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SlideCraft MCP App — Setup Guide

For Claude Desktop: If a user asks you to install SlideCraft, follow the steps below. Run the shell commands, edit the config file, then tell the user to restart Claude Desktop.

Step 1: Clone and build

Run these commands:

git clone https://github.com/dwinter3/slidecraft-mcp.git ~/slidecraft-mcp
cd ~/slidecraft-mcp
npm install
npm run build

Verify the build succeeded and the API key works:

SLIDECRAFT_API_KEY=USER_API_KEY node ~/slidecraft-mcp/dist/server.js --health

Replace USER_API_KEY with the user's API key. You should see "Health check passed."

Step 2: Add to Claude Desktop config

Read the user's Claude Desktop config file:

  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
  • Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

If the file doesn't exist, create it. If it exists, read it first and preserve all existing content.

Add a "slidecraft" entry inside the "mcpServers" object. If "mcpServers" doesn't exist, create it.

The entry to add (use the user's home directory for the path):

"slidecraft": {
  "command": "node",
  "args": ["HOME_DIR/slidecraft-mcp/dist/server.js", "--stdio"],
  "env": {
    "SLIDECRAFT_API_URL": "https://slidecraft.alpha-pm.dev",
    "SLIDECRAFT_API_KEY": "USER_API_KEY"
  }
}

Replace:

  • HOME_DIR with the user's actual home directory (e.g., /Users/username on macOS)
  • USER_API_KEY with the API key the user provided (starts with csk_)

Do NOT delete or overwrite existing mcpServers entries.

Step 3: Tell the user to restart

Say this to the user:

SlideCraft is installed! Please restart Claude Desktop now (Cmd+Q on macOS, then reopen it). After restarting, you'll see "SlideCraft" when you click the hammer icon in the chat input. Then just ask me to create a deck!

After Restart — How to Use

Creating a deck

The user just describes what they want:

"Create a slide deck about our product launch. 8 slides, blueprint style, for executives."

Call the create-deck tool with these parameters:

  • topic (required) — what the deck is about
  • audience — executives, investors, cofounder, technical, board, sales, customers, partners, general
  • vibe — bold_corporate, ted_talk, minimal_clean, blueprint, neon_cyberpunk, retro_80s, watercolor, terminal_hacker, kittens, isometric, art_deco, space_cosmic, pixel_art, nature_organic, bloomberg_keynote (37 total)
  • slideCount — 3 to 20 (default 8)

Listing decks

Call the list-decks tool (no parameters).

Example prompts

  • "Create a pitch deck for our Series A — 12 slides, minimal clean, for investors"
  • "Make a TED Talk deck about why AI partnerships are cloud partnerships"
  • "Build me a retro 80s deck about our engineering architecture"
  • "Create a kittens-themed deck about our Q1 board update"
  • "List my decks"

Troubleshooting

  • node not found: The user needs Node.js 18+. Have them run node --version to check.
  • npm install fails: Try npm install --legacy-peer-deps.
  • Server not showing after restart: Check the config file is valid JSON (no trailing commas, matching braces).
  • API errors: Verify the API key starts with csk_ and was entered correctly.