck.slxThe editor's Open local file also accepts PPTX. Import creates a new SLX project with extracted media, original.pptx and import.report.json. Supported text, shapes, groups, pictures, tables and basic cached chart data remain editable. Unsupported objects use visible placeholders; Office text layout, master inheritance and advanced effects may change. The original stays untouched, and existing output directories are rejected. Review the report and rendered pages before editing or re-exporting. See supported content and limitations and the AI import workflow.
The SlideX skill includes 30 design systems, font and project-organization guides, and Python helpers for contact sheets and PPTX package inspection. It guides an agent through authoring, validation, page-image review and export reports; it does not bundle the CLI runtime. Install @xiahan/slidex@next separately, then download slidex-skill-<version>.zip from GitHub Releases. The ZIP contains the complete slidex/ skill folder. Contact sheets additionally need Python 3.10+ and Pillow 10+; PPTX inspection uses the Python standard library. Current PPTX exports do not embed fonts.
For a typical Codex setup, extract the ZIP into $CODEX_HOME/skills, or ~/.codex/skills when CODEX_HOME is unset. For example, after downloading the rc.9 ZIP:
mkdir -p ~/.codex/skills
unzip slidex-skill-1.7.0-rc.9.zip -d ~/.codex/skills
# Result: ~/.codex/skills/slidex/SKILL.mdOn Windows PowerShell, the default destination is $env:USERPROFILE\.codex\skills:
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force "$env:USERPROFILE\.codex\skills" | Out-Null
Expand-Archive .\slidex-skill-1.7.0-rc.9.zip -DestinationPath "$env:USERPROFILE\.codex\skills"For other agents, place the extracted slidex/ folder in that agent's configured skills directory. From a source checkout, the same folder is skills/slidex/. Start a new agent session if it discovers skills only at startup. Installing the npm package alone does not register a skill.
npm ci
npm run build
npm run app # Electron development app
npm test # DSL, browser/editor, viewer, and export regressions
npm run dist:tools # CLI tgz and skill ZIP in release/<version>/
npm run test:tools -- --renderThe React studio uses Tailwind CSS, Radix Themes, ProseMirror, and the shared renderer/player. Release tags trigger tests, cross-platform Electron packaging, GitHub Release upload, and npm Trusted Publishing. See the architecture, release process, examples, and roadmap.
MIT