Skip to content
Get packs

Guide · Agent skill

How to use the PowerPoint (PPTX) Editing Skill agent skill

Updated · written with AI from the project's own documentation and checked against our catalogue data

The pptx skill is an agent skill from the eigent-ai/eigent project that teaches an AI agent how to read, edit and build PowerPoint (.pptx) files. It is for people who need an agent to work with decks, whether that means pulling text out of a presentation or updating a recurring slide template. After this guide you will know what the skill changes, how to install it, how to phrase requests so it triggers, and what to check before running it on a real deck.

PowerPoint (PPTX) Editing Skilleigent-ai/eigent · Apache-2.0

Quick start

  1. 1Download the skill. Download the ZIP of the pptx skill from this page.
  2. 2Install it. Unzip it into ~/.claude/skills/ or a project's .claude/skills/ folder, or upload the ZIP under Settings → Capabilities → Skills in the Claude apps.
  3. 3Install the dependencies. Install markitdown with the pptx extra, Pillow, defusedxml, LibreOffice and pptxgenjs as needed for your tasks.
  4. 4Back up your deck. Copy the original .pptx somewhere safe before the agent edits it.
  5. 5Make a natural request. Name the file and describe the outcome, such as extracting text or updating a template.
  6. 6Check the output. Extract the text again and render the slides to images to look for leftover placeholders and layout problems.

What is an agent skill and what does the pptx skill do?

An agent skill is a folder of instructions and helper scripts that an AI agent loads when a task matches it. The pptx skill covers any task where a .pptx file is an input, an output, or both.

Once installed, the agent knows how to extract text from decks, edit existing slides or templates by unpacking the file's XML, add or remove slides, and build new decks from scratch with a JavaScript library. It also carries design guidance for colours, fonts and layouts, plus a checklist for visually checking the result.

  • Extract text from a .pptx with markitdown
  • Edit existing slides or templates by unpacking, changing and repacking the XML
  • Add or remove slides
  • Create new decks from scratch with pptxgenjs
  • Apply design guidance and check rendered slides visually

How do you install the pptx skill?

Download the ZIP of the skill from this page. You can install it in one of two ways.

For Claude Code, unzip the folder into ~/.claude/skills/ for all your projects, or into a project's .claude/skills/ folder to limit it to that project.

In the Claude apps, open Settings, go to Capabilities, then Skills, and upload the ZIP.

  • Personal install: unzip into ~/.claude/skills/
  • Project install: unzip into the project's .claude/skills/ folder
  • Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills, then upload the ZIP

What do you need installed before it works?

The skill's instructions rely on several tools. Install them before asking for file work, or the agent will hit missing-tool errors partway through a task.

Text extraction uses markitdown, and the skill's dependency notes suggest installing it with the pptx extra. Rendering slides to images needs LibreOffice (soffice) and Poppler's pdftoppm. Building decks from scratch needs Node.js with pptxgenjs. The bundled scripts also need the defusedxml Python package.

  • Python 3
  • markitdown (run as python -m markitdown)
  • defusedxml Python package
  • LibreOffice (soffice) for rendering and conversion checks
  • Node.js with pptxgenjs for creating decks from scratch
  • Poppler (pdftoppm) for converting PDF pages to images, and Pillow for thumbnail grids
pip install "markitdown[pptx]" pip install Pillow npm install -g pptxgenjs

How do you trigger the skill with a natural request?

You do not need a special command. The skill is meant to activate whenever a .pptx file is opened, created or changed, or when you mention a deck, slides or a presentation. Name the file when you can, because a filename is one of the listed triggers.

Say what you want to happen to the content. The skill covers the task whether the extracted text will be used in an email or summary, so you can ask for extraction and the follow-up in one request.

  • "Summarise the action items from Q3-review.pptx and draft an email to the team."
  • "Update the dates and figures in our monthly board template so it matches this quarter's data."
  • "Create a 10-slide pitch deck about our new product for investors."
  • "Delete slide 7 from client-report.pptx and keep everything else unchanged."

What happens when the agent edits a template?

For a template, the skill's editing guide asks the agent to first review a thumbnail overview and the text extracted from the file, then map each content section to a template slide. The guide asks for varied layouts so the result does not become a stack of identical bullet slides.

The agent then unpacks the .pptx into its XML files, changes the slides, cleans the package, and packs it back into a .pptx. Before declaring success, the workflow asks for a content check for leftover placeholder text and a visual check of rendered slides, with at least one fix-and-verify cycle.

  • Analyse the template with thumbnails and text extraction
  • Unpack the file into XML
  • Edit slides and content, then clean
  • Pack the file back into a .pptx
  • Re-extract text and render slides to check for problems
python scripts/office/unpack.py presentation.pptx unpacked/ python -m markitdown output.pptx python scripts/office/soffice.py --headless --convert-to pdf output.pptx pdftoppm -jpeg -r 150 output.pdf slide

What safety points should you know about?

The skill runs scripts, so it is not just text instructions. The bundled Python scripts unpack, clean, validate and repack the presentation's internal files. Because they rewrite the file's internal XML, keep an untouched copy of any deck you cannot afford to lose.

The skill does not use the network, according to its metadata. However, the content of your deck is processed by the agent's model. Do not send confidential decks to a cloud agent service if that is not acceptable for the material. The licence is Apache-2.0 for the eigent-ai/eigent repository, while the skill's own LICENSE.txt sets out Anthropic's terms and restricts copying and creating derivative works, so read it before reusing the files elsewhere.

  • Back up the original .pptx before any edit
  • Do not send sensitive or confidential decks to a cloud agent if you are not comfortable with the model processing them
  • Read LICENSE.txt before redistributing or modifying the skill files

What tips help the results come out well?

Give the agent a template or a clear brief. Name the layout you want for key slides, and ask for a visual check if the deck will be presented. Expect the first render to have problems; the skill's own guidance says to look for them rather than assume the output is right.

  • Provide the template file, not just a description of it
  • State the audience and the number of slides for new decks
  • Ask the agent to run the leftover-placeholder search after template edits
  • Keep the rendered slide images so you can compare before and after

What people use it for

  • Updating a recurring monthly or quarterly slide deck built from a fixed template
  • Pulling the text out of a .pptx so it can be used in a summary or email
  • Adding, removing or reordering slides in an existing presentation
  • Generating new decks from scratch in an automated pipeline using pptxgenjs

Frequently asked questions

How do I install the pptx agent skill?

Download the ZIP from this page and unzip it into ~/.claude/skills/ for personal use or into a project's .claude/skills/ folder. In the Claude apps, you can instead upload the ZIP under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.

What do I need to run the pptx skill?

You need Python 3, markitdown for text extraction, the defusedxml Python package, and LibreOffice (soffice) for rendering. For creating decks from scratch you also need Node.js with pptxgenjs.

Is the pptx skill free?

The eigent-ai/eigent repository is licensed under Apache-2.0. The skill's own LICENSE.txt is different: it sets out Anthropic's terms and restricts copying, redistribution and derivative works, so read it before reusing the files.

Does the pptx skill need an internet connection?

Its metadata states it does not use the network. However, your deck content is processed by the agent's model, so confidential material should not go to a cloud agent service you do not trust.

Can the pptx skill break my presentation?

It can. The scripts rewrite the file's internal XML, so keep an untouched copy of the original deck before any edit.

How is this different from just asking an AI to edit slides?

The skill gives the agent a defined workflow: unpack the file, edit the XML, clean and repack it, then extract text and render slides for checking. It also includes design guidance for colours, fonts and layouts.

New agent skills, repos and AI tools — every week

The best new skills and open-source projects, the fastest-growing repos, and one free prompt. Five minutes to read. Unsubscribe anytime.

Our verdict

Use the pptx skill if you regularly update slide decks built from templates, need text pulled from .pptx files, or automate presentation generation and can install Python and LibreOffice. Pick something else if you must edit a deck you cannot risk corrupting without a backup, or if the content is too sensitive to pass through an agent's model.

Download the skill