Slidict

Generate presentation source files from a simple conversation.

Slidict is a CLI tool that helps you turn rough ideas into presentations through AI-guided conversations.

Unlike traditional slide generators, Slidict focuses on communication before slide creation.

Demo

Slidict conversation-to-slides demo

Slidict presentation methods demo

Read the walkthrough slides on slidict.io

Features

  • Interactive CLI conversation
  • Generate slides for Slidev, Marp, Asciidoctor Reveal.js, and other OSS presentation frameworks
  • Local-first MVP implemented in Ruby
  • Built-in Sinatra server for browsing generated slides from public/
  • OpenAI Compatible API support, so you can point Slidict at OpenAI, Ollama, LM Studio, vLLM, or any other server implementing the same /chat/completions endpoint
  • Presentation structure linter: checks whether a Markdown/Asciidoc deck's structure (not its looks) will land with an audience

Requirements

  • Ruby 3.2.0 or later

Usage

Run the executable directly from this repository:

bin/slidict

Slidict asks a few questions and generates presentation source files. For example, this creates a Marp Markdown deck:

$ bin/slidict --framework marp

What would you like to talk about?
> PDF Difference Monitoring Service
How long is the presentation?
> 5 minutes
Who is the audience?
> Engineering managers
What should the audience remember or do?
> Approve an MVP pilot
Created public/001.md

You can also provide answers non-interactively:

bin/slidict \
  --topic "PDF Difference Monitoring Service" \
  --duration "5 minutes" \
  --audience "Engineering managers" \
  --goal "Approve an MVP pilot" \
  --framework asciidoctor-revealjs \
  --output slides.adoc

Add --publish to also save the generated slides to slidict.io as a draft (requires slidict auth first). Pass --slide-id to edit an existing draft instead of creating a new one:

# Create a new draft on slidict.io from the generated slides
bin/slidict --topic "PDF Difference Monitoring Service" --duration "5 minutes" \
  --audience "Engineering managers" --goal "Approve an MVP pilot" --publish

# Edit an existing draft (slide #42) instead of creating a new one
bin/slidict --topic "PDF Difference Monitoring Service" --duration "5 minutes" \
  --audience "Engineering managers" --goal "Approve an MVP pilot" --slide-id 42

Output files

Choose the framework and output path that match the presentation tool you want to use. If you omit --output, Slidict writes under public/ with the next sequential file name. Use --filename to choose the relative file name under public/; Slidict appends the framework extension when the name has no extension.

# Choose a served file name under public/
bin/slidict --filename product-demo/slides --topic "Product Demo"

Slidev                  -> public/001.md, public/002.md, ...
Marp                    -> public/001.md, public/002.md, ...
Asciidoctor Reveal.js   -> public/001.adoc, public/002.adoc, ...

Commands

slidict init

Creates a .env file for SLIDICT_LLM_*, SLIDICT_FRAMEWORK, and SLIDICT_METHOD (see Configuration) and adds .env to .gitignore. Does nothing to an existing .env or an already-updated .gitignore.

bin/slidict init

slidict auth

Authenticates the CLI with your GitHub account via the device code flow and saves a CLI access token to ~/.config/slidict/credentials.json.

bin/slidict auth

slidict slides

Manage your slides on slidict.io using the CLI access token saved by slidict auth.

bin/slidict slides list [--page N]
bin/slidict slides show <id>
bin/slidict slides create [--title TEXT] [--body TEXT | --file PATH] [--body-format asciidoc|markdown] [--visibility public|unlisted|group_only]
bin/slidict slides edit <id> [--title TEXT] [--body TEXT | --file PATH] [--body-format asciidoc|markdown] [--visibility public|unlisted|group_only]
  • create and edit always save the slide as a draft. Publishing requires going through the moderation flow on the Web UI; the CLI cannot publish a slide.
  • edit only works on slides that are still drafts; editing an already-published slide must be done from the Web UI.
  • create/edit are rate limited to once per minute per user.

Run bin/slidict slides -h for the full list of options.

slidict serve

Serve generated slide files from the local public/ directory with Sinatra. The top page lists Markdown and Asciidoc slide files below public/, so you can organize decks in subdirectories such as public/product-demo/slides.md. Any arguments after serve are passed through to Sinatra.

bin/slidict serve -p 4567 -o 0.0.0.0

bin/slidict --publish and --slide-id (see Usage) wrap this same create/edit behavior so you can save the slides you just generated straight to slidict.io.

slidict lint

Diagnoses whether a Markdown or Asciidoc slide deck has a structure an audience can actually follow -- not whether it looks nice. Diagnosis only; it does not rewrite the file. Requires an LLM endpoint (see Configuration).

bin/slidict lint talk.md --llm-base-url http://localhost:11434/v1 --llm-api-key ollama --llm-model llama3

[warning] Slide 3: this slide's main point is unclear
[warning] Slide 5: "MCP" is used without first explaining it
[info] Slide 8: the closing slide is weak; consider adding a one-sentence takeaway for the audience

It checks six things across the whole deck:

  1. Is the audience clear?
  2. Can the overall point be stated in one sentence?
  3. Does the deck flow background → problem → solution → result/learning?
  4. Is any single slide overloaded with information?
  5. Is jargon used without first explaining it?
  6. Does the closing slide give the audience a concrete takeaway?

The deck format (markdown or asciidoc) is auto-detected from the file extension; override it with --format. Run bin/slidict lint -h for the full list of options.

Configuration

Slidict generates slides with an LLM through any OpenAI Compatible API. Configure the target endpoint with environment variables, a .env file, or CLI flags:

Environment variable CLI flag Default
SLIDICT_LLM_BASE_URL --llm-base-url (none)
SLIDICT_LLM_API_KEY --llm-api-key (none)
SLIDICT_LLM_MODEL --llm-model gpt-4o-mini
SLIDICT_FRAMEWORK --framework slidev
SLIDICT_METHOD --method (none)

Precedence is CLI flag > real environment variable > .env file > built-in default (a .env value fills in only variables that aren't already set in the environment). Run slidict init to create a .env file in the current directory (with these variables commented out) and add .env to .gitignore:

bin/slidict init

Created .env
Added .env to .gitignore

Then edit .env to set the values you want, for example:

SLIDICT_LLM_BASE_URL=http://localhost:11434/v1
SLIDICT_LLM_API_KEY=ollama
SLIDICT_LLM_MODEL=llama3
SLIDICT_FRAMEWORK=marp

Since .env is gitignored, it's a good place for secrets like API keys that shouldn't be committed. A CLI flag always overrides both .env and the real environment for that invocation.

If no llm-base-url is configured, Slidict uses its built-in slide template and never calls an LLM. Once a llm-base-url is set, Slidict always calls that endpoint; if the request fails, Slidict reports the error and exits without writing a file (no fallback). You can force the template even when a base URL is configured with --no-llm.

Use --language LANG (e.g. --language Japanese) to have the LLM write the generated slide titles and bullets in a language other than English. When an llm-base-url is also configured, Slidict asks the LLM to translate any interactive questions it still needs to ask (topic, duration, audience, goal) into that language too, so you're not answering Japanese-bound slides in English prompts. This only affects LLM-generated slides and questions; the built-in template stays in English.

Examples:

# OpenAI
export SLIDICT_LLM_BASE_URL=https://api.openai.com/v1
export SLIDICT_LLM_API_KEY=sk-...
bin/slidict --topic "PDF Difference Monitoring Service" --duration "5 minutes" \
  --audience "Engineering managers" --goal "Approve an MVP pilot"

# Ollama (running locally, OpenAI Compatible API)
bin/slidict --llm-base-url http://localhost:11434/v1 --llm-api-key ollama --llm-model llama3

# LM Studio (running locally, OpenAI Compatible API)
bin/slidict --llm-base-url http://localhost:1234/v1 --llm-api-key lm-studio --llm-model local-model

Philosophy

Slidict helps you communicate ideas, not just create slides.

Many presentation tools focus on layouts, themes, and visual design.

Slidict focuses on the message.

Before generating slides, Slidict helps you:

  • Clarify your message
  • Build a compelling narrative
  • Focus on what matters
  • Create presentations people remember
Idea
 ↓
Conversation
 ↓
Story
 ↓
Slides

We optimize for communication, not decoration.

Presentation methods

Use --method to generate slides with a specific narrative structure, such as SCQA, PREP, or Pyramid Principle.

bin/slidict --method scqa --topic "Database migration plan"
bin/slidict list-methods
bin/slidict show-method scqa

See Presentation methods for the YAML schema, plugin layout, and contribution workflow.

Project resources

Roadmap

  • [x] Interactive CLI
  • [x] Slide generation
  • [x] OpenAI Compatible API support (configurable base URL, so Ollama, LM Studio, and other compatible servers work out of the box)
  • [x] Presentation structure linter (slidict lint)

License

MIT