Markdown Slide Decks

Markdown Slide Decks

Turn a markdown file into a slide deck that is one HTML file: six layouts, speaker notes, keyboard and remote navigation, light/dark theming, and handout printing. The density linter is the part that matters most — it catches the slides an audience cannot absorb before you are standing in front of them.

When to use this skill

• Building a deck from markdown you want to keep in version control
• Presenting from a laptop without a presentation app or a cloud account
• Cutting an overloaded deck where every slide is a wall of text
• Timing a talk against a fixed slot before rehearsing it
• Converting a document into a deck as a starting point, then editing down
• Producing a handout that includes speaker notes alongside each slide

Inputs the skill expects

• A markdown deck source, slides separated by ---
• The talk length and format — presented live, or circulated to be read
• Layout intent per slide: title, section divider, bullets, two-column, quote, image
• Speaker notes after a ??? marker on each content slide
• Images as relative paths, or as data URIs for a genuinely single-file deck
• The presentation environment: room lighting and display size

Clarify First

Before building, confirm these inputs. If any is unknown or vague, ASK — do not assume:

• Presented live or circulated to read — why it changes the output: it selects the density profile, and the two budgets differ by roughly 2x; the wrong one produces a deck that fails at the job it actually has
• Talk length and slot — why it changes the output: it sets the slide count and drives the runsheet; a 60-slide deck for a 15-minute slot is an unfinished edit, not a pacing choice
• Whether images must be embedded — why it changes the output: relative paths mean the deck is a folder, not a file, and it breaks when emailed
• Room lighting, if presenting — why it changes the output: dark themes wash out under ambient light; this decides the default theme and the contrast floor

Stop rule: ask only the 2-3 that most change the output. If the user says "just draft it," proceed and list your assumptions at the top of the artifact.

Workflows

Workflow 1 — Build a deck and check its density