How to use the Paper Slides Generator agent skill

What the paper-slides skill makes the agent do

An agent skill is a folder of instructions (a SKILL.md file) that an AI agent loads when your request matches the skill's description. Paper Slides tells the agent how to build a presentation from a paper you have already written and compiled. It does not write the paper.

The skill treats a talk as a story that unfolds over time. Each slide builds on the previous one, and the deck is meant to explain why the work matters before showing what was done. It sizes the deck to your talk length and venue style, which you can set through options such as talk type, venue, minutes and aspect ratio.

• Outputs a LaTeX Beamer deck compiled to PDF
• Outputs an editable PPTX file
• Adds speaker notes to the slides
• Writes a full talk script
• Can use an optional second AI reviewer to critique the slides

Install the paper-slides skill

Download the ZIP for the paper-slides skill from the page where you found this guide. Then choose one of the two install locations below.

For a personal install that works in any project, unzip the folder into ~/.claude/skills/. For a single project, unzip it into that project's .claude/skills/ folder. In both cases the skill's folder should contain SKILL.md.

If you use the Claude apps instead of the command line, upload the ZIP under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.

• Personal: unzip into ~/.claude/skills/
• Project only: unzip into .claude/skills/ inside the project
• Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills, then upload the ZIP

Check what you need before running it

The skill needs a LaTeX toolchain. It checks for pdflatex and latexmk before it starts. Use xelatex for talks with CJK (Chinese, Japanese or Korean) text, which the skill supports through its ENGINE setting. The optional style-reference helper requires Python 3.

Your paper must already exist as a compiled project. The skill checks for a main.tex or main.pdf, section files and a figures folder in the paper directory, which defaults to paper/. Optional MCP reviewer servers, such as Codex, are only needed if you want the second-reviewer critique.

• LaTeX with latexmk and pdflatex (xelatex for CJK text)
• Python 3 for the optional style-reference helper
• A paper directory containing main.tex or main.pdf, sections/*.tex and figures/
• Optional MCP reviewer servers (Codex and others) for slide review

Trigger the skill with a natural request

You do not need to type a command. Ask in plain language and mention the paper and the talk. The skill's description lists trigger phrases in English and Chinese, including make slides, conference talk, presentation slides, 做PPT, 做幻灯片, 生成slides and 写演讲稿.

If you prefer explicit options, the skill accepts an argument with a paper directory and settings such as talk type, venue, minutes and aspect ratio. Its default values are a NeurIPS color scheme, a spotlight talk of 15 minutes and 16:9 slides.

• Make a 15-minute oral talk slide deck for my paper in paper/
• 生成slides for my compiled paper, ICML style
• 写演讲稿 for a 5-minute spotlight talk
• Turn this manuscript into conference talk slides with speaker notes

Review the output before you present

The skill works in checkpoints. By default it waits for your explicit confirmation at each one, so you can correct the outline before slides are built. Before each run it backs up any existing slides/ folder, so earlier work is not overwritten.

Treat the output as a draft. Generated claims, numbers and figures must be checked against your paper. Confirm the slide count fits your slot, the speaker notes match what you will say, and every figure and result matches the final manuscript.

• Check every claim and number against the paper
• Confirm the slide count matches your talk length
• Read the speaker notes aloud once to check timing
• Replace or verify any figure the skill has placed