GitHub - tforster/deck0: A lean markdown-to-slides presenter. Three dependencies. Zero nonsense.

3 min read Original article ↗

DECK0 is a lean markdown-to-slides presenter. Write your talk in a single .md file, run one command, and you are presenting. No build step. No config file. No framework.

Try it out: Copy and paste this into your terminal — no installation required:

npx @tforster/deck0 https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tforster/deck0/main/demo/presentation.md

Table of Contents

1. Features

  • One command — npx @tforster/deck0 presentation.md is all it takes
  • Pure Markdown — slides are plain .md files; they diff, PR, and version-control cleanly
  • Syntax highlighting — 190+ languages via highlight.js
  • Mermaid diagrams — loaded from CDN on first use; falls back to the vendored runtime offline
  • GFM tables — pipe-syntax tables rendered with column alignment
  • Callouts — > [!NOTE], > [!TIP], > [!WARNING], > [!IMPORTANT], > [!CAUTION]
  • Inline HTML — raw HTML in markdown is passed through for custom styling if you really want it
  • Keyboard and click navigation — arrow keys, space, backspace, left and right click
  • Tiny footprint — ~17 KB of authored code; zero config. Minified and gzipped coming soon.

2. Usage

npx @tforster/deck0 your-presentation.md

Your default browser opens automatically. Press Esc to quit.

For local development you can also install globally:

npm install -g @tforster/deck0
deck0 your-presentation.md

3. Writing Slides

Use a single # heading as the title slide, then start each subsequent slide with a ## heading:

# My Talk Title

Subtitle or opening line here.

## First Slide

Content goes here.

## Second Slide

More content.
  • Everything between two ## headings is one slide
  • The # title block is slide zero (the cover)
  • Use ### and #### for section headings within a slide

4. Keyboard and Mouse Controls

Action Keys / Input
Next slide → Space Left click
Previous slide ← Backspace Right click
Quit Esc

5. Supported Markdown

Feature Syntax
Slide title ## Slide Title
Section heading ### Heading
Images ![alt text](./local-image.png) and ![alt text](https://example.com/remote-image.png)
Code block ```js … ``` (190+ languages)
Mermaid diagram ```mermaid … ```
Table GFM pipe syntax
Callout > [!NOTE], > [!TIP], > [!WARNING], > [!IMPORTANT], > [!CAUTION]
Inline HTML Passed through as-is

See demo/presentation.md for a complete working example.

6. Policies and Procedures

  • CONTRIBUTING.md for details on our code of conduct, and the process for submitting pull requests to us.
  • Code of Conduct to learn more about how we foster an open and welcoming environment.
  • LICENSE for details on the legal terms governing the use and distribution of this project.

7. Author

Troy Forster https://www.tforster.com