Getting Started

Impresent is an AI-native presentation platform built on markdown. Create beautiful presentations using plain text that AI agents can read, write, and edit.

Installation

Install the Impresent CLI globally:

# Using bun (recommended)
bun install -g @impresent/cli

# Or download the standalone binary
curl -fsSL https://impresent.dev/install.sh | bash

Verify the installation:

impresent --version

Authentication

To use cloud features, log in to your Impresent account:

impresent login

This opens a browser window where you can authenticate. Your API key is stored locally in ~/.impresent/credentials.

Create Your First Deck

Scaffold a new presentation from a template:

impresent create my-first-deck

This creates my-first-deck.md with starter content. You can also specify a template:

impresent create my-first-deck --template corporate

Edit Your Presentation

Open the markdown file in your favorite editor. Impresent presentations are standard markdown with a YAML frontmatter:

---
marp: true
impresent:
  template: minimal
paginate: true
---

# Welcome to Impresent

Your first AI-native presentation

---

## Slide Two

- Bullet points work as expected
- Add **bold** and *italic* text
- Include `code snippets`

---

## Add a Diagram

```mermaid
graph TD
  A[Start] --> B[Process]
  B --> C[End]

## Preview Your Deck

Start a local development server with hot-reload:

```bash
impresent serve my-first-deck.md

This opens your presentation in the browser at http://localhost:3000. Changes to the markdown file are reflected instantly.

Render Your Presentation

Generate the final output:

# HTML (default, works offline)
impresent render my-first-deck.md

# PDF
impresent render my-first-deck.md --format pdf

# PowerPoint
impresent render my-first-deck.md --format pptx

The rendered file is saved in the same directory as your source file.

Push to Cloud

Save your deck to your Impresent cloud account:

impresent push my-first-deck.md

Now you can access it from anywhere:

# On another machine
impresent pull my-first-deck

Next Steps