name	ce101-slides
description	Context Engineering 101 curriculum slide generation. Use this skill when working on CE101 curriculum to: (1) Generate styled PowerPoint presentations from markdown, (2) Create PNG previews of slides, (3) Update master presentation from curriculum modules

CE101 Slide Generation Skill

Overview

This skill automates the generation of professionally styled PowerPoint presentations from CE101 curriculum content. It handles the complete workflow: markdown → styled PowerPoint → PNG previews.

When to use this skill:

Updating CE101 curriculum and need to regenerate slides
Creating new presentation slides from curriculum content
Previewing slides as PNG images
Converting markdown presentations to PowerPoint

Quick Start

Generate Complete Slide Deck

# One-command generation (markdown → PowerPoint → PNGs)
./scripts/generate-slides.sh

# View slides in browser
./scripts/view-slides.sh

Output:

CE101-Master-Presentation-Styled.pptx - Styled PowerPoint
workspace/thumbnails/slide-*.png - Individual slide images
workspace/thumbnails/index.html - Browsable slide index

File Structure

ce101/
├── 01-core-concepts.md              ← Curriculum modules (source of truth)
├── 02-filesystem-organization.md
├── ...
├── 08-mcp-servers.md
│
├── CE101-Master-Presentation.md     ← Master slide deck (manually curated)
│
├── workspace/
│   ├── generate-presentation.js     ← Slide generator script
│   ├── thumbnails/                  ← Generated PNG previews
│   └── slides-html/                 ← Intermediate HTML files
│
└── scripts/
    ├── generate-slides.sh           ← Main automation
    ├── pptx-to-png.sh              ← PowerPoint → PNG converter
    └── view-slides.sh              ← Browser launcher

Core Workflows

1. Update Curriculum → Generate Slides

Workflow:

Edit curriculum modules (01-08.md)
Work with Claude to update CE101-Master-Presentation.md:
- Extract key concepts from updated modules
- Format as slide-friendly content (max 6-7 bullets per slide)
Generate slides:
```
./scripts/generate-slides.sh
```
Review:
```
./scripts/view-slides.sh
```

Example prompt for Claude:

I updated Module 3 (03-multi-tab-orchestration.md) with new content about
agent coordination. Help me extract the key concepts and update the relevant
section in CE101-Master-Presentation.md.

2. View Generated Slides

# Open in browser
./scripts/view-slides.sh

# Or directly:
open workspace/thumbnails/index.html  # macOS
xdg-open workspace/thumbnails/index.html  # Linux

3. Convert Any PowerPoint to PNGs

./scripts/pptx-to-png.sh <input.pptx> [output-dir]

# Example:
./scripts/pptx-to-png.sh CE101-Master-Presentation-Styled.pptx workspace/preview

Slide Format Guidelines

Master Markdown Format

The master presentation uses marp-style markdown with --- slide separators:

---
marp: true
theme: default
paginate: true
---

# Slide Title
## Optional Subtitle

Intro text here

- Bullet point 1
- Bullet point 2
- Maximum 6-7 bullets recommended

---

# Next Slide
...

Slide Types

1. Title Slide (first slide):

# Context Engineering 101
## Stop Writing Prompts, Start Engineering Context

A practical guide for SREs and DevOps engineers

Dark charcoal background with orange accent bar
Large title text

2. Module Divider (contains "Module" in title):

# Module 1: Core Concepts

Full orange background (#F96D00)
Centered white text
Larger font sizes

3. Content Slide (regular slides):

# Slide Title
## Optional Subtitle

Text content here

- Bullet 1
- Bullet 2

White background with orange accent bar on left
Left-aligned content
Auto-adjusting font sizes

Design Constraints

Dimensions: 720pt × 405pt (16:9 aspect ratio)
Margins: Minimum 0.5" (36pt) from all edges
Bullets: Maximum 6-7 per slide for readability
Font: Arial (web-safe)
Auto-sizing: Font reduces from 12pt to 11pt when >10 content lines
Line spacing: Adjusts from 1.2 to 1.15 for dense content

Color Theme (Little Caesars Orange)

{
  primaryOrange: 'F96D00',   // Main orange
  deepOrange: 'E85D04',      // Darker accent
  charcoal: '222831',        // Dark backgrounds/text
  coolGray: '546E7A',        // Subtitles
  lightBg: 'F5F5F5',         // Light backgrounds
  white: 'FFFFFF'            // Text on orange
}

Troubleshooting

Error: "Text box ends too close to bottom edge"

Cause: Too much content on one slide Fix: In CE101-Master-Presentation.md, reduce bullets or split into two slides

Example:

# Before (10 bullets - TOO MANY)
- Bullet 1
- Bullet 2
...
- Bullet 10

---

# After (split into two slides)
# Part 1
- Bullet 1
...
- Bullet 5

---

# Part 2
- Bullet 6
...
- Bullet 10

Error: "HTML content overflows body horizontally"

Cause: Title or text too long Fix: Shorten title or text content

Slides look cut off in PNG previews

Cause: May be rendering issue Fix: Check actual PowerPoint file - PNGs are for preview only

Generated PowerPoint won't open

Cause: Malformed markdown or generation error Fix:

Check workspace/slides-html/ for problematic HTML
Verify slide separators are --- on their own line
Look for unbalanced markdown formatting

Dependencies

Node.js Packages (Global)

pptxgenjs - PowerPoint generation
Located at: /home/becker/.nvm/versions/node/v20.19.3/lib/node_modules

System Packages

libreoffice / soffice - PowerPoint → PDF conversion
pdftoppm (poppler-utils) - PDF → PNG conversion

Check Dependencies

# Node.js and packages
which node
ls /home/becker/.nvm/versions/node/v20.19.3/lib/node_modules/pptxgenjs

# System tools
which soffice
which pdftoppm

Advanced Usage

Modify Slide Styling

Edit workspace/generate-presentation.js:

// Line 8-17: Color scheme
const colors = {
  primaryOrange: 'F96D00',  // Change these
  deepOrange: 'E85D04',
  // ...
};

// Line 143-182: Slide layout and spacing

After modifying, regenerate:

./scripts/generate-slides.sh

Change Theme Colors

Example: Switch to blue theme

Edit workspace/generate-presentation.js lines 10-11:

primaryOrange: '0066CC',  // Blue
deepOrange: '004C99',     // Darker blue

Regenerate:

./scripts/generate-slides.sh

File Ownership

Source Files (Edit and Commit to Git)

01-core-concepts.md through 08-mcp-servers.md
CE101-Master-Presentation.md
workspace/generate-presentation.js
scripts/*.sh

Generated Files (Don't Edit, In .gitignore)

CE101-Master-Presentation-Styled.pptx
workspace/thumbnails/
workspace/slides-html/

Quick Reference Commands

# Generate everything (PowerPoint + PNGs)
./scripts/generate-slides.sh

# View slides in browser
./scripts/view-slides.sh

# Convert PowerPoint to PNGs only
./scripts/pptx-to-png.sh CE101-Master-Presentation-Styled.pptx

# Check slide count
grep -c "^---$" CE101-Master-Presentation.md

# Clean generated files
rm -rf workspace/thumbnails workspace/slides-html CE101-Master-Presentation-Styled.pptx

Common Tasks

Add New Module to Slides

Create/edit curriculum: 09-new-topic.md

Ask Claude:

Extract key concepts from 09-new-topic.md and add a module section
to CE101-Master-Presentation.md with:
- Module divider slide
- 3-5 content slides with main concepts
- Max 6 bullets per slide

Generate: ./scripts/generate-slides.sh
Review: ./scripts/view-slides.sh

Fix Overcrowded Slide

Problem: Slide generation fails with "text too close to bottom edge"

Solution:

Find the problematic slide number in error message
Open CE101-Master-Presentation.md
Count --- separators to find the slide
Reduce content:
- Remove less important bullets
- Split into two slides
- Shorten text
Regenerate: ./scripts/generate-slides.sh

Update Slides After Curriculum Changes

Scenario: You improved Module 2 and want slides to reflect changes

Workflow:

Edit 02-filesystem-organization.md (curriculum)