Deckary Canvas

Deckary Canvas is a local-first HTML presentation workflow for AI-assisted slide creation. It gives agents and humans normal source files, a local preview/editor, validation, comments, exports, and a project-scoped MCP control plane.

Install

Run the CLI with npm:

npx -y @deckary/canvas init acme-qbr --agent claude-code --start --detach
cd acme-qbr
claude

--detach runs the preview server in the background and returns immediately (so an agent's turn is not held open); omit it to keep the server in the foreground.

Or install it globally:

npm install -g @deckary/canvas
deckary-canvas init acme-qbr --agent claude-code --start --detach

Commands

deckary-canvas init [dir] [--agent claude-code|cowork|generic] [--start] [--detach]
deckary-canvas preview [--project .] [--port 5174]
deckary-canvas validate [--project .] [--json]
deckary-canvas export [--project .] --format html|pdf|png|pptx [--out dist]
deckary-canvas mcp [--project .]
deckary-canvas doctor [--project .] [--json]
deckary-canvas login
deckary-canvas account [--json]
deckary-canvas logout

Project Files

A Canvas project is ordinary local source:

deck.deckary.html
theme.css
deckary.canvas.json
assets/
.deckary/comments.json
.deckary/tasks.json
.deckary/history.json

Edit the HTML, CSS, manifest, and assets directly. Use the CLI or MCP tools for validation, preview/export, comments, tasks, and precise Canvas operations.

PDF and PNG export render through a headless browser: Deckary Canvas uses an installed Chrome or Edge when available, otherwise it downloads Chromium once on first use (playwright-core is the only third-party runtime dependency). HTML and PPTX export need no browser.

Claude Code

deckary-canvas init --agent claude-code writes a .mcp.json and CLAUDE.md for the project. The generated MCP config launches:

npx -y @deckary/canvas@latest mcp

The MCP server is bound to the project folder. It does not expose generic file read/write, shell execution, or arbitrary network access.

Privacy

Deck source stays in your local project folder. Core local authoring, preview, validation, comments, tasks, MCP inspection/mutation, and basic export do not require Deckary cloud or login.

The CLI sends a content-free anonymous usage heartbeat at most once per 24 hours per install so Deckary can estimate active installs. The payload includes package version, command, CLI/MCP surface, platform, Node major version, and cached plan when available. It never includes deck source, prompts, comments, local paths, filenames, slide text, or asset names. Disable it with:

DECKARY_CANVAS_TELEMETRY=0 deckary-canvas preview

License

Deckary Canvas is distributed under the license in LICENSE.