Agent-Skills.md

Agent Skills: Morph

Generate Morph-animated PPTs with officecli

UncategorizedID: iofficeai/aionui/morph-ppt

Repository

iofficeai/aionui
iOfficeAILicense: Apache-2.0
20,8511,680

Install this agent skill to your local

pnpm dlx add-skill https://github.com/iOfficeAI/AionUi/tree/HEAD/src/process/resources/skills/morph-ppt

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src/process/resources/skills/morph-ppt/SKILL.md

Skill Metadata

Name
morph-ppt
Description
Generate Morph-animated PPTs with officecli

Morph

Generate visually compelling PPTs with smooth Morph animations.

Philosophy: Trust yourself to learn through practice. This skill provides workflow and references — you bring creativity and judgment.

Use when

  • User wants to generate a .pptx

What is Morph?

PowerPoint's Morph transition creates smooth animations by matching shapes with identical names across adjacent slides.

Slide 1: shape name="!!circle" x=5cm  width=8cm
Slide 2: shape name="!!circle" x=20cm width=12cm
         ↓
Result: Circle smoothly moves and grows

Three core concepts:

  • Scene Actors: Persistent shapes with !! prefix that evolve across slides
  • Ghosting: Move shapes to x=36cm (off-screen) instead of deleting
  • Content: Text/data added fresh per slide, previous content ghosted first

For details: reference/pptx-design.md

Workflow

Phase 1: Understand the Topic

Ask only when topic is unclear, otherwise proceed directly.

Phase 2: Plan the Story

FIRST: Read the thinking framework

→ Open and read reference/decision-rules.md — it provides the structured approach for planning compelling presentations (Pyramid Principle, SCQA, page types).

Then create brief.md with:

  • Context: Topic, audience, purpose, narrative structure (SCQA or Problem-Solution)
  • Outline: Conclusion first + slide-by-slide summary
  • Page briefs: For each slide:
    • Objective (what should this slide achieve?)
    • Content (specific text/data to include)
    • Page type (title | evidence | transition | conclusion)
    • Design notes (visual emphasis, scene actor behavior)

Phase 3: Design and Generate

Before generation starts, always remind the user:

  • The PPT file may be rewritten multiple times during build.
  • Once the PPT file appears in the workspace, the user can preview the live generation progress directly in AionUi.
  • Do not click "Open with system app" during generation, to avoid file lock / write conflicts.
  • Use clear, direct language and make this a concrete warning, not an optional suggestion.

FIRST: Ensure latest officecli version

Follow the installation check in reference/officecli-pptx-min.md section 0 (checks version and upgrades only if needed).

IMPORTANT: Use morph-helpers for reliable workflow

Generate a Python script that uses reference/morph-helpers.py — this provides helper functions with built-in verification. Python works cross-platform (Mac / Windows / Linux).

Shape naming rules (for best results):

Use these naming patterns for clear code and reliable verification:

  1. Scene actors (persistent across slides):

    • Format: name=!!actor-name
    • Examples: name=!!ring-1, name=!!dot-accent, name=!!line-top
    • Behavior: Modify position/size/color, NEVER ghost

  2. Content shapes (unique per slide):

    • Format: name=#sN-description
    • Pattern: # + s + slide_number + - + description
    • Examples: name=#s1-title, name=#s2-card1, name=#s3-stats
    • Behavior: Ghost (x=36cm) when moving to next slide

Why this naming matters:

  • ✅ Better detection: Primary method (#sN- pattern matching) is fastest and most accurate
  • ✅ Readable code: Anyone can tell #s1-title is slide 1's title
  • ✅ Easy debugging: grep "#s1-" finds all slide 1 content quickly
  • ⚠️ Backup detection exists: Even without # prefix, duplicate text detection will catch most issues (but has edge cases)

Bottom line: Follow these patterns in your code examples, and verification will work smoothly.

Then proceed with pattern:

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import subprocess, sys, os

def run(*args):
    result = subprocess.run(list(args))
    if result.returncode != 0:
        sys.exit(result.returncode)

# Load helper functions (provides morph_clone_slide, morph_ghost_content, morph_verify_slide)
SCRIPT_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
def helper(*args):
    run(sys.executable, os.path.join(SCRIPT_DIR, "reference", "morph-helpers.py"), *[str(a) for a in args])

OUTPUT = "deck.pptx"
run("officecli", "create", OUTPUT)

# ============ SLIDE 1 ============
print("Building Slide 1...")
run("officecli", "add", OUTPUT, "/", "--type", "slide")
run("officecli", "set", OUTPUT, "/slide[1]", "--prop", "background=1A1A2E")

# Scene actors (!!-prefixed, will persist and morph across slides)
run("officecli", "add", OUTPUT, "/slide[1]", "--type", "shape",
    "--prop", "name=!!ring-1", "--prop", "preset=ellipse", "--prop", "fill=E94560",
    "--prop", "opacity=0.3", "--prop", "x=5cm", "--prop", "y=3cm", "--prop", "width=8cm", "--prop", "height=8cm")
run("officecli", "add", OUTPUT, "/slide[1]", "--type", "shape",
    "--prop", "name=!!dot-accent", "--prop", "preset=ellipse", "--prop", "fill=0F3460",
    "--prop", "x=28cm", "--prop", "y=15cm", "--prop", "width=1cm", "--prop", "height=1cm")

# Content shapes (#s1- prefix, will be ghosted on next slide)
# Use generous width (25-30cm for titles) to avoid text wrapping!
run("officecli", "add", OUTPUT, "/slide[1]", "--type", "shape",
    "--prop", "name=#s1-title", "--prop", "text=Main Title",
    "--prop", "font=Arial Black", "--prop", "size=64", "--prop", "bold=true",
    "--prop", "color=FFFFFF", "--prop", "x=10cm", "--prop", "y=8cm",
    "--prop", "width=28cm", "--prop", "height=3cm", "--prop", "fill=none")

# ============ SLIDE 2 ============
print("Building Slide 2...")

# Use helper: automatically clone + set transition + list shapes + verify
helper("clone", OUTPUT, 1, 2)

# Use helper: ghost all content from slide 1 (shape index 3 = #s1-title)
helper("ghost", OUTPUT, 2, 3)

# Add new content for slide 2
run("officecli", "add", OUTPUT, "/slide[2]", "--type", "shape",
    "--prop", "name=#s2-title", "--prop", "text=Second Slide",
    "--prop", "font=Arial Black", "--prop", "size=64", "--prop", "bold=true",
    "--prop", "color=FFFFFF", "--prop", "x=10cm", "--prop", "y=8cm",
    "--prop", "width=28cm", "--prop", "height=3cm", "--prop", "fill=none")

# Adjust scene actors to create motion
run("officecli", "set", OUTPUT, "/slide[2]/shape[1]", "--prop", "x=15cm", "--prop", "y=5cm")  # !!ring-1 moves
run("officecli", "set", OUTPUT, "/slide[2]/shape[2]", "--prop", "x=5cm",  "--prop", "y=10cm") # !!dot-accent moves

# Use helper: verify slide is correct (transition + ghosting)
helper("verify", OUTPUT, 2)

# ============ SLIDE 3 ============
print("Building Slide 3...")

helper("clone", OUTPUT, 2, 3)
helper("ghost", OUTPUT, 3, 4)  # Ghost #s2-title (now at index 4)

run("officecli", "add", OUTPUT, "/slide[3]", "--type", "shape",
    "--prop", "name=#s3-title", "--prop", "text=Third Slide",
    "--prop", "font=Arial Black", "--prop", "size=64", "--prop", "bold=true",
    "--prop", "color=FFFFFF", "--prop", "x=10cm", "--prop", "y=8cm",
    "--prop", "width=28cm", "--prop", "height=3cm", "--prop", "fill=none")

run("officecli", "set", OUTPUT, "/slide[3]/shape[1]", "--prop", "x=25cm", "--prop", "y=8cm")
run("officecli", "set", OUTPUT, "/slide[3]/shape[2]", "--prop", "x=10cm", "--prop", "y=5cm")

helper("verify", OUTPUT, 3)

# ============ FINAL VERIFICATION ============
print()
print("=========================================")
helper("final-check", OUTPUT)

print()
print("Build complete! Open", OUTPUT, "in PowerPoint to see morph animations.")

Key advantages of using helpers:

  • ✅ Fewer steps: morph_clone_slide = clone + transition + list + verify (4 steps → 1 function)
  • ✅ Instant feedback: Each helper shows ✅ or ❌ immediately
  • ✅ Can't forget: Transition and verification are automatic
  • ✅ Clear errors: If something is wrong, you'll know exactly what and where
  • ✅ Dual detection: Catches unghosted content by both naming pattern AND duplicate text detection
    • Even if you forget # prefix, duplicate detection will still catch the problem!

Essential rules:

  • Naming: Scene actors use !! prefix, content uses #sN- prefix (best practice for verification and readability)
  • Transition: Every slide after the first MUST have transition=morph (without this, no animation!)
  • Ghosting: Before adding new slide content, ghost ALL previous content shapes to x=36cm (don't delete)
  • Motion: Adjust scene actor (!!-*) positions between slides for animation
  • Variety: Create spatial variety between adjacent slides
  • Text Width: Use generous widths to prevent text wrapping:
    • Centered titles (64-72pt): 28-30cm width
    • Centered subtitles (28-40pt): 25-28cm width
    • Left-aligned titles: 20-25cm width
    • Body text: 8-12cm (single-column), 16-18cm (double-column)
    • When in doubt, make it wider! See reference/pptx-design.md for details

Design resources:

  • reference/pptx-design.md — Design principles (Canvas, Fonts, Colors, Scene Actors, Page Types, Style References)
  • reference/officecli-pptx-min.md — Command syntax
  • reference/styles/<name>/ — Visual style examples (optional inspiration, browse by use case in styles/INDEX.md)

Phase 4: Deliver

Outputs (3 files):

  1. <topic>.pptx
  2. Build script (complete, re-runnable — bash/python/powershell/etc.)
  3. brief.md

Verification (your build script already includes this):

If you used morph-helpers.py, verification is already done! The build script calls helper("verify", ...) and helper("final-check", ...) automatically.

Just validate the final structure:

officecli validate <file>.pptx
officecli view <file>.pptx outline

If verification fails, see Troubleshooting section below.

Final delivery message requirements:

  • Tell the user the deck with polished Morph animations is ready.
  • Explicitly recommend opening the generated PPT now to preview the motion effects.
  • Use affirmative wording (e.g., "ready now", "open it now to preview the animation quality").

Troubleshooting

If morph_verify_slide or morph_final_check reports issues:

  1. Missing transition:

    # Check which slides are missing transition
officecli get <file>.pptx '/slide[2]' --json | grep transition
officecli get <file>.pptx '/slide[3]' --json | grep transition
# Expected: "transition": "morph"

# Fix:
officecli set <file>.pptx '/slide[2]' --prop transition=morph

  2. Unghosted content:

    # Find unghosted shapes manually
import subprocess
for slide in range(2, 7):
    print(f"Slide {slide}:")
    subprocess.run(["officecli", "get", "<file>.pptx", f"/slide[{slide}]", "--depth", "1"])
# If you see shapes like "#s1-title" on slide 2 (not at x=36cm), they should be ghosted

# Fix (run in terminal):
# officecli set <file>.pptx /slide[N]/shape[X] --prop x=36cm

  3. Visual issues:

    # Open HTML preview to debug layout
officecli view <file>.pptx html

Note: Scene actors (!!-prefixed) should appear on all slides — that's normal. Only content shapes (#sN- prefix) need ghosting.

Phase 5: Iterate

Ask user for feedback, support quick adjustments.

References

  • reference/decision-rules.md — Planning logic, Pyramid Principle
  • reference/pptx-design.md — Design principles (Canvas, Fonts, Colors, Scene Actors, Page Types)
  • reference/officecli-pptx-min.md — Tool syntax
  • reference/styles/INDEX.md — Visual style examples organized by use case

First time? Read "Understanding Morph" above, skim one style reference for inspiration, then generate. Always use morph-helpers.py workflow. You'll learn by doing.

Trust yourself. You have vision, design sense, and the ability to iterate. These tools enable you — your creativity makes it excellent.

Morph Skill | Agent Skills