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   # force-kill if a graceful shutdown doesn't respond

Every [ServiceCategory]-annotated Core domain (Presentation, Slide, Shape, TextFrame, Table, Chart, Image, 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.

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 save <id>`	Save the presentation without closing the 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 whether the daemon is running, its session count, and uptime.
`pptcli service stop [--force]`	Gracefully shut down the daemon (or force-kill it).

Links¶

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

Licensed under the MIT License.