What the panel does
- Outline: describe the talk, pick roughly how many slides, and get titles with bullets. One click adds them to the open deck after the current slide.
- Slide image: backgrounds, section dividers, illustrations, icons and photos in 16:9, 4:3, square or portrait. OpenAI models can return a transparent background for icons. One click puts the image on the current slide.
- Your deck: export the deck as PowerPoint and ask for speaker notes for every slide, a summary, a presentation coach’s review, likely audience questions, or a shorter 5-slide version that goes back in as slides.
Everything can also be copied or downloaded: outlines as .txt, images as PNG, notes and reviews as Markdown.
How do the results get into DeckCraft?
DeckCraft opens whatever is dropped on its window: an outline file becomes slides, a picture is inserted on the current slide. The panel hands its results over the same way, as if you had dragged a file in, so every addition is a normal edit you can undo with Ctrl/⌘ Z. In the other direction, when DeckCraft downloads a .pptx or outline export, the panel keeps a copy to read.
- In the editor, click AI tools in the top bar. The panel opens on the right and the slides resize to fit.
- Open the settings (gear icon), choose a provider and paste your API key. There are two model fields: one for text (outlines and notes) and one for images.
- New deck? Click the Home icon in DeckCraft and pick a theme under New presentation. Then, in the panel’s Outline tab, describe the talk and press Write outline. Check the preview, edit the text if you like, and press Add slides to the deck.
- Select a slide, switch to Slide image, pick a preset such as Title background and finish the sentence. Insert on slide places it; to put it behind the text, right-click it and choose Send to Back.
- When the content is in place, click the search icon in DeckCraft (top right), type Export, open the Export… dialog and choose PowerPoint Presentation (.pptx). The file downloads and appears in the panel’s Your deck tab, ready for Speaker notes, Review and the rest.
Supported providers
| Provider | Text model | Image model | Get a key |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAI | gpt-6.1-sol | gpt-image-2.5-flare | platform.openai.com |
| Google Gemini | gemini-3.8-flash | gemini-3.1-flash-image | aistudio.google.com |
| OpenRouter | google/gemini-3.8-flash | google/gemini-3.1-flash-image | openrouter.ai |
| Custom (OpenAI-compatible) | any | any | your own endpoint |
OpenRouter gives one key access to text models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and others, and to image models such as Gemini, GPT Image, FLUX and Seedream. The custom option works with any service that implements OpenAI’s /chat/completions and /images/generations endpoints and accepts browser requests.
Privacy: what goes where
| Data | Where it goes |
|---|---|
| Your API key | Stays in your browser. Sent only to the provider, in the request header. |
| Your topic or image prompt | Sent from your browser straight to the provider you picked. |
| Your deck, for the Your deck tab | Only its text (slide titles, body text and speaker notes) is read from the .pptx in your browser and sent to the provider. Pictures and media stay on your device. |
| Everything else you do in DeckCraft | Never leaves your device. |
| deckcraft.run servers | Serve the static editor files. They receive none of the above. |
The provider’s own terms and data policy apply to what you send them. On OpenAI, text requests ask the provider not to store the response.
No key? Use DeckCraft’s own tools
The outline route works without AI too: write your outline in any text editor, one slide title per line with tab-indented bullets, then use Home › New Slide › Slides from Outline… or drop the .txt file on DeckCraft. See how to turn an outline into slides. For layout variations, Design Ideas on the Home tab shows the current slide in each theme and layout, computed on your device.
FAQ
Do I have to pay to use the AI tools?
You pay your AI provider for what you use, at their normal API prices. deckcraft.run charges nothing and adds no markup, because the requests never pass through us.
Does the AI design the slides too?
It writes the content: slide titles and bullets, which DeckCraft lays out with the Title and Content layout of the deck’s theme. Pick a theme first, then use Design Ideas in DeckCraft or your own touches to vary the layouts. Images come from the Slide image tab.
Where is my API key stored?
In your browser only. By default it lasts for the current tab (sessionStorage). Tick “Remember my key on this device” to keep it in localStorage instead, and use “Forget all keys” in the panel settings to delete it.
Which models should I use?
Any current text model writes good outlines and notes; the defaults are gpt-6.1-sol on OpenAI and gemini-3.8-flash on Google. For images, gpt-image-2.5-flare and gemini-3.1-flash-image are quick and inexpensive. “Load models” in the panel lists everything your key can use.
Can the AI write speaker notes straight into my slides?
No. DeckCraft’s web build has no way for a page to set notes, so the panel gives you each slide’s notes with a Copy button. Click the notes area under that slide in DeckCraft and paste.
Why can’t the panel read my .deckcraft file?
It reads PowerPoint files and outlines. Export the deck as PowerPoint (.pptx) from DeckCraft’s Export… dialog and the panel picks up the copy automatically; the download still happens as usual.
Why does a request fail with a CORS or network error?
The custom provider option needs an API that accepts requests from browsers. OpenAI, Google Gemini and OpenRouter all do. Some self-hosted or regional gateways don’t; use one of the built-in providers instead.