API Reference

CLI

Commands

init - Create Template

Creates a template slides.md with examples of all supported Markdown syntax. Optionally generates AI agent rule files for various coding assistants.

figdeck init [options]

Option	Description	Default
-o, --out <path>	Output file path	slides.md
-f, --force	Overwrite existing files	-
--ai-rules [targets]	Generate AI agent rules (agents,claude,cursor,copilot or all)	-
--no-slides	Skip generating slides.md	-
-h, --help	Show help	-

AI Rules Targets:

Target	Generated File	Tool
agents	AGENTS.md	Codex CLI, Cursor (AGENTS.md)
claude	.claude/rules/figdeck.md	Claude Code
cursor	.cursor/rules/figdeck.mdc	Cursor
copilot	.github/instructions/figdeck.instructions.md	GitHub Copilot

Examples:

# Create slides.md in current directory
figdeck init

# Create with custom filename
figdeck init -o presentation.md

# Overwrite existing files
figdeck init --force

# Generate all AI agent rules
figdeck init --ai-rules all

# Generate specific rules only
figdeck init --ai-rules claude,cursor

# Add rules to existing project (keep existing slides.md)
figdeck init --ai-rules all --no-slides

build - JSON Output

Parses Markdown and outputs JSON (one-shot).

figdeck build <file> [options]

Argument	Description	Required
<file>	Markdown file path	Yes

Option	Description	Default
-o, --out <path>	Output file path	stdout
-h, --help	Show help	-

Examples:

# Output to stdout
figdeck build slides.md

# Output to file
figdeck build slides.md -o slides.json

# Pipe to other commands
figdeck build slides.md | jq '.[] | .title'

serve - WebSocket Server

Starts a WebSocket server and waits for Plugin connections.

figdeck serve <file> [options]

Argument	Description	Required
<file>	Markdown file path	Yes

Option	Description	Default
--host <host>	WebSocket host	localhost
-p, --port <port>	WebSocket port	4141
-w, --watch	Watch file changes and auto-update	false
-h, --help	Show help	-

Examples:

# Basic usage
figdeck serve slides.md

# Specify port
figdeck serve slides.md --port 8080

# Specify host (allow external connections)
figdeck serve slides.md --host 0.0.0.0

# File watch mode (auto-resend on changes)
figdeck serve slides.md -w

YAML Frontmatter

You can set styles using YAML frontmatter at the beginning of the Markdown file or at the beginning of each slide.

Global Settings (File Header)

---
background: "#1a1a2e"
color: "#ffffff"
headings:
  h1: { size: 72, color: "#fff" }
  h2: { size: 56 }
paragraphs: { size: 24 }
slideNumber:
  show: true
  position: bottom-right
---

# First Slide

Per-Slide Settings

---

background: "#0d1117"
color: "#58a6ff"
---
## This slide only has different background

Configuration Properties

Property	Type	Description
cover	boolean	Treat the first slide as a cover (default: true)
background	string | object	Unified background config: string (color/gradient/image/component) or object (color, gradient, template, image, component)
color	string	Base text color (applied to all elements)
headings	object	Heading styles (h1-h4)
paragraphs	object	Paragraph styles
bullets	object	Bullet point styles
code	object	Code block styles
fonts	object	Custom font configuration
slideNumber	object | boolean	Slide number settings
titlePrefix	object | false	Title prefix settings
align	string	Horizontal alignment (left, center, right)
valign	string	Vertical alignment (top, middle, bottom)

WebSocket API

The CLI communicates with the Figma Plugin via WebSocket on ws://localhost:4141 (default port).

When you run figdeck serve, the CLI automatically sends slide data to connected plugins. You typically don’t need to interact with the WebSocket API directly.