ppt-cli — Presentation Editor for the Command Line

ppt-cli is a command-line tool that lets you create and manage slide presentations entirely from your terminal. Add slides, insert shapes and text, undo mistakes, and export to SVG — no GUI required.

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Dependencies

• nlohmann/json — for JSON save/load support

Platform note: Developed and tested on Windows. Behavior on Linux/macOS has not been verified.

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Features

• Create presentations and add slides with different layout types
• Insert shapes (rectangles, circles, lines) and text objects onto slides
• Full undo/redo support for all editing actions
• Save and load presentations as JSON files
• Render slides to SVG files individually or as a full presentation
• Built-in help system for every command

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Usage

Launch the CLI:

ppt-cli

You will be dropped into an interactive prompt:

(ppt) >

Type commands at the prompt. Use help to explore available commands, and exit to quit.

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Commands

Slide Management

Command	Description
add slide	Add a new slide at the end or at a specific position
remove slide	Remove a slide by position
move slide	Move a slide from one position to another
duplicate slide	Duplicate a slide at a given position
list	List all slides in the current presentation

Examples:

add slide -text title
add slide -text content -pos 2
remove slide -pos 3
move slide -from 2 -to 4
duplicate slide -pos 1
list

Supported -text (layout) values: blank (default), title, content

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Shape & Object Management

Command	Description
add rectangle	Add a rectangle to a slide
add circle	Add a circle to a slide
add text	Add a text object to a slide
add line	Add a line to a slide
remove shape	Remove a shape from a slide by name

Common flags for add shape commands:

Flag	Required	Description
-name	Yes	Unique name for the shape
-slide	No	Slide position to add to (default: 1)
-x	Yes	X coordinate
-y	Yes	Y coordinate
-fill	No	Fill color (default: white)
-border	No	Border color (default: black)
-border-width	No	Border thickness (default: 1)

Rectangle / Text extra flags:

Flag	Required	Description
-width	Yes	Width in pixels
-height	Yes	Height in pixels

Circle extra flags:

Flag	Required	Description
-radius	Yes	Radius in pixels

Text extra flags:

Flag	Required	Description
-content	No	Text content
-font	No	Font family (default: Arial)
-font-size	No	Font size (default: 12)
-color	No	Text color (default: black)

Line extra flags:

Flag	Required	Description
-x2	Yes	End X coordinate
-y2	Yes	End Y coordinate
-color	No	Line color (default: black)
-width	No	Line thickness (default: 1)

Examples:

add rectangle -name bg -slide 1 -x 10 -y 10 -width 400 -height 200 -fill lightblue
add circle -name logo -x 100 -y 100 -radius 50 -fill red
add text -name title -x 20 -y 30 -width 300 -height 60 -content "Hello World" -font Arial -font-size 24
add line -name divider -x 0 -y 200 -x2 1920 -y2 200 -color gray -width 2
remove shape -name logo -slide 1

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Undo / Redo

Command	Description
undo	Undo the last action
redo	Redo the previously undone action

Undo/redo history is maintained up to 100 actions per session.

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Save & Load

Command	Description
save	Save the presentation to a JSON file
load	Load a presentation from a JSON file

Examples:

save presentation.json
load presentation.json
save -file my_deck.json
load -file my_deck.json

The default filename for save is presentation.json.

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Rendering & Export

Command	Description
render slide	Render a single slide to an SVG file
render presentation	Render all slides to SVG files in a folder
show slide	Print a slide's SVG output directly to the console

render slide flags:

Flag	Description
-pos	Slide position to render (default: 1)
-output	Output filename (default: slide_<id>.svg)
-width	Canvas width in pixels (default: 1920)
-height	Canvas height in pixels (default: 1080)
-grid	Include a background grid in the output

render presentation flags:

Flag	Description
-output	Output folder name (default: slides)
-width	Canvas width in pixels (default: 1920)
-height	Canvas height in pixels (default: 1080)
-grid	Include a background grid in the output

Examples:

render slide -pos 2 -output my_slide.svg
render presentation -output exported_slides -width 1280 -height 720
show slide -pos 1
show slide -pos 1 -grid

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Help & Exit

Command	Description
help	List all available commands
help <command>	Show detailed usage for a specific command
exit	Exit the application

Examples:

help
help add slide
help render presentation
help undo

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Presentation JSON Format

Presentations are saved and loaded as .json files. Below is a minimal example:

{
  "slideCount": 1,
  "slides": [
    {
      "id": 1,
      "text": "blank",
      "objects": [
        {
          "type": "Rectangle",
          "name": "bg",
          "geometry": {
            "topLeft": { "x": 10, "y": 10 },
            "bottomRight": { "x": 410, "y": 210 }
          },
          "fillColor": "white",
          "borderColor": "black",
          "borderWidth": 1
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Supported object types in JSON: Rectangle, Circle, Text, Line

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Quick Start Example

(ppt) > add slide -text title
(ppt) > add rectangle -name header -slide 1 -x 0 -y 0 -width 1920 -height 120 -fill steelblue
(ppt) > add text -name title -slide 1 -x 60 -y 30 -width 800 -height 80 -content "My Presentation" -font Arial -font-size 48 -color white
(ppt) > add slide -text content
(ppt) > add text -name body -slide 2 -x 100 -y 200 -width 1000 -height 400 -content "Slide content goes here"
(ppt) > save my_presentation.json
(ppt) > render presentation -output slides
(ppt) > exit