Lucida
YAML-native slide deck builder. Content lives in .slides.yaml files, themes control all visual styling, and the CLI produces self-contained HTML or 16:9 PDF.
Quick Start
npx lucida-slides build deck.slides.yaml # → deck-slides.html
npx lucida-slides pdf deck.slides.yaml # → deck-slides.html + deck-slides.pdf
npx lucida-slides pdf deck.slides.yaml --open # build + open PDF
npx lucida-slides build content/*.slides.yaml # batch buildOutput lands in the current working directory. HTML files are fully self-contained (all CSS, JS, and font imports inlined). PDF requires Playwright — install once with npx playwright install chromium.
Design Philosophy
Lucida deliberately breaks the "one idea per slide" convention. Traditional presentation advice says to minimize text and use big images. Lucida takes the opposite approach: information-dense slides that respect the audience's intelligence.
This works because Lucida decks are built for contexts where the audience wants depth — board meetings, analyst presentations, strategy reviews, data-driven recommendations. The audience is reading, not passively watching. A single Lucida slide often carries a data table, 2-3 interpretive callouts, and stat boxes — the equivalent of 3-4 traditional slides, but better because the data and its interpretation live side by side.
The key principles:
- Titles are insights, not labels. "ARR grew 50% QoQ — driven by enterprise" not "Revenue Overview"
- Never present data without interpretation. Every table gets callouts explaining what matters.
- Colors encode meaning. Green = positive, red = problem, amber = caution, navy = strategic context, gold = opportunity.
- Narrative arc matters. Hero → data → deep dives → risks → priorities → close.
- Variants create rhythm. Most slides are default; hero opens, dark closes, alert signals risk, warm provides visual variety.
For the full guide on writing compelling decks, read references/slide-craft.md.
Reading Strategy
Read this file first. Only read reference docs when needed:
- Writing deck content? → Read
references/slide-craft.mdfirst for narrative and design guidance - Need component syntax? → This file covers all components
- Creating a custom theme? →
references/themes.md - Need a starter template? →
examples/starter-deck.md
Content Format
Every deck is a single YAML file with two top-level keys:
meta:
title: "Deck Title"
theme: aurora # theme name (resolves to themes/<name>.yaml)
footer: "Company · Q4 2025"
lang: en
slides:
- variant: hero
title: "Welcome"
# ... slide contentMeta Fields
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
title | yes | HTML <title> and deck identifier |
theme | yes | Theme file name (without .yaml) |
footer | no | Text shown in bottom nav bar |
lang | no | HTML lang attribute (default: da) |
custom_css | no | Raw CSS injected after all theme/component styles |
Slide Structure
Each slide is a YAML object in the slides array:
- variant: hero # optional: hero, dark, warm, alert
label: "Section Name" # small uppercase label above title
title: "Slide Title" # main heading
title_style: "font-size:52px;" # optional inline CSS
subtitle: "Explanatory text"
subtitle_style: "..."
# ... then components (kpis, table, bullets, etc.)
# ... or layout with columnsVariants
Variants change the slide's background and text color. Defined in the theme:
| Variant | Typical use |
|---|---|
| *(none)* | Default light background |
hero | Title/opening slides — bold gradient, white text |
dark | Closing/summary slides — dark gradient, white text |
warm | Soft tinted background for variety |
alert | Light red/pink for risk or warning slides |
Text Formatting
Inline formatting works in any text field (titles, subtitles, bullet text, table cells):
| Syntax | Result |
|---|---|
**bold text** | bold text |
text{.green} | Colored text using theme CSS variable |
-- | en-dash (–) |
--- | em-dash (—) |
&entity; | HTML entities passed through (·, →, etc.) |
Components
Components are the building blocks of slide content. They can appear at the slide level, inside columns, inside cards, or nested in content arrays.
KPIs
Large numbers with labels — ideal for hero slides.
kpis:
- value: "$10.2M"
label: "ARR"
- value: "130%"
label: "net dollar retention"
- value: "94%"
label: "gross margin"Table
Data tables with optional row highlighting and cell formatting.
table:
headers: ["Segment", "ARR", "Growth"]
rows:
- ["Enterprise", "$5.8M", "+68%"] # simple row
- row: ["Mid-Market", "$2.9M", "+41%"] # row with options
highlight: green # tints row background
style: "border-top:2px solid var(--border);" # custom CSS
- ["SMB", {text: "$1.5M", color: red, bold: true}, "+12%"] # formatted cellCell formatting — use a dict instead of a string:
textorvalue: display textcolor: theme color name (e.g.,green,red,primary)bold: true for font-weight:600style: raw CSS string
Bullets
Bullet list with optional sub-text.
bullets:
- text: "Main point"
sub: "Supporting detail"
- text: "Another point"Callout
Colored info/alert box with title and body text.
callout:
color: green # primary, green, gold, red, amber, navy
title: "Key insight"
text: "Explanation here."
style: "margin-top:16px;" # optionalStat Boxes
Row of bordered boxes with big numbers.
stat_boxes:
- value: "$10.2M"
label: "total ARR"
color: green # optional: colors the value
- value: "528"
label: "customers"Bar Chart
Horizontal bars for simple comparisons.
bar_chart:
bars:
- label: "Q1"
width: "32%"
value: "$3.2M"
color: "var(--primary-light)"
- label: "Q4"
width: "100%"
value: "$10.2M"
color: "var(--primary)"Bars support ghost overlays for before/after comparisons:
- label: "Product A"
width: "65%"
value: "65%"
color: green
ghost:
width: "80%"
color: amberDonut Chart
Circular composition chart — shows how parts make up a whole.
donut_chart:
size: 120 # optional, px (default 120)
segments:
- value: 57
color: green
label: "Enterprise"
- value: 28
color: primary
label: "Mid-Market"
- value: 15
color: amber
label: "SMB"Values are percentages (should sum to ~100). Each segment gets a display field to override the legend value (e.g., display: "$5.8M" instead of "57%").
Line Chart
SVG-based trend chart — shows change over time.
line_chart:
height: 120 # optional, px (default 120)
lines:
- label: "Revenue"
color: green
points: [3.2, 4.8, 6.8, 10.2]
- label: "Costs"
color: red
points: [2.8, 3.4, 4.1, 5.2]
x_labels: ["Q1", "Q2", "Q3", "Q4"]Lines auto-scale to the data range. Multiple lines share the same scale. Set fill: false on a line to disable the subtle area fill.
Summary Grid
Three-column grid of big numbers — works well on dark variant slides.
summary_grid:
items:
- value: "$10.2M"
label: "ARR"
color: green
- value: "130%"
label: "NRR"
color: gold
- value: "5.2x"
label: "LTV:CAC"
total: # optional bottom row
label: "Near break-even"
value: "$40K net burn"Quadrant Grid
2×2 grid — great for competitive analysis, SWOT, or categorized lists.
quadrant_grid:
- title: "Strengths"
bg: "#ecfdf5"
border: "#a7f3d0"
title_color: "var(--green-dark)"
items:
- "**Feature A** — 9-month head start"
- "**API flexibility** — developers choose us 3:1"
- title: "Weaknesses"
bg: "#fff1f2"
border: "#fecaca"
title_color: "var(--red)"
items:
- "**Mobile** — no native app yet"Actions
Numbered action badges with impact statements.
actions:
- num: 1
text: "**Ship the Growth tier** to reduce churn"
impact: "Target: cut churn from 4.2% to 2.5%"
- num: 2
text: "**Double enterprise pipeline**"
impact: "Target: $8M qualified pipeline"Raw HTML
Inject arbitrary HTML for custom layouts.
html: |
<div style="display:grid;grid-template-columns:1fr 1fr 1fr;gap:20px;">
<div style="padding:16px;border-radius:8px;background:rgba(255,255,255,0.06);">
<div style="font-weight:600;">Custom content</div>
</div>
</div>Layouts
Columns
Two-column or three-column layouts:
- title: "Revenue Breakdown"
layout: cols # or cols-3
layout_style: "grid-template-columns: 3fr 2fr;" # optional custom widths
columns:
- card: "Left Card"
table: { ... }
- content:
- callout: { ... }
- callout: { ... }Each column can be:
- A card (has
cardkey) — rendered with border, background, padding - A content stack (has
contentkey) — vertical flex layout - A direct component — table, callout, etc. directly on the column
Cards
Cards wrap content in a styled container:
- card: "Card Title" # title shown as small uppercase label
style: "..." # optional card CSS
table: { ... } # any component(s)
content: # or a content array
- callout: { ... }
- stat_boxes: [...]Themes
Themes are YAML files in the themes/ directory. The theme specified in meta.theme is loaded automatically.
Built-in themes: aurora, navy, terracotta, wine, demo-teal.
For creating custom themes, read references/themes.md.
Logo
Logos are defined in the theme and appear automatically on every slide. They use currentColor in SVG so they adapt to light/dark variant backgrounds.
# Icon logo with company name text:
logo:
svg: '<svg viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">...</svg>'
text: "Company Name"
# Wordmark logo (wide text-based logo):
logo:
style: "height:16px;"
svg: '<svg viewBox="0 0 252 27" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">...</svg>'The default logo height is 20px, suitable for square icon marks. For wordmarks, set style to control the height — the width scales proportionally. The logo renders at 35% opacity on light slides, 55% on dark — present but never competing with content. Position is top-right, aligned with slide padding.
PDF Export
npx lucida-slides pdf deck.slides.yaml --openProduces a 16:9 PDF (1280×720px per page) with all backgrounds, colors, and gradients preserved. Requires Playwright with Chromium — install once:
npx playwright install chromium