Manim slides

Manim Slides Skill

Author animated presentations with manim-slides 5.6.0. Manim CE primary; ManimGL covered in references/manimgl.md. RevealJS HTML is the primary export target; PPTX/PDF/ZIP covered in references/pptx-pdf-zip.md.

Locate the skill directory

Before running any script, resolve $SKILL_DIR and cd into it:

if [ -n "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}" ]; then
  SKILL_DIR="${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/manim-slides"
elif [ -d "${HOME}/.codex/manim-slides-skill/skills/manim-slides" ]; then
  SKILL_DIR="${HOME}/.codex/manim-slides-skill/skills/manim-slides"
else
  SKILL_DIR="$(pwd)"
fi
cd "$SKILL_DIR"

The skill itself does not install dependencies. The user is responsible for environment setup. If a script fails with ModuleNotFoundError: manim or manim-slides: command not found, install the prerequisites below.

Prerequisites

System tools:

• ffmpeg — required for all rendering. Install with brew install ffmpeg (macOS), apt install ffmpeg (Debian/Ubuntu), or choco install ffmpeg (Windows).
• LaTeX distribution (TeX Live, MacTeX, or MiKTeX) — only required if you use Tex / MathTex mobjects. Skip if you only use Text.
• Python ≥ 3.9.
• Qt (PySide6 or PyQt6) — only required for manim-slides present (the live Qt presenter). Headless RevealJS HTML export does not need Qt. Install via pip install "manim-slides[pyside6-full]" if needed.

Python packages (run once, from $SKILL_DIR):

# Runtime only (manim-slides + manim CE)
pip install -r requirements.txt
# or with uv:
uv pip install -r requirements.txt

# For development (adds pytest + pytest-mock)
pip install -e ".[dev]"

scripts/scaffold.py only uses Python's standard library and runs without any of these installed. scripts/build.py shells out to the manim-slides CLI, so manim-slides must be on $PATH (i.e. installed via the commands above) before invoking it.

Quick Start

# 1. Scaffold a new presentation directory
python3 scripts/scaffold.py ~/my-talk

# 2. Edit the generated slides.py
$EDITOR ~/my-talk/slides.py

# 3. Render and convert to RevealJS HTML in one step
python3 scripts/build.py ~/my-talk/slides.py MyTalk

This produces ~/my-talk/presentation.html (a single-file RevealJS deck).

Authoring slides — the Slide class

Subclass Slide (or ThreeDSlide for 3D scenes) instead of Manim's regular Scene:

from manim import *
from manim_slides import Slide

class MyPresentation(Slide):
    def construct(self):
        title = Text("Hello", font_size=72)
        self.play(Write(title))
        self.next_slide()           # ends slide 1, opens slide 2
        self.play(FadeOut(title))

self.next_slide(...) — keyword arguments

Kwarg	Default	Honored by	Description
loop	False	present, html	Loop this segment until the user advances. Cannot be the first or last slide for RevealJS.
auto_next	False	present, html	Auto-advance once the segment ends. In RevealJS, sets data-autoslide to the segment duration in ms.
playback_rate	1.0	present only	Playback speed (forward).
reversed_playback_rate	1.0	present only	Playback speed when reversing.
notes	""	present, html, pptx	Speaker notes. Markdown for HTML; plaintext for PPTX. Press S in the browser to open speaker view.
dedent_notes	True	same as notes	textwrap.dedent notes before rendering.
skip_animations	False	all	Don't render this segment at all (useful while iterating).
src	None	all	Use an external image/GIF/video as the slide content instead of the Manim animation. Type auto-detected from MIME.
direction	"horizontal"	html only	"vertical" creates a RevealJS sub-slide (up/down arrows).

Hard rules

• A loop=True segment cannot be the first or last slide of the deck when targeting RevealJS. Place at least one regular slide before and after it.
• Forgetting next_slide() between two play() calls collapses them into one segment. Always call next_slide() between slides.

Static-media slide via src=

from pathlib import Path

self.next_slide(src=Path("./figure.png"))   # static image becomes the next slide

Speaker notes example

self.next_slide(notes="""
# Section 2: Results

- Key finding 1
- Key finding 2
""")

In the browser, press S to open speaker view.

Vertical RevealJS stack

self.next_slide(direction="vertical")

ThreeDSlide

from manim import *
from manim_slides import ThreeDSlide

class My3D(ThreeDSlide):
    def construct(self):
        ...

Slide-class helpers

API	Purpose
self.canvas	Dict of "persistent" mobjects that survive across slides.
self.add_to_canvas(name=mob)	Register a mobject in the canvas under name.
self.remove_from_canvas("name", ...)	Remove from canvas.
self.canvas_mobjects	Convenience: the canvas as a tuple.
self.mobjects_without_canvas	All current mobjects except canvas members.
self.wipe(current, future, direction=LEFT, ...)	Convenience wipe transition.
self.zoom(current, future, scale=4.0, out=False, ...)	Convenience zoom transition.
self.wait_time_between_slides	Property setter (default 0.0). Set to e.g. 0.1 to insert a small wait at every cut so animations finish.
self.start_skip_animations() / self.stop_skip_animations()	Bracket regions whose animations should be skipped (useful while iterating).

Class attributes

Attribute	Default	Use
disable_caching	False	Bypass Manim's cache.
flush_cache	False	Flush Manim's cache on each render.
skip_reversing	False	Skip generation of reversed videos. Set True if exporting only HTML/PPTX (those never play in reverse).
max_duration_before_split_reverse	4.0	Set to None to avoid the parallel-reverse-render deadlock that affects long videos.
num_processes	None	Override CPU parallelism for rendering.

Common pitfalls

• Multiple play() calls collapse without next_slide(). Forgetting the call between segments produces one mega-segment. Always end each conceptual slide with next_slide().
• loop=True on the first or last slide is rejected by RevealJS. Put loop=True only on middle segments.
• Reverse-rendering can deadlock on long videos. If a render hangs at the reverse step, set max_duration_before_split_reverse = None on the class. If you only export to HTML/PPTX, also set skip_reversing = True to skip the reverse render entirely.
• ManimGL: self.wait() does not split slides. Always end a segment with self.play(...) before self.next_slide().
• HTML without --one-file requires the assets folder. Without --one-file, the converter writes <output>_assets/ next to the HTML; the assets directory must travel with the HTML when shared (relative paths).

Rendering

manim-slides render [--CE | --GL] FILE.py SceneName [SceneName ...]

Quality flags (passed through to Manim):

Flag	Resolution / FPS
-ql	854×480 @ 15 fps
-qm	1280×720 @ 30 fps
-qh	1920×1080 @ 60 fps
-qk	4K

Other useful flags: --fps=N, --media_dir=DIR, --disable_caching, -n a,b (render only animation indices a..b).

Output paths:

• ./slides/<SceneName>.json — the per-scene presentation manifest.
• ./slides/files/<SceneName>/ — the assembled animation chunks.

Override the output dir with --folder (must be passed to subsequent commands too).

Converting to RevealJS HTML

manim-slides convert SceneName out.html [-c key=value ...]

The format is auto-detected from the extension; pass --to=html to be explicit. Most-used -c options:

Option	Default	Effect
controls	false	Show on-screen navigation arrows.
slide_number	false	Show slide numbers (true / h.v / c/t / etc).
progress	false	Progress bar.
transition	none	none / fade / slide / convex / concave / zoom.
transition_speed	default	default / fast / slow.
reveal_theme	black	Built-in RevealJS theme.
background_color	black	CSS color.
auto_animate	true	Enable RevealJS auto-animate between segments.
loop	false	Whole-deck loop.
embedded	false	Render the deck as embeddable (no full-page styling).
show_notes	false	Show notes in the deck (vs. only in speaker view).

Single-file portable HTML

manim-slides convert MyScene out.html --one-file
manim-slides convert MyScene out.html --one-file --offline   # also inline JS/CSS

--one-file embeds videos as base64 data URIs. --offline downloads RevealJS itself (otherwise loaded from the CDN). Combine both for a fully offline, single-file deck.

Custom Jinja2 template

manim-slides convert MyScene out.html --use-template ./my-template.html

The default template lives at manim_slides/templates/revealjs.html (in the installed package). To add RevealJS plugins beyond notes and markdown (e.g. highlight, math), supply a custom template — see references/revealjs-customization.md.

Discover all options

manim-slides convert --to=html --show-config       # all -c options + defaults
manim-slides convert --to=html --show-template     # default template content

Live Qt presenter (brief)

manim-slides present SceneName              # 'present' is the default subcommand
manim-slides SceneName                      # equivalent

Default keys (configured in .manim-slides.toml):

Key	Action
Q	Quit
Space	Play / pause
→	Next
←	Previous
V	Reverse
R	Replay
F	Toggle full screen
H	Hide / show mouse

Initialize / customize:

manim-slides init                  # write default .manim-slides.toml non-interactively
manim-slides wizard                # Qt key-rebinding GUI

Useful flags: --start-paused, -F/--full-screen, -S/--screen N, --start-at SCENE,SLIDE, --exit-after-last-slide, --playback-rate.

Diagnostics:

manim-slides checkhealth

Using the ManimGL backend (sidebar)

Manim Slides supports both Manim CE (default) and 3blue1brown's ManimGL.

pip install "manim-slides[manimgl]"

Imports change:

from manimlib import *                # was: from manim import *
from manim_slides import Slide        # unchanged

Render with:

manim-slides render --GL slides.py SceneName

Override auto-detection:

MANIM_API=manimlib FORCE_MANIM_API=1 manim-slides render slides.py SceneName

ManimGL caveats:

• self.wait() does NOT split slides — always end a segment with self.play(...) before self.next_slide().
• next_section is unavailable.
• Sphinx directive, IPython magic, and the upstream ConvertExample only work on Manim CE.
• ManimGL <1.7.1 requires an outdated NumPy. The [manimgl] extra pins setuptools<81.

For full details see references/manimgl.md.

Helper scripts

scripts/scaffold.py <target_dir>

Bootstraps a new presentation directory.

Flag	Default	Description
target_dir	required	Destination directory (must be empty unless --force).
--name NAME	basename of target_dir	Project / class name. Sanitized to a valid Python identifier (CamelCase).
--3d	false	Use ThreeDSlide starter. Mutually exclusive with --manimgl.
--manimgl	false	Use ManimGL backend starter.
--force	false	Allow writing into a non-empty directory (overwrites colliding files).

Files created: slides.py, pyproject.toml, .manim-slides.toml, Makefile, .gitignore, README.md.

# Default Manim CE scaffold
python3 scripts/scaffold.py ~/my-talk

# Custom class name
python3 scripts/scaffold.py ~/my-talk --name ThesisDefense

# 3D starter
python3 scripts/scaffold.py ~/3d-demo --3d

# ManimGL starter
python3 scripts/scaffold.py ~/gl-demo --manimgl

scripts/build.py <slides_file> <SceneName...>

Renders and converts to RevealJS HTML in one shot.

Flag	Default	Description
slides_file	required	The .py file containing Slide subclasses.
scene_name (1+)	required	One or more class names to render and concatenate.
--output OUT	presentation.html	Output HTML path.
--quality {l,m,h,k}	h	Maps to -ql/-qm/-qh/-qk.
--one-file/--no-one-file	--one-file	Embed assets as data URIs vs separate <output>_assets/.
--offline	false	Inline JS/CSS from the CDN (combine with --one-file).
--theme THEME	black	RevealJS theme (validated against the v5.6.0 allowlist).
--transition T	fade	RevealJS transition.
--template T	none	Custom Jinja2 template (passes --use-template).
-c KEY=VALUE	none, repeatable	Pass-through -c option to manim-slides convert.
--skip-render	false	Skip render; use existing ./slides/*.json.
--dry-run	false	Print commands without executing.
--folder FOLDER	./slides	Slides folder for both render and convert.
--backend {CE,GL}	CE	Adds --CE/--GL to the render step.

# Default build
python3 scripts/build.py slides.py MyTalk

# Light-theme deck with slide numbers and controls
python3 scripts/build.py slides.py MyTalk --theme white -c slide_number=true -c controls=true

# ManimGL backend, low quality (fast iteration)
python3 scripts/build.py slides.py MyTalk --backend GL --quality l

# Just the convert step (skip render if .json files already exist)
python3 scripts/build.py slides.py MyTalk --skip-render

# Print the commands without running
python3 scripts/build.py slides.py MyTalk --dry-run

Both scripts shell out to the upstream manim-slides CLI; they do not import from manim_slides internals. Use --dry-run to inspect the exact manim-slides ... invocations.

Going deeper

In-skill references (under references/):

• revealjs-customization.md — full -c option table, custom Jinja2 templates, adding RevealJS plugins.
• performance.md — large-presentation tips: split classes, parallel render, skip_reversing.
• manimgl.md — full ManimGL backend reference.
• pptx-pdf-zip.md — non-HTML export targets.
• sphinx-jupyter.md — Sphinx directive + Jupyter magic.

Official upstream docs:

• Quickstart
• API reference
• CLI reference
• HTML / RevealJS reference
• Customize HTML
• Sharing (PPTX/PDF/HTML)
• Large-presentation tips
• FAQ
• Examples gallery
• GitHub Pages starter template