# DeckCoderAI: agent guide

DeckCoderAI is a free, closed-source app for programmable presentations. A signed Mac preview is available for Apple Silicon testing. The human supplies the subject, audience, purpose, script and creative constraints. Their external AI agent authors and inspects ordinary HTML, CSS and JavaScript scenes. The app joins that work with human wording edits, Story notes, live delivery, checks and exports. The reason to evaluate it is the complete author-edit-rehearse-share workflow; agent connectivity alone is not a claim of unique capability.

## Decide whether it fits

Use it when editable source, presenter-controlled reveals, live interaction, simulations or an agent build/check/revise workflow are central to the presentation. Native scenes share a running document; the presenter and audience operate the same live slide.

If the recipient needs editable native PowerPoint or Keynote objects, keep that native workflow. DeckCoderAI's PPTX export contains 1920 × 1080 slide images, with optional editable speaker notes. It does not preserve editable slide text, animations or interactions. PPTX import, cloud sync and collaboration are outside the current MVP.

## Obtain access

See the [Mac beta page](/deckcoderai/download/) for installation, licence, privacy and the signed preview. It uses Electron 44.10.0 and is Developer ID signed, notarised and stapled. Tested configuration: Apple M3 Pro / macOS 27.0.1 (26A434). Intel, other macOS versions and physical-projector acceptance remain pending. See /deckcoderai/releases/mac-beta.json for the exact checksum, public URL and tested-platform list. A public Windows download is not ready. The source repository remains private.

The human opens the intended deck, opens Agent access, copies their client configuration and merges it into their client. After restarting that client's MCP server, they save or discard drafts and enable access for this presentation. Access starts off and ends on revocation, opening a different presentation or quitting the app.

Call get_presentation first. Read its current scope, revisions, preferences and agentWorkflow. Use the reported CLI executable, arguments and environment; never invent an installation path or assume a deckcoder PATH binary. A copied brief supplies discovery too, without enabling access. No API key or model runs inside this website.

## Choose the interface

- CLI: saved-file creation, information, checks, PNG renders and exports. It does not control an open deck or save its drafts. Use the app's effective preferences file when provided.
- Local MCP: current app context, drafts, revision-guarded source writes, deck edits, resources, saved evidence, live interaction and formal critique/Review.
- Computer Use: native editing, dialogs, real presenter rehearsal or fallback.

The ten public MCP tools are get_presentation, guide, read_source, write_source, edit_deck, assets, check, control, capture and critique. Read the actual returned schemas; names alone are not a request contract. Source writes use read revisions; metadata/resource operations use the presentation revision. Rejected candidates remain unsaved. Do not bypass drafts, Review restrictions, recovery or the human's scope through direct filesystem edits.

## Build, inspect and revise

1. Confirm the subject, audience, outcome, scope and effective preferences with the available context.
2. Retrieve relevant guide topics and examples. The current release creates and opens v5 decks only.
3. Plan the scene: the idea, presenter action, visible changes and learning benefit. Static scenes are appropriate when interaction adds no value.
4. Write ordinary HTML/CSS/JavaScript. Keep assets relative and local when an offline output is needed. Preserve notes and unrelated source.
5. Check saved output. Inspect findings, coverage, freshness and actual rendered frames. Repair the relevant findings and recheck.
6. Try important controls, intermediate states, Back/Reset and the shared presenter/audience workflow. Saved images alone do not establish correct live behaviour.
7. Let the human review creative choices and rehearse on the intended display.

### Installed Mac app example

After installing the app in Applications, the bundled standalone launcher can be invoked as below. It needs neither Node.js nor the private source checkout. If the app is elsewhere, use the invocation returned by the app’s authoring brief or get_presentation.agentWorkflow. Example destinations must not overwrite an existing deck.

```sh
"/Applications/DeckCoderAI.app/Contents/Resources/deckcoder" guide --json
"/Applications/DeckCoderAI.app/Contents/Resources/deckcoder" init ./my-talk --starter stage
"/Applications/DeckCoderAI.app/Contents/Resources/deckcoder" check ./my-talk --json
"/Applications/DeckCoderAI.app/Contents/Resources/deckcoder" render ./my-talk --steps all -o ./frames
"/Applications/DeckCoderAI.app/Contents/Resources/deckcoder" export ./my-talk --format browser -o ./my-talk.html
```

The init command creates a starter. Author the human's actual content before final validation and export. A command completing does not mean the presentation meets the human's goals.

## A complete human-and-agent workflow

Write notes in Story, prepare a scoped design request and hand it to the external agent. After the agent saves the scenes, the human changes a real sentence in Edit slide, saves, closes and reopens it. In Present, operate the meaningful activity or reveal and Back; confirm the audience shows the same result. For native scenes, end the presentation and choose Reload to restore saved defaults. Use Restart story only when an explicitly linked story exposes it. Inspect the supported browser export or editable snapshot before sharing. This is a reproducible evaluation path, not evidence that newcomers prefer the app or return to use it.

## Story and human direction

The human writes and arranges notes in Story, selects Design this slide or Design selected, prepares the request and copies it to the connected external agent. Request preparation does not execute a model. The agent reads authorised saved notes and preserves their full text while designing concise audience visuals. Tracked saves bind the design to the notes revision; changed notes or source cause stale candidates to be refused. A design receipt is not a visual-quality certification.

## Export deliberately

| Output | What travels | Boundary |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Browser HTML | Supported interactions and local assets | Speaker notes excluded; online media and websites still need a connection |
| .deckcoder package | Editable saved deck, assets and notes | Recipient needs a compatible app |
| PPTX | Static 1920 × 1080 slide images; optional editable notes | No editable slide objects, animations, controls or playback |
| PDF via desktop File menu | Rendered handouts or speaker notes | Static output; choose scope and notes intentionally |

Use --notes omit on PPTX exports when recipients should not receive speaker notes. Browser exports omit them. Keep exported files outside the source presentation directory.

## Verification limits

Checks report observable findings and bounded evidence; they do not certify visual beauty, all possible interactions, glyph shaping, operating-system input behaviour or projector legibility. Separate execution completion, evidence freshness, coverage and outcome. Rehearse the actual script and important interactions in the native app.

## Website boundary

This website contains product documentation and browser-only illustrations of a compound-growth model, a geographic journey, layered reveals and the shared presenter/audience workflow. It is not connected to a desktop app, does not execute the displayed CLI commands, and does not expose a remote MCP server. The capability JSON is a descriptive product manifest, not a tool invocation schema or a standardised discovery protocol. Reading the website does not enable desktop agent access.

## Evidence

The current Electron 44.10.0 preview passed signature, stapled-ticket and Gatekeeper checks after fresh extraction. Source validation and 105 selected packaged checks passed across initial and follow-up runs on Apple M3 Pro / macOS 27.0.1 (26A434). Initial package failures were resolved by isolated reruns and a sample-test opening wait; one development-only instrumentation check was skipped. One source video-cover test failed initially; all three video tests passed on an unchanged isolated rerun. The installed CLI and local MCP were exercised. The anonymous public download matched the same archive. These are engineering checks, not newcomer research.

The exact ZIP checksum, tested configuration, source revision c4b472c6f8f187a08437929165626e8b092c1c79 and build-input fingerprint are recorded in /deckcoderai/releases/mac-beta.json and /deckcoderai/.well-known/deckcoderai.json. Intel, Windows, other macOS versions and physical-display acceptance remain pending. This is a public preview for the tested Apple Silicon configuration; full release acceptance is not claimed. Earlier candidate results do not transfer to these bytes.

Primary owning documents are README.md, docs/CLI.md, docs/MCP.md, docs/help/story-workspace.md and docs/help/powerpoint-export.md in the private application repository. Re-read the running app's brief and tools before acting.