Marp Export Skill

Export existing Marp markdown files to PDF (default), HTML, PPTX, or PNG.

Quick Reference

# PDF (default) — requires Chrome/Chromium
npx @marp-team/marp-cli INPUT.md -o OUTPUT.pdf --theme-set ~/.claude/skills/marp-slides-creator/themes/ --allow-local-files --html

# HTML
npx @marp-team/marp-cli INPUT.md -o OUTPUT.html --theme-set ~/.claude/skills/marp-slides-creator/themes/ --html

# PPTX (editable, requires LibreOffice)
npx @marp-team/marp-cli INPUT.md -o OUTPUT.pptx --pptx-editable --theme-set ~/.claude/skills/marp-slides-creator/themes/ --allow-local-files

# PNG sequence
npx @marp-team/marp-cli INPUT.md --images png -o OUTPUT_DIR/ --theme-set ~/.claude/skills/marp-slides-creator/themes/

Workflow

Step 1: Locate Input File

Find the Marp markdown file. It must contain marp: true in YAML frontmatter.

# Verify it's a Marp file
head -5 INPUT.md  # should show "marp: true"

Step 2: Theme Directory

Themes are stored in the marp-slides-creator skill:

THEME_DIR="$HOME/.claude/skills/marp-slides-creator/themes/"

Always use --theme-set "$THEME_DIR/" in all export commands.

Step 3: Detect Chrome/Chromium (for PDF/PPTX)

PDF and PPTX export require a Chrome/Chromium browser. Marp-cli auto-detects, but if it fails:

# macOS Chrome paths (check in order)
/Applications/Google\ Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google\ Chrome --version
/Applications/Chromium.app/Contents/MacOS/Chromium --version
/Applications/Microsoft\ Edge.app/Contents/MacOS/Microsoft\ Edge --version

# Set CHROME_PATH if auto-detection fails
export CHROME_PATH="/Applications/Google Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google Chrome"

If no browser found, fall back to HTML export and inform the user.

Step 4: Export

Default format is PDF. User can specify otherwise.

Output naming convention:

• Same directory as input file
• Same base name, different extension
• Example: presentation.md → presentation.pdf

PDF export:

npx @marp-team/marp-cli INPUT.md \
  -o OUTPUT.pdf \
  --theme-set ~/.claude/skills/marp-slides-creator/themes/ \
  --allow-local-files \
  --html

HTML export:

npx @marp-team/marp-cli INPUT.md \
  -o OUTPUT.html \
  --theme-set ~/.claude/skills/marp-slides-creator/themes/ \
  --html

Both PDF + HTML:

# Run sequentially
npx @marp-team/marp-cli INPUT.md -o OUTPUT.pdf --theme-set ~/.claude/skills/marp-slides-creator/themes/ --allow-local-files --html
npx @marp-team/marp-cli INPUT.md -o OUTPUT.html --theme-set ~/.claude/skills/marp-slides-creator/themes/ --html

Step 5: Verify & Report

# Check output exists and show file size
ls -lh OUTPUT.pdf OUTPUT.html 2>/dev/null

Report to user:

• Output file path(s)
• File size(s)
• Format(s) generated
• Any warnings from marp-cli

Key Flags Reference

Flag	Purpose	When to use
--theme-set DIR/	Load custom themes	When custom .css themes exist
--allow-local-files	Allow local images	PDF/PPTX with local assets
--html	Enable HTML tags in markdown	Always recommended
--pptx-editable	Editable PPTX output	PPTX format (needs LibreOffice)
--images png	Export as PNG sequence	PNG format
--pdf-notes	Include speaker notes in PDF	When notes are present
--pdf-outlines	Add bookmarks to PDF	For long presentations

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Fix
Chrome/Chromium not found	No browser for PDF	Set CHROME_PATH or fall back to HTML
theme not found	Missing theme CSS	Check --theme-set path, use built-in theme
Could not find an input	Bad file path	Verify path and marp: true frontmatter
Blank/empty PDF	HTML tags without --html	Add --html flag

Examples

# Export current project's slides to PDF
npx @marp-team/marp-cli slides_project/05_final/presentation.md \
  -o slides_project/05_final/slides.pdf \
  --theme-set ~/.claude/skills/marp-slides-creator/themes/ \
  --allow-local-files --html

# Quick HTML export (no Chrome needed)
npx @marp-team/marp-cli my-talk.md -o my-talk.html --html

# Batch export all .md files in a directory
for f in slides/*.md; do
  npx @marp-team/marp-cli "$f" -o "${f%.md}.pdf" --allow-local-files --html
done