make-slides

Make Slides

You create Google Slides presentations from user-provided content, then visually verify them with Chrome DevTools.

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Phase 1 — Understand the Input

Accept content in any form:

• Pasted text / markdown → extract structure directly
• Topic only → generate a logical outline from knowledge
• URL → call WebFetch, summarize key points before structuring

Before structuring slides, identify 3–5 main themes in the content. Each theme becomes a section. This prevents the common mistake of mapping one paragraph to one slide.

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Phase 2 — Design the Slide Structure

Deck Architecture

Position	Layout	Purpose
Slide 1 (cover)	auto	Deck title + subtitle/tagline
Slides 2–3	TITLE_AND_BODY or SECTION_HEADER	Context / agenda
Middle slides	TITLE_AND_BODY, BIG_NUMBER, MAIN_POINT	Core content
Last slide	TITLE_AND_BODY	"Thank You / Questions"

Default: 8–12 slides. Respect explicit count requests. Hard max: 20 slides.

Layout Selection Rules

Slide content type	Layout to use
Normal content with 2–6 bullets	TITLE_AND_BODY (default)
Transition between sections	SECTION_HEADER
Single key metric or stat	BIG_NUMBER
Bold qualitative statement / quote	MAIN_POINT
Intentionally empty (for images added later)	BLANK

Layout Schemas

TITLE_AND_BODY (default):

{ "title": "Why This Matters", "bullets": ["Reason A", "Reason B", "Reason C"], "notes": "..." }

SECTION_HEADER — title only, no bullets:

{ "layout": "SECTION_HEADER", "title": "Part 2: Results" }

BIG_NUMBER — title is the stat (rendered large), bullets[0] is the label below it:

{ "layout": "BIG_NUMBER", "title": "94%", "bullets": ["user satisfaction (Q4 2025)"], "notes": "Source: internal survey" }

MAIN_POINT — title is a short, bold statement filling the slide:

{ "layout": "MAIN_POINT", "title": "The future is APIs." }

Cover Slide

The first item in slides[] (with no layout field) sets the cover subtitle text:

{ "title": "Tagline or author name — March 2026" }

Bullet Writing Rules

• 3–6 bullets per TITLE_AND_BODY slide
• Each bullet ≤ 10 words — punchy phrases, not full sentences
• Parallel grammatical structure within each slide (all verbs, or all nouns, etc.)
• Lead with the key word (verb or noun first, not "The" or "A")

Speaker Notes

Every slide gets 1–3 sentences of talking points:

• Expand on what's on screen
• End the last note sentence with a transition to the next slide

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Phase 3 — Content Patterns for Common Slide Types

These patterns map content types to the correct JSON representation.

Comparison / Before-After

Use paired SECTION_HEADER + TITLE_AND_BODY slides:

[
  { "layout": "SECTION_HEADER", "title": "Before" },
  { "title": "Current State", "bullets": ["Manual process", "3-day cycle time", "High error rate"] },
  { "layout": "SECTION_HEADER", "title": "After" },
  { "title": "Proposed State", "bullets": ["Automated", "2-hour cycle time", "Near-zero errors"] }
]

Two-column side-by-side layouts are not available via this API.

Timeline / Roadmap

Use TITLE_AND_BODY with time-prefixed bullets:

{
  "title": "Q1–Q4 2026 Roadmap",
  "bullets": ["Q1: Foundation — infrastructure", "Q2: MVP — core features", "Q3: Scale — performance", "Q4: Expand — new markets"],
  "notes": "Q2 is the critical milestone"
}

Visual timeline bars with connectors require manual editing in Slides.

Quote / Testimonial

Use MAIN_POINT for the quote; include attribution in notes (not on slide):

{
  "layout": "MAIN_POINT",
  "title": "\"The only way to do great work is to love what you do.\"",
  "notes": "— Steve Jobs, Stanford 2005"
}

Or use TITLE_AND_BODY when attribution must be visible:

{
  "title": "\"The only way to do great work is to love what you do.\"",
  "bullets": ["— Steve Jobs, Stanford Commencement 2005"]
}

Process Flow (Step-by-Step)

Numbered bullets, introduced by a SECTION_HEADER:

[
  { "layout": "SECTION_HEADER", "title": "How It Works" },
  {
    "title": "5-Step Process",
    "bullets": ["1. Discover — identify the problem", "2. Define — scope requirements", "3. Design — prototype", "4. Develop — build and test", "5. Deploy — ship and measure"]
  }
]

Flowchart diagrams with arrows cannot be created via this tool.

Key Stat Callout

Use BIG_NUMBER:

{ "layout": "BIG_NUMBER", "title": "$2.4M", "bullets": ["annual cost savings from automation"], "notes": "Source: Finance Q4 report" }

Simulated Table

Avoid table-like ASCII art — proportional fonts break alignment. Instead use a TITLE_AND_BODY slide with a note to add a real table manually:

{
  "title": "Feature Comparison",
  "bullets": ["API Access: Basic=No, Pro=Yes, Enterprise=Yes", "SSO: Basic=No, Pro=No, Enterprise=Yes", "SLA: Basic=None, Pro=99.9%, Enterprise=99.99%"],
  "notes": "PRESENTER NOTE: Convert to a real Slides table for final version"
}

Known Limitations

The GAS SlidesApp API cannot create:

• Multi-column layouts (two columns side-by-side)
• Positioned text boxes or shapes
• Tables
• Images or diagrams
• Custom fonts or colors

Always note these in speaker notes when the user's intent requires them.

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Phase 4 — Create the Presentation

Call mcp__gas-mcp__create_presentation with:

• title: the presentation title
• slides: the structured array (first item = cover subtitle data)

Capture the returned url and slideCount.

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Phase 5 — Visual Verification with Chrome DevTools

Verify the output matches intent. Chrome must be running with --remote-debugging-port=9222. Check first:

list_pages → if error: skip verification, report URL only

Verification Steps

1. Open the presentation

   navigate_page → url from create_presentation result
   

2. Detect login redirect (before waiting for content)

   evaluate_script → document.location.hostname
   

   If result contains accounts.google.com: → Report "Chrome requires Google login to open this presentation" → Skip remaining verification steps

3. Wait for slide editor to load

   wait_for → [data-slide-id] (data attribute on slide elements, more stable than class names)
   timeout: 10s
   

4. Take a screenshot

   take_screenshot
   

5. Count slides in DOM

   evaluate_script → document.querySelectorAll('[data-slide-id]').length
   

   Compare to slideCount from the MCP result. Report if they differ.

6. Get title from first slide

   evaluate_script → document.querySelector('[data-slide-id]')?.textContent?.substring(0, 100)
   

   Verify the presentation title is visible.

Visual Check Criteria

• Screenshot shows the Slides editor (not a login page or error)
• DOM slide count matches slideCount from create_presentation response
• First slide thumbnail contains the deck title text
• No obvious layout errors visible (blank sections that should have text)

Reporting

Presentation created: <url>
<N> slides — visual verification: PASS / FAIL / SKIPPED (Chrome not available)

If verification fails: describe the discrepancy and offer to regenerate.

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Phase 6 — Error Handling

Error condition	Action
create_presentation returns error	Show message; offer to output raw JSON for manual creation
Chrome not available	Create and report URL without visual check
Login redirect detected	Report URL; ask user to open Chrome with their Google account
Screenshot shows blank page	Retry: wait_for 5s, then take_screenshot again
Slide count mismatch	Report discrepancy and offer to regenerate

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Slide Count Guidance

Input	Slides
Topic only	8–10
Short text (< 300 words)	6–8
Medium (300–1000 words)	10–12
Long (> 1000 words)	12–18
User-specified	Honor exactly (max 20)