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Custom Templates, Styles, and Assets

spec-driven-presentation-maker works with any .pptx file as a template. It automatically analyzes the template's layouts, colors, fonts, and placeholders — no manual configuration needed.

Beyond templates, three other resource types can be customized per-user:

• Templates (.pptx) — slide masters
• Styles (.html) — design guides used by the agent
• Assets (images such as .svg, .png) — icons, logos, illustrations
• Config (config.json) — output directory, extra asset sources, etc.

All four support user-local placement so your customizations survive pip install --upgrade or a repository re-clone.

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How Template Analysis Works

When you call analyze_template, the engine inspects the .pptx file and extracts:

• Slide layouts — Name, dimensions, placeholder positions and sizes
• Theme colors — Background, accent colors, text colors
• Fonts — Heading and body fonts
• Placeholders — Title, body, footer with exact coordinates

The agent uses this information to place elements precisely within the template's design system.

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Creating a Template

Design your template in PowerPoint, Google Slides, or Keynote (export as .pptx):

1. Define slide layouts — At minimum, create:

   • A title slide layout
   • A content slide layout (title placeholder + body area)
   • A section divider layout (optional)
   • A blank layout (for custom designs)

2. Set theme colors — Define your brand colors in the slide master's color theme. The agent reads these and uses them consistently.

3. Set fonts — Define heading and body fonts in the slide master. The agent extracts these automatically.

4. Keep it clean — Remove sample content from layouts. The agent works with placeholder positions, not sample text.

5. Add layout instructions via speaker notes — Write usage instructions in the speaker notes of each layout's sample slide. The agent reads these when analyzing the template and follows them when building slides with that layout.

   Examples:

   • "Use this layout for two-column comparisons"
   • "Place images on the right side only"
   • "Title should be kept to one line"

Tips

• Use descriptive layout names (e.g., "Content with Image", "Two Column") — the agent reads these names
• Ensure background-to-text color contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1
• Test your template by running analyze_template and reviewing the output

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Analyzing a Template

Layer 1 (CLI)

# List all layouts
uv run python3 scripts/pptx_builder.py analyze-template my-template.pptx

# Show specific layout details
uv run python3 scripts/pptx_builder.py analyze-template my-template.pptx --layout "Content"

Layer 2 (MCP)

The agent calls analyze_template automatically during the design phase. You can also ask directly:

"Analyze the template and show me the available layouts"

Layer 3 (Remote)

Templates are stored in S3 and registered in DynamoDB. The agent calls list_templates to see available templates, then analyze_template with the selected template ID.

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Registering a Template

Layer 2 (Local MCP)

Place your .pptx file anywhere accessible and specify the path when initializing:

{
  "tool": "init_presentation",
  "arguments": {
    "name": "My Deck"
  }
}

Or simply tell the agent: "Use my-template.pptx for this presentation."

Place templates in skill/templates/ to have them appear in list_templates automatically.

Included sample templates:

skill/templates/
├── sample_template_dark.pptx
└── sample_template_light.pptx

User-local templates

Custom templates can also be placed outside the package, so they survive a pip install --upgrade or a re-clone of the repository. Kiro CLI / pptx_builder.py searches the following locations in order and merges the results in list_templates:

1. Directories listed in $SDPM_TEMPLATES_DIR (platform path separator: : on Unix, ; on Windows — same semantics as PATH)
2. <user-config>/templates/ — see User-local directory layout below
3. skill/templates/ (package-bundled)

A user-local template shadows a bundled one with the same file name, which makes it easy to override sample templates without editing the repository.

User-local directory layout

The user-local base directory is platform-aware:

Platform	Location
macOS / Linux	$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/sdpm/ (default: ~/.config/sdpm/)
Windows	%APPDATA%/sdpm/ (default: C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Roaming\sdpm\)

Layout:

<user-config>/sdpm/
├── templates/          # User-local .pptx templates
├── styles/             # User-local style HTMLs (see "Custom Styles" below)
├── assets/             # User-local asset sources (see "Custom Assets" below)
│   └── my-company/
│       ├── manifest.json
│       └── logo.svg
└── config.json         # Per-user config overrides (output_dir, extra_sources, …)

None of these paths exist by default — create only what you need (mkdir -p ~/.config/sdpm/styles etc.).

Layer 3 (Remote MCP)

Upload the template to S3 and register it in DynamoDB:

uv run python scripts/upload_template.py \
  --file my-template.pptx \
  --name "Corporate 2026" \
  --bucket <ResourceBucketName> \
  --table <TableName> \
  --default

Parameter	Required	Description
--file	✅	Path to the .pptx template file
--name	✅	Display name for the template
--bucket	✅	S3 bucket name (CDK output ResourceBucketName)
--table	✅	Amazon DynamoDB table name (CDK output TableName)
--default		Set as the default template

The script handles S3 upload, template analysis, and Amazon DynamoDB metadata registration automatically.

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Custom Styles

Styles are HTML files that describe the visual direction (colors, typography, components, tone) for a deck. The agent reads :root CSS variables and style classes to mirror the design in slides.json.

User-local styles

Use the create-style workflow (agent-driven) to generate a new style HTML. The workflow writes to <user-config>/styles/{name}.html — i.e. ~/.config/sdpm/styles/ on macOS/Linux or %APPDATA%/sdpm/styles/ on Windows.

You can also copy an existing style manually:

mkdir -p ~/.config/sdpm/styles
cp skill/references/examples/styles/elegant-dark.html \
   ~/.config/sdpm/styles/my-style.html

Search order (first match wins on same file name):

1. Directories listed in $SDPM_STYLES_DIR (platform path separator, like PATH)
2. <user-config>/styles/
3. skill/references/examples/styles/ (package-bundled samples)

The styles gallery (opened by list_styles or the CLI examples styles command) scans all three locations and displays them in a single list. User-local styles shadow bundled ones of the same name so you can override samples without touching the repository.

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Built-in Asset Sources

spec-driven-presentation-maker includes download scripts for two icon sets:

# AWS Architecture Icons
uv run python3 scripts/download_aws_icons.py

# Material Symbols (Google)
uv run python3 scripts/download_material_icons.py

Icons are stored in skill/assets/ with a manifest.json per source:

skill/assets/
├── config.json          # Optional: user settings (gitignored, see config.example.json)
├── config.example.json  # Example config (git-managed)
├── aws/
│   ├── manifest.json    # {"icons": [{"name": "Lambda", "file": "Lambda.svg", "tags": [...]}]}
│   └── *.svg
└── material/
    ├── manifest.json
    └── *.svg

Referencing Assets in Slides

{
  "type": "image",
  "src": "assets:aws/Lambda",
  "x": 100, "y": 200, "width": 64, "height": 64
}

Reference formats:

• assets:{source}/{name} — From a specific source (e.g., assets:aws/Lambda)
• icons:{name} — Search all sources (backward compatible)

Adding Custom Asset Sources

There are two ways to add a custom asset source (e.g. your company logos):

Option A — Drop-in under <user-config>/assets/ (auto-discovered)

Place the source directory under the user-local assets path. It is automatically scanned at runtime — no config changes required:

~/.config/sdpm/assets/my-company/     # (Windows: %APPDATA%/sdpm/assets/my-company/)
├── manifest.json
└── logo.svg

manifest.json follows the built-in format:

{
  "source": "my-company",
  "icons": [
    {"name": "my-logo", "file": "logo.svg", "tags": ["brand", "logo"], "type": "service"}
  ]
}

Reference in slides.json:

{ "type": "image", "src": "assets:my-company/logo", "x": 100, "y": 200, "width": 64, "height": 64 }

Option B — Explicit registration via config.json

Use this when the files live anywhere on disk (e.g. a shared network drive), or when you want to point at an existing directory without moving it:

{
  "extra_sources": [
    {
      "source": "mybrand",
      "manifest": "/path/to/my-icons/manifest.json",
      "files_dir": "/path/to/my-icons/"
    }
  ]
}

Save as <user-config>/config.json (see User config below).

Priority order

When an asset name appears in multiple sources, the earlier source wins:

1. extra_sources from config.json — explicit override
2. <user-config>/assets/ — auto-discovered user-local sources
3. skill/assets/ — built-in sources (aws, material)
4. Legacy icons/ directory (only if present)

This lets extra_sources override user-local sources, which in turn override bundled ones. Registering a built-in name in extra_sources is an intentional way to replace a bundled icon with your own.

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User config

Per-user configuration lives in <user-config>/config.json (that is, ~/.config/sdpm/config.json on macOS/Linux or %APPDATA%/sdpm/config.json on Windows). The file is optional; missing keys fall back to defaults.

Full schema with defaults:

{
  "output_dir": "~/Documents/SDPM-Presentations",
  "extra_sources": []
}

• output_dir — Base directory where generated PPTX files are written. Supports ~ expansion. Can also be overridden per-run via $SDPM_OUTPUT_DIR.
• extra_sources — Additional asset manifests (see Option B above).

The previously-shipped skill/assets/config.json is no longer read — it was lost on pip install --upgrade and is replaced entirely by the user-local path above.

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Uploading Assets to S3 (Layer 3)

uv run python scripts/upload_assets.py \
  --dir ./my-icons/ \
  --bucket <ResourceBucketName> \
  --category icons

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Related Documents

• Getting Started — Setup and deployment instructions
• Architecture — How the asset resolver works