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Architecture

PowerPoint MCP Server uses Windows COM automation to control the actual PowerPoint application — not just .pptx files. Because it drives PowerPoint's official COM API (PowerPoint.Application), every edit is rendered and saved by PowerPoint itself, so there's zero risk of producing a file PowerPoint can't open — and any visual change can be exported to an image and verified by a vision-capable AI assistant.

Two equal entry points

The project ships both an MCP Server and a CLI. They are first-class, interchangeable entry points that share the same core, so every operation behaves identically no matter which you use:

  • MCP Server hosts the service in-process — direct method calls, no pipe — which suits conversational, interactive AI clients.
  • CLI (pptcli) talks to a background daemon over a named pipe, so sessions persist across invocations — ideal for scripted, high-throughput automation by coding agents.
flowchart TD
    A["AI assistants<br/>(Claude, Copilot, ChatGPT)"] -->|MCP protocol| B["MCP Server<br/>in-process service"]
    C["Coding agents<br/>(Copilot, Cursor, Windsurf)"] -->|pptcli| D["CLI<br/>named pipe → background daemon"]
    B --> E["Core Commands<br/>(shared codebase)"]
    D --> E
    E --> F["PowerPoint COM API<br/>(PowerPoint.Application)"]

Shared core, separate processes

Both entry points build on the same Core Commands codebase, so a feature added to one is automatically available to the other with the same parameters, defaults and validation. They run as separate processes, each managing its own PowerPoint instance, and do not share live sessions with each other.

Sessions

Every open presentation is a session identified by a session_id, obtained from open_presentation/create_presentation (MCP Server) or session create/session open (CLI). Tools and commands operate on a session until it is explicitly closed, and nothing is written to disk until save_presentation/session save is called.

Ready to install? See the installation guide, or dive into the MCP Server and CLI references.