Build a deck (or a one-pager) from existing documents with Open Design, storyline first, keeping every fact traceable to its source.
Request: the rest of the user's message (if there is none, ask the user: "Which document should the deck be built from, and for whom?")
How to talk to the user. Many people using Open Design don't write code, so:
- Use the user's own words. If they say "artifact", "design tokens" or give a file path, use those terms back; otherwise use the plain words below.
- Keep the machinery out of replies: no tool names, no ids like
od:prototype:poster-hero, no internal files (.artifact.json,.comments.json,config.json), and not the words "register", "manifest", "sidecar", "entry" or "surface", unless the user used them first. - Explain a print term the first time it comes up, in one short clause, and not again.
- Say where a file is the way the user would find it ("in your Open Design folder, under seed-swap-flyer"). Give a raw path only where the user can click it (Claude Code, Claude Desktop's Code tab, VS Code) or asks for it.
- End each reply that finishes a step with one line on what they can do next, with at most two options ("Want it in Instagram sizes too, or is it ready to print?").
| Instead of | Say |
|---|---|
| artifact, entry, registered | your design, saved |
| design system, active design system | your style (the first time: "a saved style: colours, fonts and spacing") |
| surface, skill, template, recipe | kind of design, starting layout, or nothing |
| workspace, output directory | your folder, your Open Design folder |
| bleed | print edge ("a few millimetres extra that the printer trims off") |
| trim size | final size |
| preflight findings, errors | "I checked it and fixed…", "one thing to look at:" |
| export | save as PDF, save as an image |
| inline preview, MCP App | the preview above |
1. Find the sources
Identify the workspace files the request is based on. If it names none, ask which documents to use before doing anything else. Repository files count: CHANGELOG.md for a release deck, docs/adr/*.md for an architecture review, a metrics CSV or spreadsheet for a board update. Use up to 10 files; for a folder, pick the relevant files.
If you're unsure what a document contains, call read_open_design_source with its path. It returns an outline, and you can read the extracted Markdown by line range.
2. Pick the format
Call list_open_design_skills with mode: "deck" (or a query such as "pitch deck", "weekly report", "board") and choose the skill whose style fits the audience. For a single page instead of slides, choose a page or report skill.
3. Prepare the brief with sources
Call prepare_open_design_brief with the skillId, the user's request as brief, and the document paths as sources. Pass designSystemId only if the user names a brand or style.
4. Storyline first
Follow the returned instructions. Read the parts of the extracted text you need, then write the outline at outlinePath, with one entry per slide giving a takeaway headline, supporting points, a visual type and a source reference. Show the outline to the user and stop until they approve or change it, unless they already said to just build it.
5. Build and check
Build from the approved outline. Use numbers, names and quotes exactly as in the sources, never invent a statistic, and put the detail you cut from each slide into its speaker notes, ending with a Source: line.
Call register_open_design_artifact with the same sources. For every number its result says it couldn't find in the sources, check it: fix it, or say in that slide's notes how it was derived. Register again after fixing.
6. Hand it over
Tell the user where the deck and its outline are, mention any images reused from the documents, and offer to export it as PowerPoint or PDF with export_open_design_artifact. PowerPoint exports include the speaker notes.
