Google Slides

Interact with Google Slides for presentation creation, slide management, and content insertion.

Installation

Dependencies: pip install --user google-auth google-auth-oauthlib google-api-python-client keyring pyyaml

Setup Verification

After installation, verify the skill is properly configured:

$SKILL_DIR/scripts/google-slides.py check

This will check:

Python dependencies (google-auth, google-auth-oauthlib, google-api-python-client, keyring, pyyaml)
Authentication configuration
Connectivity to Google Slides API

If anything is missing, the check command will provide setup instructions.

Authentication

Google Slides uses OAuth 2.0 for authentication. For complete setup instructions, see:

GCP Project Setup Guide - Create project, enable Slides API
Google OAuth Setup Guide - Configure credentials

Quick Start

Create ~/.config/agent-skills/google.yaml:

oauth_client:
  client_id: your-client-id.apps.googleusercontent.com
  client_secret: your-client-secret

Run $SKILL_DIR/scripts/google-slides.py check to trigger OAuth flow and verify setup.

On scope or authentication errors, see the OAuth troubleshooting guide.

Script Usage

See permissions.md for read/write classification of each command.

# Setup and auth
$SKILL_DIR/scripts/google-slides.py check
$SKILL_DIR/scripts/google-slides.py auth setup --client-id ID --client-secret SECRET
$SKILL_DIR/scripts/google-slides.py auth reset
$SKILL_DIR/scripts/google-slides.py auth status

# Presentations
$SKILL_DIR/scripts/google-slides.py presentations create --title "Title"
$SKILL_DIR/scripts/google-slides.py presentations get PRESENTATION_ID
$SKILL_DIR/scripts/google-slides.py presentations read PRESENTATION_ID [--format text|pdf] [--output PATH]

# Slides — use presentations get to find slide IDs
$SKILL_DIR/scripts/google-slides.py slides create PRESENTATION_ID --layout LAYOUT [--index N]
$SKILL_DIR/scripts/google-slides.py slides delete PRESENTATION_ID --slide-id SLIDE_ID

# Content — coordinates are in points; origin (0,0) is top-left
$SKILL_DIR/scripts/google-slides.py text insert PRESENTATION_ID --slide-id ID --text "..." [--x N --y N --width N --height N]
$SKILL_DIR/scripts/google-slides.py shapes create PRESENTATION_ID --slide-id ID --shape-type TYPE [--x N --y N --width N --height N]
$SKILL_DIR/scripts/google-slides.py images create PRESENTATION_ID --slide-id ID --image-url URL [--x N --y N --width N --height N]

See command-reference.md for full argument details and examples.

Examples

Create a simple presentation

# Create presentation
$SKILL_DIR/scripts/google-slides.py presentations create --title "Team Update"

# Verify creation and get the default slide ID
$SKILL_DIR/scripts/google-slides.py presentations get $PRES_ID

# Add title text
$SKILL_DIR/scripts/google-slides.py text insert $PRES_ID \
  --slide-id $SLIDE_ID \
  --text "Q4 Team Update" \
  --x 50 --y 50 --width 600 --height 100

# Add subtitle
$SKILL_DIR/scripts/google-slides.py text insert $PRES_ID \
  --slide-id $SLIDE_ID \
  --text "December 2024" \
  --x 50 --y 180 --width 600 --height 50

# Verify content was inserted correctly
$SKILL_DIR/scripts/google-slides.py presentations read $PRES_ID

Build a multi-slide presentation

#!/bin/bash
PRES_ID="your-presentation-id"

# Add content slide
$SKILL_DIR/scripts/google-slides.py slides create $PRES_ID --layout TITLE_AND_BODY

# Verify slide was added and get its ID
$SKILL_DIR/scripts/google-slides.py presentations get $PRES_ID

# Add title
$SKILL_DIR/scripts/google-slides.py text insert $PRES_ID \
  --slide-id $SLIDE_ID \
  --text "Key Metrics" \
  --x 50 --y 30 --width 600 --height 60

# Add chart image
$SKILL_DIR/scripts/google-slides.py images create $PRES_ID \
  --slide-id $SLIDE_ID \
  --image-url "https://example.com/metrics.png" \
  --x 100 --y 120 --width 500 --height 350

# Add another slide with shapes
$SKILL_DIR/scripts/google-slides.py slides create $PRES_ID --layout BLANK

# Verify and get the new slide ID
$SKILL_DIR/scripts/google-slides.py presentations get $PRES_ID

# Add decorative shape
$SKILL_DIR/scripts/google-slides.py shapes create $PRES_ID \
  --slide-id $SLIDE2_ID \
  --shape-type STAR_5 \
  --x 550 --y 30 --width 80 --height 80

# Verify final presentation content
$SKILL_DIR/scripts/google-slides.py presentations read $PRES_ID

Create presentation from data

#!/bin/bash

# Create presentation
$SKILL_DIR/scripts/google-slides.py presentations create --title "Sales Report"

# Verify creation
$SKILL_DIR/scripts/google-slides.py presentations get $PRES_ID

# Add a slide for each region
$SKILL_DIR/scripts/google-slides.py slides create $PRES_ID --layout TITLE_AND_BODY

# Verify slide was added and get its ID
$SKILL_DIR/scripts/google-slides.py presentations get $PRES_ID

# Insert text on each slide using the slide ID from the output above
$SKILL_DIR/scripts/google-slides.py text insert $PRES_ID \
  --slide-id $SLIDE_ID \
  --text "North Region Sales" \
  --x 50 --y 30 --width 600 --height 80

# Verify content
$SKILL_DIR/scripts/google-slides.py presentations read $PRES_ID

Coordinate System

Google Slides uses points for positioning and sizing:

1 point = 1/72 inch
1 inch = 72 points
Origin (0, 0) is at the top-left corner
Standard slide size: 720 x 540 points (10 x 7.5 inches)

Common reference positions:

(0, 0)                                    (720, 0)
  ┌───────────────────────────────────────┐
  │  Title area                           │
  │  (50, 50, 620, 80)                    │
  │                                       │
  │  Content area                         │
  │  (50, 150, 620, 350)                  │
  │                                       │
  │                                       │
  └───────────────────────────────────────┘
(0, 540)                                (720, 540)

Error Handling

Authentication and scope errors are not retryable. If a command fails with an authentication error, insufficient scope error, or permission denied error (exit code 1), stop and inform the user. Do not retry or attempt to fix the issue autonomously — these errors require user interaction (browser-based OAuth consent). Point the user to the OAuth troubleshooting guide.

Retryable errors: Rate limiting (HTTP 429) and temporary server errors (HTTP 5xx) may succeed on retry after a brief wait. All other errors should be reported to the user.

Model Guidance

This skill makes API calls requiring structured input/output. A standard-capability model is recommended.

Troubleshooting

Cannot find presentation

Make sure you're using the correct presentation ID from the URL:

URL: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1abc...xyz/edit
Presentation ID: 1abc...xyz

Image not appearing

The image URL must be:

Publicly accessible (no authentication required), OR
Accessible to the Google account you're using

Test the URL in a browser. If it requires authentication, you'll need to:

Upload the image to Google Drive
Make it publicly accessible or share it with your Google account
Use the Google Drive URL

API Reference

For advanced usage, see:

google-slides

Safety Notice

Copy this and send it to your AI assistant to learn