Chuk MCP PowerPoint Server

A powerful, LLM-friendly PowerPoint design system with MCP server integration. Built with a template-first architecture, universal component API, and comprehensive theming for creating professional presentations.

Highlights

• Template-First Workflow - Professional templates with 50+ layouts each
• Universal Component API - Single tool for all components (charts, tables, images, etc.)
• Design System - shadcn/ui-inspired component architecture with variants
• Theme System - 15+ built-in themes with dark/light modes
• Component Registry - LLM-friendly schemas and discovery
• Design Tokens - Consistent colors, typography, spacing
• MCP Integration - Full Model Context Protocol support
• Fully Tested - 2395+ tests with comprehensive coverage
• Cloud Ready - Deploy to Fly.io with Tigris S3 and Redis

Project Structure

chuk-mcp-pptx/
├── src/chuk_mcp_pptx/
│   ├── components/           # Component library
│   │   ├── core/            # Core components (Card, Badge, Table, Image, etc.)
│   │   ├── charts/          # Chart components (Column, Line, Pie, Gauge, etc.)
│   │   ├── tracking.py      # Component tracking system
│   │   ├── registry.py      # Component registry with schemas
│   │   └── base.py          # Base component class
│   ├── tools/               # MCP tool implementations
│   │   ├── universal/       # Universal component API
│   │   │   ├── api.py       # pptx_add_component, pptx_update_component
│   │   │   ├── registry.py  # Component discovery tools
│   │   │   └── semantic.py  # Semantic slide tools
│   │   ├── template/        # Template tools
│   │   │   ├── workflow.py  # pptx_add_slide_from_template
│   │   │   ├── analyze.py   # pptx_analyze_template
│   │   │   └── list.py      # pptx_list_templates
│   │   ├── core/            # Core tools (placeholder population)
│   │   ├── theme/           # Theme management tools
│   │   ├── layout/          # Slide layout tools
│   │   └── inspection/      # Slide inspection tools
│   ├── templates/           # Template manager
│   ├── themes/              # Theme system (15+ themes)
│   ├── tokens/              # Design tokens
│   ├── layout/              # Layout helpers
│   ├── slide_templates/     # Pre-built slide templates
│   ├── async_server.py      # Async MCP server
│   └── server.py            # Server entry point
├── docs/                    # Documentation
├── examples/                # Examples and demos (see Golden Path)
├── tests/                   # 2395+ comprehensive tests
└── outputs/                 # Generated presentations

Features

Core Features

• Create presentations from professional templates (50+ layouts)
• Universal component API for all content types
• Smart placeholder population with automatic content handling
• Template-aware design system resolution
• Save/load presentations, import/export as base64
• Cloud storage with presigned download URLs

Design System Features

• Variant System - cva-inspired composable variants
• Composition Patterns - shadcn-style component composition
• Component Registry - Discovery and documentation for LLMs
• Design Tokens - Colors, typography, spacing tokens
• Theme System - 15+ themes with export/import
• Type Safety - Pydantic schemas for validation

Installation

# Using uv
uv sync
uv run chuk-mcp-pptx

# Or using pip
pip install -e .

MCP Tools Reference

The server provides MCP tools organized into logical groups:

Presentation Management

• pptx_create - Create presentation (optionally from template)
• pptx_list - List all open presentations
• pptx_switch - Switch between presentations
• pptx_get_info - Get presentation metadata
• pptx_delete - Delete a presentation
• pptx_status - Get server status

Template Workflow (Recommended)

• pptx_analyze_template - Analyze template layouts and placeholders
• pptx_analyze_template_variants - Group similar layouts
• pptx_add_slide_from_template - Add slide using template layout
• pptx_populate_placeholder - Populate placeholders with content
• pptx_list_templates - List available templates
• pptx_get_builtin_template - Get built-in template info

Universal Component API

• pptx_add_component - Add any component (charts, tables, images, etc.)
• pptx_update_component - Update existing component
• pptx_list_slide_components - List and validate slide components

Component Registry

• pptx_list_components - List all available components
• pptx_search_components - Search components by keyword
• pptx_get_component_schema - Get component schema/props
• pptx_get_component_variants - Get variant options
• pptx_get_component_examples - Get usage examples
• pptx_export_registry_docs - Export full registry docs

Layout Management

• pptx_list_layouts - List available slide layouts
• pptx_add_slide_with_layout - Add slide with specific layout
• pptx_customize_layout - Customize slide appearance
• pptx_apply_master_layout - Apply master formatting
• pptx_duplicate_slide - Duplicate existing slide
• pptx_reorder_slides - Reorder slides

Theme Tools

• pptx_list_themes - List available themes
• pptx_get_theme_info - Get theme details
• pptx_apply_theme - Apply theme to presentation
• pptx_create_custom_theme - Create custom theme
• pptx_apply_component_theme - Apply theme to component
• pptx_list_component_themes - List component-specific themes

Inspection Tools

• pptx_inspect_slide - Detailed slide inspection
• pptx_fix_slide_layout - Auto-fix layout issues
• pptx_analyze_presentation_layout - Full presentation analysis

Semantic Tools

• pptx_add_title_slide - Add title slide (deprecated, use templates)
• pptx_add_slide - Add content slide (deprecated, use templates)

File Operations

• pptx_save - Save presentation to disk
• pptx_export_base64 - Export as base64 data
• pptx_import_base64 - Import from base64 data
• pptx_get_download_url - Get presigned download URL

Recommended Workflow

Template-Based Presentations (Recommended)

The recommended approach uses professional templates for consistent, high-quality presentations:

# 1. Create presentation from a template
await pptx_create(name="quarterly_report", template_name="brand_proposal")

# 2. Analyze template to see ALL available layouts (CRITICAL!)
await pptx_analyze_template("brand_proposal")
# Returns 50+ layouts: Title, Content, Comparison, Quote, Charts, etc.

# 3. Add slides using specific layouts
result = await pptx_add_slide_from_template(layout_index=0)  # Title slide
# Response shows: placeholder 0 (TITLE), placeholder 1 (SUBTITLE)

# 4. Populate text placeholders
await pptx_populate_placeholder(slide_index=0, placeholder_idx=0, content="Q4 Report")
await pptx_populate_placeholder(slide_index=0, placeholder_idx=1, content="Financial Results")

# 5. Add content slide with chart
result = await pptx_add_slide_from_template(layout_index=40)  # Chart layout
# Response shows: placeholder 2 (CHART)

# 6. Populate chart placeholder with structured data
await pptx_populate_placeholder(
    slide_index=1,
    placeholder_idx=2,
    content={
        'type': 'ColumnChart',
        'title': 'Revenue by Quarter',
        'categories': ['Q1', 'Q2', 'Q3', 'Q4'],
        'series': {'Revenue': [100, 120, 140, 180]}
    }
)

# 7. Verify slide components
await pptx_list_slide_components(slide_index=1)
# Validates all placeholders are populated, no empty "Click to add" text

# 8. Save presentation
await pptx_save(path="quarterly_report.pptx")

Universal Component API

For adding components anywhere (free-form or into placeholders):

# Add chart into placeholder (template-aware)
await pptx_add_component(
    slide_index=1,
    component="ColumnChart",
    target_placeholder=2,
    params={
        "title": "Sales Growth",
        "categories": ["Jan", "Feb", "Mar"],
        "series": {"Sales": [100, 150, 200]}
    }
)

# Add table into placeholder
await pptx_add_component(
    slide_index=2,
    component="Table",
    target_placeholder=14,
    params={
        "headers": ["Product", "Q1", "Q2"],
        "data": [["Widget A", "$10K", "$15K"], ["Widget B", "$8K", "$12K"]]
    }
)

# Free-form positioning (for blank slides)
await pptx_add_component(
    slide_index=3,
    component="Badge",
    left=2.0, top=3.0, width=1.5, height=0.5,
    params={"text": "New", "variant": "success"}
)

Running the Server

The server can run in different transport modes:

# Auto-detect mode (stdio for Claude Desktop, HTTP otherwise)
uv run python -m chuk_mcp_pptx.server

# Force stdio mode
uv run python -m chuk_mcp_pptx.server stdio

# Force HTTP mode on specific port
uv run python -m chuk_mcp_pptx.server http --port 8080

Cloud Deployment (Fly.io)

Deploy the PowerPoint MCP Server to Fly.io with Tigris S3 storage and Redis for production use.

Quick Deploy

# 1. Create the app
fly apps create chuk-mcp-pptx

# 2. Create Tigris S3 bucket for artifact storage
fly storage create

# 3. Create Redis instance
fly redis create --name chuk-mcp-pptx-redis --region lhr --no-replicas --enable-eviction

# 4. Set Redis URL secret (from redis create output)
fly secrets set REDIS_URL="redis://default:password@fly-chuk-mcp-pptx-redis.upstash.io:6379"

# 5. Deploy
fly deploy

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                      Fly.io Edge                            │
│                   (chuk-mcp-pptx.fly.dev)                  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
                              ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                 PowerPoint MCP Server                       │
│                   (Python + FastMCP)                        │
│                                                             │
│  ┌─────────────────┐  ┌─────────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │ Presentation    │  │ chuk-artifacts                  │  │
│  │ Manager         │──│ (S3 + Redis backend)            │  │
│  └─────────────────┘  └─────────────────────────────────┘  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
          │                            │
          ▼                            ▼
┌─────────────────────┐  ┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│    Fly Redis        │  │       Tigris S3                 │
│  (Upstash managed)  │  │   (Object storage)              │
│                     │  │                                 │
│  • Session metadata │  │  • Presentation files (.pptx)   │
│  • Distributed lock │  │  • Exported artifacts           │
└─────────────────────┘  └─────────────────────────────────┘

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Set Via
CHUK_ARTIFACTS_PROVIDER	Storage provider (s3)	fly.toml
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID	Tigris access key	secrets
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY	Tigris secret key	secrets
AWS_ENDPOINT_URL_S3	Tigris endpoint	secrets
BUCKET_NAME	S3 bucket name	secrets
REDIS_URL	Redis connection URL	secrets

GitHub Actions Auto-Deploy

Add FLY_API_TOKEN to your repository secrets for automatic deployment on push to main:

fly tokens create deploy -x 999999h

The included .github/workflows/fly-deploy.yml handles automatic deployment.

Getting Download URLs

When deployed to Fly.io with S3 storage, use pptx_get_download_url to get presigned URLs:

# Create and save a presentation
pptx_create(name="report")
pptx_add_title_slide(title="Q4 Report")

# Get a download URL (valid for 1 hour by default)
result = pptx_get_download_url()
# Returns: {"url": "https://fly.storage.tigris.dev/...", "expires_in": 3600}

# Custom expiration (2 hours)
result = pptx_get_download_url(expires_in=7200)

For detailed deployment instructions, see FLY_DEPLOYMENT.md.

Storage Configuration

The server uses chuk-artifacts for flexible storage with support for multiple backends:

Storage Providers

• memory (default): In-memory storage (for local development)
• file: Local filesystem storage
• sqlite: SQLite database storage
• s3: AWS S3 or S3-compatible storage (Tigris, MinIO, etc.)

Environment-Based Configuration

Storage is configured via environment variables:

# S3/Tigris storage (production)
export CHUK_ARTIFACTS_PROVIDER=s3
export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=your_key
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=your_secret
export AWS_ENDPOINT_URL_S3=https://fly.storage.tigris.dev
export BUCKET_NAME=your-bucket

# Redis for metadata (optional but recommended for S3)
export REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379

Artifact Store Integration

The server automatically persists presentations to the configured artifact store:

1. Auto-save: Presentations are automatically saved when created or modified
2. Auto-load: Presentations are loaded from the store when accessed
3. Multi-server: Multiple server instances can share presentations via S3
4. Presigned URLs: Generate download URLs for cloud-stored presentations

Storage Patterns

1. Artifact Store: All presentations use chuk-artifacts for persistence
2. Base64 transfer: Export/import presentations as base64 for transfer
3. Presigned URLs: Get direct download links from S3/Tigris storage
4. Image support: Add images via file path or base64 data URLs

Available Components

Components available through pptx_add_component and pptx_populate_placeholder:

Charts

• ColumnChart, BarChart - Bar/column charts with clustered, stacked, stacked100 variants
• LineChart, AreaChart - Line/area charts with smooth, markers variants
• PieChart, DoughnutChart - Pie/doughnut charts with exploded variant
• ScatterChart, BubbleChart - Scatter/bubble visualizations
• RadarChart - Spider/radar charts
• WaterfallChart - Waterfall charts for financial data
• FunnelChart - Sales funnel visualizations
• GaugeChart - Gauge/speedometer charts
• GanttChart - Project timeline charts
• HeatmapChart - Heat map visualizations
• SparklineChart - Inline mini charts
• Matrix3DChart - 3D matrix visualizations

Data

• Table - Tables with striped, bordered, compact variants
• ContentGrid - Grid layout for multiple items

UI Components

• Card - Container with header/footer
• Badge - Status badges (default, secondary, success, warning, destructive)
• Alert - Alert boxes (default, info, success, warning, error)
• Button - Buttons (default, secondary, outline, ghost, destructive)
• Progress - Progress bars
• Avatar - Avatar/profile images
• Icon - Icon components

Media

• Image - Images with various fit modes
• Video - Video placeholders
• CodeBlock - Syntax-highlighted code

Layout

• Container - Content containers
• Stack - Vertical/horizontal stacks
• Timeline - Timeline visualizations
• SmartArt - SmartArt-style diagrams

MCP Configuration

For Claude Desktop, add to your MCP settings:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "chuk-mcp-pptx": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["run", "python", "-m", "chuk_mcp_pptx.server"],
      "cwd": "/path/to/chuk-mcp-pptx"
    }
  }
}

Quick Start

Via MCP (Recommended)

When connected via MCP client (Claude Desktop, etc.):

# Create from template
await pptx_create(name="my_deck", template_name="brand_proposal")

# Analyze available layouts
await pptx_analyze_template("brand_proposal")

# Add and populate slides
await pptx_add_slide_from_template(layout_index=0)
await pptx_populate_placeholder(slide_index=0, placeholder_idx=0, content="Welcome")

# Save
await pptx_save(path="my_deck.pptx")

Direct Python Usage

from pptx import Presentation
from chuk_mcp_pptx.components.core import Card, Table
from chuk_mcp_pptx.components.charts import ColumnChart
from chuk_mcp_pptx.themes import ThemeManager

# Create presentation
prs = Presentation()
slide = prs.slides.add_slide(prs.slide_layouts[6])

# Apply theme
theme_mgr = ThemeManager()
theme = theme_mgr.get_theme("dark-violet")
theme.apply_to_slide(slide)

# Add a chart
chart = ColumnChart(
    title="Revenue by Quarter",
    categories=["Q1", "Q2", "Q3", "Q4"],
    series={"Revenue": [100, 150, 200, 250]},
    theme=theme.__dict__
)
chart.render(slide, left=1, top=1.5, width=8, height=4)

# Add a table
table = Table(
    headers=["Product", "Sales", "Growth"],
    data=[
        ["Widget A", "$50K", "+15%"],
        ["Widget B", "$30K", "+8%"],
    ],
    variant="striped",
    theme=theme.__dict__
)
table.render(slide, left=1, top=5.5, width=8, height=1.5)

prs.save("output.pptx")

Golden Path Examples

The examples/ directory contains canonical demonstrations of the optimal workflow:

Golden Path Pitch Deck

uv run python examples/golden_path_pitch_deck.py

Creates an 8-slide pitch deck demonstrating:

• Template-first workflow with brand_proposal template
• Chart components (Column, Line, Pie, Bar)
• Table components with variants
• Proper placeholder population
• Theme application

Output: examples/output_pitch_deck.pptx

Golden Path Prompts

See examples/GOLDEN_PATH_PROMPTS.md for three canonical demo prompts:

1. Startup Pitch Deck (8 slides) - Full workflow example
2. Quarterly Business Review (10 slides) - Charts and tables
3. Technical Tutorial (6 slides) - Code examples and diagrams

These prompts show the expected MCP tool-call sequences for common presentation types.

Documentation

Testing

Run All Tests

# All 2395+ tests
uv run pytest tests/ -v

# Or use make
make test

# Full check (lint, typecheck, security, tests)
make check

Test Suites

uv run pytest tests/components/ -v               # Component tests
uv run pytest tests/components/charts/ -v        # Chart component tests
uv run pytest tests/tools/ -v                    # MCP tools tests
uv run pytest tests/layout/ -v                   # Layout tests
uv run pytest tests/themes/ -v                   # Theme tests

Total: 2395+ tests, all passing

Dependencies

• python-pptx - PowerPoint file creation and manipulation
• chuk-mcp-server - MCP server framework
• chuk-artifacts - Flexible artifact storage (memory, file, sqlite, s3)
• mcp - Model Context Protocol implementation
• pydantic - Schema validation
• aiobotocore - Async S3 client (for cloud deployments)
• redis - Redis client (for distributed deployments)
• pytest - Testing framework