pykeynote

Read, and soon write, Apple Keynote presentations from Python. pykeynote works on .key files directly, so it runs anywhere Python does. You don't need Keynote or a Mac.

A .key file is a zip of Snappy-compressed protobuf archives (Index/*.iwa) plus images and media in Data/. Decoding comes from keynote-parser, which supports files saved by Keynote up to 14.5.

Install

pip install pykeynote

For development, clone the repo and run pip install -e ".[dev]".

Reading a deck

from pykeynote import Presentation

deck = Presentation.open("talk.key")
print(deck.theme, deck.size, deck.layouts)

for slide in deck:
    print(slide.index, slide.layout, slide.title)
    for para in slide.paragraphs:          # text, indent level, bulleted?
        print("  " * para.level, para.text)
    print(slide.notes, slide.transition.effect, slide.skipped)

print(deck.to_markdown())

title and body are None when the slide's layout hides that placeholder.

Making and changing decks

from pykeynote import Presentation, Paragraph, from_markdown

deck = Presentation.new()                 # bundled Basic White theme, no slides yet
deck.add_slide("Title", title="Robots!", body="Kevin McAleer")
slide = deck.add_slide(
    "Title & Bullets",
    title="Why robots?",
    body=[Paragraph("They're fun"), Paragraph("Mostly", level=1), "They're useful"],
    notes="Keep this one short.",
)
slide.set_transition("dissolve", 1.5)
deck.save("talk.key")

deck = Presentation.open("talk.key")
deck[1].title = "Why robots? 🤖"
deck.duplicate_slide(1)
deck.move_slide(2, 0)
deck.delete_slide(-1)
deck[0].skipped = True
deck.save()                               # back to talk.key

deck = from_markdown(open("talk.md").read())
deck.save("from-markdown.key")

add_slide copies a slide that already uses the layout, so it keeps the theme's look. A deck from Presentation.new() has one of every layout to copy from, kept out of sight and left out when you save. For a deck you opened, at least one slide must already use the layout.

Markdown

to_markdown() writes one block per slide, separated by ---. Slide settings go in HTML comments, and presenter notes follow a ??? line:

<!-- layout: Title & Bullets -->
<!-- transition: dissolve 1.5s -->
# Why robots?

- They're fun
  - Mostly
- They're useful

???
Keep this one short.

Roadmap

1. Read decks and export Markdown. Done.
2. Edit text and notes, then save. Done.
3. Add, duplicate, delete and reorder slides, set transitions and skipping, and build decks from Markdown. Done.
4. More bundled themes, images, and build animations.

Driving Keynote directly (legacy)

pykeynote.scripting controls a running copy of Keynote on a Mac through AppleScript and JXA. It can already edit decks, but it will be removed once the file-based engine catches up.

Tests

pytest                                    # everything that runs without Keynote
PYKEYNOTE_INTEGRATION=1 pytest            # also drive real Keynote (macOS)

The sample decks in tests/fixtures/ were made in Keynote 14.5.