CLI Reference¶

Install¶

dotnet tool install --global Sbroenne.PowerPointMcp.CLI

This installs the pptcli command.

How it works — a background daemon, not a cold start per command¶

Launching PowerPoint and tearing it down again can take 90-150 seconds. To avoid paying that cost on every single CLI invocation, pptcli keeps one PowerPoint instance alive in a small background daemon (pptcli service run) that is auto-started the first time you open or create a session, and reused by every subsequent command that references the same session id — even though each command is a separate OS process. This mirrors the architecture used by mcp-server-excel's CLI.

## Create a new presentation — this may auto-start the daemon (first PowerPoint launch cost).
pptcli session create C:\decks\demo.pptx
## {"success":true,"sessionId":"…","filePath":"C:\\decks\\demo.pptx"}

## Every subsequent command reuses the SAME PowerPoint process via --session/-s.
pptcli slide add-blank -s <SESSION_ID>
pptcli slide get-count -s <SESSION_ID>
pptcli notes set-notes-text -s <SESSION_ID> --slide-index 1 --text "Speaker notes"

## Save and close when you're done with the file (closing does not stop the daemon).
pptcli session close <SESSION_ID> --save

## Check on / manage the daemon directly.
pptcli service status
pptcli service stop
pptcli service stop --force   # stop only PID + start-time identities owned by this daemon

Every [ServiceCategory]-annotated Core domain (Presentation, Slide, Shape, TextFrame, Table, Chart, Image, Media, Notes, Layout) gets a generated pptcli <category> <action> -s <SESSION_ID> [options] command automatically — run pptcli <category> --help to see the actions and options available for that domain. (Export is not yet exposed via the CLI — a known, pre-existing generator conflict, unrelated to session handling.)

The daemon shuts down automatically after an idle period with no open sessions, or immediately via pptcli service stop.

Each pipe has an atomic ownership record containing the daemon and PowerPoint process PID plus start time. Forced cleanup validates both values and refuses to terminate anything it cannot prove belongs to that daemon. service status reports starting, running, unresponsive, or stopped rather than treating every failed ping as stopped.

Session commands¶

Command	Description
`pptcli session create <path>`	Create a new presentation, return a session id.
`pptcli session open <path>`	Open an existing presentation, return a session id.
`pptcli session test <path>`	Validate that PowerPoint can open a presentation without retaining a session.
`pptcli session close <id> [--save]`	Close a session, optionally saving first.
`pptcli session list`	List every session currently open in the daemon.

Service (daemon) commands¶

Command	Description
`pptcli service start`	Auto-start the daemon if it isn't already running.
`pptcli service status`	Report the daemon state, responsiveness, session count, and uptime.
`pptcli service stop [--force]`	Gracefully shut down the daemon, or stop only validated owned processes.

Links¶

Documentation: https://powerpointmcpserver.dev
Source: https://github.com/sbroenne/mcp-server-powerpoint

Licensed under the MIT License.