Marp Deck Workflow — Presentation Consultant

Purpose

Guide the user through creating a polished MARP deck via 3 consultation rounds (planning, visual design, generation) before each delegation to a sub-skill. This produces higher-quality decks by incorporating user intent at every stage rather than running a silent pipeline.

Inputs

definition/deck-definition.md — optional (created interactively if missing)
.marp/references/deck-template.md — required (source of truth for style variants)

Outputs

definition/deck-definition.md (created or updated with ## Workflow Notes)
planning/deck-plan.md
planning/deck-visual-design.md
diagrams/*.mmd (as needed)
.marp/assets/*.png (generated from Mermaid/Excalidraw)
slides/deck.md
slides/deck-notes.md
output/<slugified-title>_<date>.pdf (from task pdf)

Interaction Style

Throughout all consultation rounds, follow these principles:

Opinionated: Lead with recommendations — "Given [context], I recommend X because..." not "Do you want X or Y?"
Batched: Ask 3–5 related questions per round, not one-at-a-time or 10-at-once
Adaptive: If the user gives brief answers, choose sensible defaults and confirm. If the user is engaged, go deeper.
Non-redundant: Never ask what the definition or prior answers already cover
Consultative: This is a conversation, not a checklist. Frame questions around the specific presentation being built.

Step 1 — Establish the Deck Definition

Two paths:

Path A — Definition exists

Read definition/deck-definition.md
Summarize your understanding back to the user: title, audience, key topics, constraints
Ask the user to confirm alignment or flag corrections
Apply any corrections before proceeding

Path B — Definition missing

Tell the user no definition was found
Ask them to describe the presentation:
- What is the core message?
- Who is the audience?
- What is the context (conference talk, boardroom, internal team meeting)?
- What are the key topics or sections?
- Any constraints (slide count, time limit, branding)?
Synthesize their answers into definition/deck-definition.md using the format downstream skills expect (title, sections, key messages, constraints)
Show the draft to the user for confirmation before saving

Gate: definition/deck-definition.md exists and is user-confirmed.

Step 2 — Planning Consultation (Interactive)

Analyze the confirmed definition and ask 3–6 contextual questions. Only ask questions relevant to THIS specific presentation — skip anything the definition already answers.

Theme	When to ask
Section structure	3+ distinct topics without clear grouping
Opening / intro slide	Definition dives straight into content without setup
Executive summary	15+ planned slides or complex material
Closing / CTA	Content implies action or decision from audience
Slide count constraints	Content could reasonably be 10 or 30 slides
Per-section depth	Sections vary significantly in complexity
Audience	Not stated in definition
Presentation context	Not stated (conference, boardroom, internal)

For each question, lead with your recommendation and reasoning. Batch related questions together.

Gate: User confirms planning direction.

Step 3 — Delegate to marp-deck-planner

Compile a structured prompt incorporating all planning decisions gathered in Step 2:

Build the deck plan for definition/deck-definition.md with these constraints:
- Section dividers for: [confirmed sections]
- Opening: [intro slide yes/no, executive summary yes/no]
- Target: [N] slides, audience: [X], context: [Y]
- Closing: [CTA / summary / none]
- Tone: [formal/conversational/technical]

Invoke marp-deck-planner via Skill tool with this compiled prompt.

Gate: planning/deck-plan.md exists and contains at least one section divider.

After the gate passes, summarize the plan to the user (section count, slide count, flow) before proceeding.

Step 4 — Visual Design Consultation (Interactive)

Read planning/deck-plan.md, identify slides with ## Image sections, and ask 3–5 contextual questions focused only on visuals the plan actually calls for.

Theme	When to ask
Diagram style (Mermaid vs Excalidraw)	Plan includes process/flow visuals
Data visualization format	Plan references metrics or comparisons
Visual density	Many slides have planned visuals
Visual tone	Audience suggests specific aesthetic preferences
Brand / color guidelines	No brand guide referenced in definition

If only 2 slides have images, ask about those 2 specifically. If 10 slides have images, ask about patterns and categories. Lead with recommendations.

Gate: User confirms visual direction.

Step 5 — Delegate to marp-deck-visual-designer

Compile a visual design prompt incorporating all decisions from Step 4:

Design visuals for planning/deck-plan.md with:
- Diagram style: [Mermaid/Excalidraw/blend]
- Visual tone: [minimal/data-heavy/storytelling]
- Specific guidance for slide [X]: [user preference]
- Brand colors: [if specified]

Invoke marp-deck-visual-designer via Skill tool with this compiled prompt.

Gate:

planning/deck-visual-design.md exists
Slide count and order match planning/deck-plan.md
Every ## Image reference in the visual design points to an existing file in .marp/assets/

If any gate fails, stop and report the exact mismatch.

Step 6 — Generation Consultation (Interactive)

Read planning/deck-visual-design.md and .marp/references/deck-template.md.

The template is the source of truth for available style variants. Parse it to discover:

Which cover variants exist (names and CSS classes)
Which section variants exist (names and CSS classes)

Then ask the user:

Cover variant — list the discovered options from the template, recommend one based on presentation context and audience
Section variant — list the discovered options from the template, recommend one based on content structure
Final adjustments — any last notes before generation (emphasis areas, tone tweaks, specific slide concerns)

If style preferences already exist in deck-definition.md, confirm briefly rather than re-asking from scratch.

After confirmation, update definition/deck-definition.md with the confirmed style line:

Style preferences: cover=cover-<n>, section=section-<n>

Also append the ## Workflow Notes section to definition/deck-definition.md capturing all decisions from the consultation rounds:

## Workflow Notes

### Planning Decisions
- Audience: [X], Context: [Y]
- Slide count target: [N], Sections: [list]
- Opening: [intro/exec summary], Closing: [CTA/summary/none]
- Tone: [formal/conversational/technical]

### Visual Decisions
- Diagram style: [Mermaid/Excalidraw/blend]
- Visual tone: [X]
- Specific guidance: [any per-slide notes]

### Style Preferences
Style preferences: cover=cover-<n>, section=section-<n>

Gate: User confirms ready for generation.

Step 7 — Delegate to marp-deck-gen + Visual QA Loop

Compile a generation prompt with style preferences, visual decisions, and any final notes from Step 6.

Invoke marp-deck-gen via Skill tool.

Gate: slides/deck.md and slides/deck-notes.md exist.

Visual QA Loop

Run task pdf, then invoke marp-deck-checker via Skill tool
PASS → pipeline complete
FLAWS FOUND → checker invokes marp-deck-gen with a targeted fix prompt (layout/structure fixes only; content shortened only as a last resort for unresolvable overflow)

Feedback loop:

If marp-deck-gen was re-invoked: re-run task pdf, then re-invoke marp-deck-checker
Repeat until PASS

Hard gate: Do not claim pipeline completion until the checker reports PASS.

Non-goals

No checklist-style questioning — maintain consultative conversation
No proceeding without user confirmation at each gate
No modifying artifacts produced by delegated skills (only deck-definition.md is workflow-editable)
No background execution
No partial guessing when artifacts disagree
No diagram generation unless visual design calls for it
No aesthetic changes not justified by template rules

Error Handling

At any gate failure:

Report exactly what is missing or mismatched
Do not guess or proceed past the gate
Ask the user how to resolve (re-run the sub-skill, adjust inputs, or abort)

marp-deck-workflow