slides-grab Skill - Mode Router

Decides how the deck should be built and routes to the right pipeline. Read the user's intent, pick a delivery mode, then hand off to the matching sub-skill for the detailed stage instructions. Both pipelines share the same Stage 1 (slides-grab-plan) and Stage 3 (slides-grab-export) skills; the difference is how Stage 2 produces slides.

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Pick a delivery mode

Ask the user (or infer from the request) which pipeline to use:

Signal	Route to
"make slides about X", "write a deck", editable text, searchable content, accessibility, charts, diagrams, Card-news, most greenfield decks	slides-grab-html — semantic HTML slides
"make slides in this template/form", "match this existing deck", visual fidelity to a corporate template matters more than editable text, user handed a filled PPTX/PDF and wants the same look	slides-grab-image — image-native raster wrapper slides

When in doubt, default to slides-grab-html. Only choose image-native when the user explicitly prioritizes visual matching to an existing template over editability.

After picking the mode, read the matching sub-skill in full and follow its pipeline. Do not mix instructions from the two sub-skills — the image generation steps are different and must not be combined.

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Shared stages (both pipelines)

Stage 1 — Plan

Use the installed slides-grab-plan skill. The plan stage records the chosen mode: html or mode: image-native in slide-outline.md meta so Stage 2 knows which pipeline to run. Do not proceed to Stage 2 without approval of both style and outline.

Stage 3 — Export

Use the installed slides-grab-export skill. Export is gated on a Stage 2 design-gate Proceed verdict. PPTX and Figma are experimental / unstable.

1. Confirm user wants conversion.
2. Pick the primary target:
   • Card-news / Instagram-style decks → slides-grab png --slides-dir <path> --slide-mode card-news --resolution 2160p (see slides-grab-card-news).
   • Widescreen decks → slides-grab pdf --slides-dir <path> --output <name>.pdf.
3. Per-slide PNG (any mode): slides-grab png --slides-dir <path> --output-dir <path>/out-png --resolution 2160p.
4. PPTX (optional, experimental / unstable): use slides-grab convert --slides-dir <path> --output <name>.pptx --engine raster for visual fidelity (default), or --engine text for best-effort editable text.
5. Figma-importable PPTX (optional, experimental / unstable): slides-grab figma --slides-dir <path> --output <name>-figma.pptx.
6. Report results.

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Shared rules (apply to both pipelines)

1. Always follow the stage order: Plan → Design → Export.
2. Get explicit user approval before advancing to the next stage.
3. Pass the design gate before export: Stage 2 must end with a Proceed verdict (zero unresolved Critical findings) on the latest rendered state. slides-grab pdf, slides-grab convert, and slides-grab figma block if the receipt is missing, stale, or fails the CLI-enforced report contract.
4. Use decks/<deck-name>/ as the slides workspace for multi-deck projects.
5. Call out export risk clearly: PPTX and Figma export are experimental / unstable.
6. For complex diagrams, default to a tldraw-generated asset unless the user explicitly asks for a different approach.
7. When a slide needs bespoke imagery inside an HTML deck, prefer the default codex-imagen provider via slides-grab image (reuses local Codex ChatGPT login — no API key required; run codex login once) and keep the saved asset local under <slides-dir>/assets/. Image-native decks generate each whole-slide raster with slides-grab image --image-native --name slide-XX so the wrapper and editor metadata are created together — see the image sub-skill.
8. When a slide needs a chart, default to Chart.js in-slide canvas rendering and require slides-grab validate plus slides-grab build-viewer review so blank canvases are caught as empty-canvas before export. Local videos live under <slides-dir>/assets/ with poster="./assets/<file>" thumbnails; use slides-grab fetch-video or yt-dlp to pull supported web videos first.
9. Use slides-grab list-styles and slides-grab preview-styles for bundled style discovery during planning.

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Reference

• references/presentation-workflow-reference.md — archived end-to-end workflow guidance from the legacy skill set
• ../slides-grab-html/SKILL.md — HTML-mode pipeline (semantic slides)
• ../slides-grab-image/SKILL.md — image-native pipeline (raster wrapper slides)