Beamer Skill
A skill that takes an academic Beamer LaTeX talk from draft to a verified PDF: XeLaTeX builds, review and a TikZ audit
- 374 ★ on the repository
- Last commit
- MIT
Extended access
Why this level
- The skill runs XeLaTeX builds and creates auxiliary files and PDFs next to the `.tex`
- For figures it recommends `pdf-mcp`, installed from the author's GitHub fork rather than from PyPI
Install
- Works in
In your terminal, with SkillFoxx CLI
npx skillfoxx add skills/beamer-skillDetects the agents on your machine, shows the access level and pins the version.
Other ways to install
Access and checks
How we reviewExtended accessThe tool runs code or makes network calls and only reads external data.
- The skill runs XeLaTeX builds and creates auxiliary files and PDFs next to the `.tex`
- For figures it recommends `pdf-mcp`, installed from the author's GitHub fork rather than from PyPI
This is third-party code. Review the repository files before installing.
What it does
Beamer Skill covers the full life of a Beamer talk: creation, compiling, checking and polishing. The agent builds slides from a paper in PDF or Markdown, runs XeLaTeX with bibtex three times and reads the build diagnostics. The separate actions `review`, `audit`, `pedagogy`, `tikz`, `excellence`, `visual-check` and `validate` check the text, layout, TikZ figures and the teaching flow. Quality is scored with a rubric: the score starts at 100 and every found problem subtracts points, so the result lands in one of four bands from Excellent to Poor. Slide density is capped at 7 bullets, 2 equations and 5 symbols. The skill forbids `\pause` and `\only` animations and uses separate slides instead. Beamer blocks do not report overflow, so the skill looks at the final PDF and spots spilled text visually. The `extract-figures` action pulls figures out of a paper PDF for `\includegraphics`.
Who it is for. Graduate students and lecturers who prepare a seminar talk or a defense in Beamer and want reviewed slides without hand-checking every formula and figure.
Good fit when
- A 20-minute talk has to come from a PDF paper, and the slide structure should be agreed step by step
- The slides compile but the blocks overflow and Beamer stays silent
- TikZ figures need a check for coordinate accuracy and color contrast
- A lecture deserves a student's read: where is motivation missing before formalism
- Figures from a paper have to land in the slides without manual cropping
Not a fit when
- The talk is made in PowerPoint: the skill does not fire on pptx requests and only works with `.tex`
- You need an editable PPTX at the end: the verified `.tex` and `.pdf` have to be handed over to Codex Presentations by hand, as the docs describe
- XeLaTeX is not on the machine and you do not plan to install a TeX distribution
- The slides must animate step by step: the skill forbids overlays
Example request
Make a 20-minute Beamer talk from this paper, agree the slide structure with me and check the final PDF for overflowing blocksLimitations
A full TeX distribution with XeLaTeX is required: MacTeX, TeX Live or similar. Compiling goes through XeLaTeX only, in 16:9 and 10 pt.
For reading large PDFs and extracting figures the docs recommend a third-party `pdf-mcp` from the author's fork. Without it, the `create` and `extract-figures` actions work worse.
The rules are strict: the density limits, the color scheme and the overlay ban are written in `SKILL.md`, and changing them means editing that file. The latest commit in the repository is dated August 2026.
How to disable. Delete the `~/.claude/skills/beamer` folder and restart Claude Code. For Codex, remove `AGENTS.md` and the `references` folder from the project root.
FAQ
How do I install Beamer Skill in Claude Code?
Clone the repository, then run `mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills` and `cp -r beamer-skill/beamer ~/.claude/skills/`. After a restart, Claude Code triggers the skill on the words beamer, slides, lecture and tikz.
Does the skill work in Codex and Cursor?
Yes. For Codex, copy `AGENTS.md` and the `references` folder into the project root. The repository also ships rules for Cursor (`.cursor/rules/beamer.mdc`), Cline and GitHub Copilot.
What does the audit action do?
It checks the layout: overflow, fonts, boxes and spacing. Beamer gives no warnings about overflow inside blocks, so the skill finds it in the built PDF.
Can I give a paper that is not a PDF?
Yes, Markdown works. It helps when PDF parsing loses structure; keep the PDF at hand anyway to pull the figures from it.
How do I get PowerPoint from the slides?
The skill does not make PPTX itself. The README describes a Beamer-first, PowerPoint-second route: you verify the `.tex` and `.pdf`, then hand them to Codex Presentations.
Discussion
No questions or reviews yet.
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Comparison with similar tools
Cards that share the main search query, and how they differ.
| Tool | Official | Repository stars | Main difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beamer Skill (this card) | no | 374 | |
| LaTeX Document Skill | no | 828 | builds PDF documents from a description through LaTeX, while this skill works on Beamer slides and reviews them |
| Thesis Defense PPTX | no | 280 | writes the speech for a finished PPTX, while here the work happens on `.tex` sources |
README in short
The README lists eleven actions in a table and highlights the main traits: the scoring rubric, density limits, a colorblind-safe palette and talk timing. It then covers TeX requirements, installation for Claude Code, Codex, Antigravity and VS Code extensions, and a Beamer-first, PowerPoint-second workflow.
README badge
Original SKILL.md
---
name: beamer
description: |
Beamer LaTeX slide workflow: create, compile, review, and polish academic presentations.
Use this skill whenever the user works on Beamer .tex slide decks, or asks to create slides,
make a presentation, prepare a lecture, build a talk, or generate Beamer slides from a paper PDF or Markdown.
Covers: creation, editing, compilation, proofreading, visual audit, pedagogical review,
TikZ diagrams, figure extraction, and comprehensive quality checks.
Trigger on: beamer, slides, lecture, presentation, seminar talk, conference talk, defense slides,
tikz, compile latex, proofread slides, slide review, 讨论班, 论文讲解.
Do NOT trigger on: powerpoint, pptx, PPT, 做PPT — use the powerpoint-slides skill instead.
argument-hint: "[action] [file] — actions: create, compile, review, audit, pedagogy, tikz, excellence, devils-advocate, visual-check, validate, extract-figures"
allowed-tools: ["Read", "Write", "Edit", "Bash", "Grep", "Glob", "Agent", "AskUserQuestion", "TaskCreate", "TaskUpdate", "TaskList", "TaskGet"]
---
# Beamer Slide Workflow
Universal skill for academic Beamer presentations. Full lifecycle:
create → compile → review → polish → verify.
---
## 0. REFERENCE PREAMBLE
When creating new slides, use this as the default preamble unless the user has a custom template.
```latex
\documentclass[aspectratio=169,10pt]{beamer}
\usetheme{Madrid}
\usecolortheme{default}
\setbeamertemplate{navigation symbols}{}
\setbeamertemplate{footline}[frame number]
\usepackage{amsmath,amssymb,amsthm,booktabs,mathtools}
\usepackage{stmaryrd} % for \llbracket, \rrbracket
\usepackage{graphicx} % for \includegraphics (extracted figures)
\usepackage{hyperref}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{arrows.meta,positioning,decorations.pathreplacing}
% Semantic colors — use in BOTH text and TikZ for global consistency
\definecolor{positive}{HTML}{0173B2} % blue (correct, advantage)
\definecolor{negative}{HTML}{DE8F05} % orange (limitation, drawback)
\definecolor{emphasis}{HTML}{029E73} % green (highlight, key finding)