# KitchenSink4PPT [Health: Active]

**Category:** 💻 Developer Tools  
**Repository:** https://github.com/nometalalchemist/KitchenSink4PPT  
**GitHub Stars:** 1  
**Views:** 0  
**Installs:** 0  
**Upvotes:** 0  
**Directory Page:** https://allmcps.com/mcp/kitchensink4ppt

## Description
Everything plus the kitchen sink for PowerPoint: native editable diagrams, live editing, 138 tools.

## Claude Desktop Quick Installation
Install path detected from listing signals. Uses `uvx` (confidence: high):

```json
"mcpServers": {
  "kitchensink4ppt": {
    "command": "uvx",
    "args": ["kitchensink4ppt"]
  }
}
```

## Documentation & README

<!-- mcp-name: io.github.nometalalchemist/kitchensink4ppt -->
# KitchenSink4PPT

Everything plus the kitchen sink for Microsoft PowerPoint: an MCP server for
.pptx files, engineered not to corrupt. Slides, text, tables, charts, notes,
export, and the one thing no other server in the ecosystem does: arbitrary
vector graphics as native, editable PowerPoint shapes.

## The headline: real graphics, not pictures of graphics

Feed `svg_to_shapes` any SVG and it compiles into a grouped tree of NATIVE
PowerPoint shapes: custom geometry, gradients, strokes, text, nested groups.
No rasterizing, no external APIs, no PowerPoint install needed to build.
Every shape keeps its own id, so afterward you edit the diagram
semantically: recolor node 7, resize the box, rewrite its label.

Connectors are GLUED. Move the node and the arrows follow, exactly as if a
person had drawn the diagram by hand in PowerPoint. The human you hand the
deck to can nudge any piece in seconds, with no regeneration round trip.

`insert_shape` (presets and freeform geometry), `insert_connector`
(straight, elbow, curved, arrowheads), `group_shapes`, `align_shapes`,
`distribute_shapes`, and `set_z_order` cover from-scratch diagram building;
`export_slide_image` renders a PNG so the agent can look at what it made and
fix it.

## Install

```
pip install kitchensink4ppt
```

MCP config (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or any MCP client):

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "powerpoint": {
      "command": "ppt-mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

Requires Python 3.12+. Everything file-based runs on any OS; PDF and image
export prefer PowerPoint via COM on Windows and fall back to LibreOffice
headless where available. Nothing ever needs a network connection.

## Tiered loading: start light, grow mid-session

The server starts in lite mode: 24 tools, roughly 4.7k tokens of tool
context, covering reading, slide CRUD, text, hyperlinks, batch editing,
backups, and diagnostics. The other 114 tools are registered but disabled
until asked for:

```
enable_tools(packs=["graphics"])
```

The tool list grows in place (the server emits tools/list_changed and the
client re-fetches), and the result reports the approximate token cost added
so the tradeoff is visible. `disable_tools` shrinks the surface again, and
`get_workflows` ships recipes that name the right pack for each job.

Environment pins for hosts and power users:

| Variable | Effect |
|---|---|
| `KS4P_MODE` | startup surface: `lite` (default), `full`, or a pack list like `graphics,com` |
| `KS4P_PACK_POLICY` | `auto` (default) or `locked` (enable_tools refuses; surface fixed at startup) |
| `KS4P_ALL_TOOLS` | `true` loads every pack at startup; `false` or empty keeps lite. `KS4P_MODE` wins when set |
| `KS4P_LOCK_TOOLS` | `true` fixes the surface at startup; `false` or empty leaves it adjustable. `KS4P_PACK_POLICY` wins when set |
| `KS4P_ALLOWED_ROOTS` | opt-in path sandbox; tools refuse to touch files outside these roots |
| `KS4P_NO_UPDATE_CHECK` | `1` or `true` turns the update check off completely: no network call, no cache file |

The server checks PyPI, the package index it was installed from, at most once
every 14 days to see whether a newer version exists; the check sends nothing
but a standard HTTP request for that package's public JSON, and setting
`KS4P_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1` turns it off entirely. It runs on a background thread
at startup, so it never delays a call, and it fails silently: a timeout or an
offline machine leaves no error anywhere. When a newer release exists,
`diagnose` adds one line saying so. That is the only place it ever appears,
and the server never downloads or installs anything on its own.

The last two are the checkboxes the `.mcpb` bundle shows in Claude Desktop:
"Load every tool at startup" and "Lock the tool set at startup". Both take
`true` or `false`, treat an empty value as off, and refuse to start on
anything else rather than guessing. The server writes one line to stderr at
startup naming what decided the surface.

Tip: in Claude Desktop's Tool permissions, set the Read-only tools group to
Always Allow: those tools cannot change anything, and it stops most
permission prompts.

## Pack inventory (138 tools total)

| Pack | Tools | ~Tokens | What is in it |
|---|---|---|---|
| lite core (always on) | 24 | 4.7k | anchored deck view, atomic batch edits, get/find/replace text (live-aware, SmartArt text included), slide insert/delete/duplicate/reorder, placeholder text, hyperlinks (set/remove/list with broken-link detection), info and enumeration, copy, snapshots, backups, diagnose, workflows, enable/disable_tools |
| graphics | 24 | 6.2k | shapes, glued connectors, SVG compiler, one-call diagram generators (timeline, org chart, matrix, cycle, comparison), images, video/audio embed, groups, align/distribute, z-order, text boxes, run formatting, bullets, format painter (copy_format/copy_position), native LaTeX equations |
| tables-charts | 19 | 4.0k | create table, bulk cells, merge/unmerge, row and column insert/delete, borders and fills, widths/heights, 74 built-in styles, CSV/JSON export/import, bar/line/pie/scatter/combo charts with editable data workbooks, chart formatting and data readback |
| design | 25 | 4.8k | create presentation FROM template, apply layouts, theme read AND write (colors, fonts), brand extract/apply, layout guardrail checks, slide size, hide/move slide, autofit report, slide and master/layout backgrounds, full master and layout editing (placeholders, decoration shapes, create_layout), accessibility audit and repair |
| assembly-export | 28 | 4.9k | speaker notes, sections, footers and slide numbers, PDF/PNG/handout export, engine detection, opens-clean validation, text extraction, cross-deck slide copy, deck merge and split, agenda slides, deck statistics, document properties, anonymize, slide-show setup and custom shows, slide transitions (fade/push/wipe/split/cut/random, millisecond durations, auto-advance) and bounded entrance animations (appear/fade/wipe, click builds, by-paragraph) |
| review-sweeps | 13 | 2.3k | modern threaded comments (add, replies, resolve, cascade delete, dual-system listing), whole-deck review report, structural deck-to-deck diff (compare_decks), and the deck-wide sweeps: font inventory/replace (incl. charts and phantom declarations), color remap and literal-to-theme unification, proofing language, whole-deck logo replace, compress/purge |
| com (Windows only) | 5 | 0.5k | PowerPoint status and zombie process check, plus editing the deck while it is OPEN in the user's PowerPoint: explicit save, scroll-to-slide, session status; eleven file tools route here automatically via `live='auto'` |

Full surface: about 27.4k tokens if you pin `KS4P_MODE=full` (numbers from
`scripts/measure_surface.py`, not hand-math).

v1.1 consolidated nine packs into six. The v1.0 names
`transitions-animations`, `review`, `sweeps`, and `com-live` still resolve
to their new homes in `enable_tools`, `disable_tools`, and `KS4P_MODE`, so
nothing that worked before stops working.

Structural table operations on the file itself (merging, inserting and
deleting rows AND columns, per-edge borders) exist in no other PowerPoint
MCP server; they were previously COM-or-nothing.

## Safety story

The same discipline as KitchenSink4Word, applied from day one:

- **Atomic validated saves.** Every mutation rebuilds the package in
  memory, validates the payload, then atomically replaces the file. A
  failed operation leaves the original byte-identical; the file is never
  absent from its own path, even for an instant.
- **Two-slot backups.** Before each mutation the current content rotates
  into `prev.pptx` and `anchor.pptx` under a hidden `.ks4p-backups/`
  folder. `manage_backups` lists, restores (undoably), and purges;
  `create_snapshot` makes DTG-stamped permanent keepers.
- **Byte-identical passthrough.** Parts the tool did not touch are written
  back byte-for-byte, so themes, media, and animations survive edits to
  other slides untouched.
- **Conservative refusals.** Ambiguous targets refuse with a candidate
  list (no first-match guessing), merged-cell surgery that would split a
  span refuses, stale batch anchors refuse the whole batch before anything
  mutates. Refusals are structured (`{ok: false, error: {code, message,
  hint}}`) and tell you the exact next call to make.
- **Sandboxing, opt-in.** Set `KS4P_ALLOWED_ROOTS` and every path in and
  out is checked.
- **Locks.** Mutations of one file are serialized in-process and across
  processes; files open in PowerPoint are refused rather than corrupted.

## Maturity

Beta. The file layer (packages, slides, text, graphics, tables, charts,
comments, animations, themes, links, media, notes, masters, equations,
accessibility, deck assembly, sweeps, export) is covered by an 885-test
suite, including validation that generated decks open clean in real
PowerPoint, and the server passes a raw stdio protocol round-trip suite.
Live editing of decks open in PowerPoint runs every call through one
process-wide lock with dialog detection at the window layer and bounded
timeouts, and ships with its own COM gate scripts (`tests/com_gates/`).
It has not yet had a long field life; treat important decks with the
respect the backup tools make easy, and expect fast point releases.
[Before filing](https://github.com/nometalalchemist/KitchenSink4PPT/issues/new?template=bug_report.yml):
ask your AI to run `diagnose` and paste the output here; it is designed
to be safe to share.

## License

AGPL-3.0-only (see LICENSE and NOTICE.md). Free for personal, academic,
and open-source use. If you want to embed it in closed-source commercial
software, open an issue to discuss a commercial license.

## Family

Sibling of [KitchenSink4Word](https://github.com/nometalalchemist/KitchenSink4Word)
(the same engineering for .docx; [site](https://nometalalchemist.github.io/KitchenSink4Word/)).