Quickstart

Get from zero to a generated PDF in five steps.

Prerequisites

Step 1: Get the slide format schema

curl https://agenticdecks.com/schemas/v1/deckrun-slide-format.json

This schema describes the markdown surface syntax Deckrun expects: layout tags, notes blocks, two-column split, timer, and inline attributes.

Or fetch it via the API:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  https://api.agenticdecks.com/schema?category=slide

Step 2: Write a minimal deck

<!-- <title-slide /> -->
# My Deck

A presentation generated by Deckrun.

---

## Slide 2: What this is

Deckrun turns markdown into PDFs.

<!-- <slide-notes> -->
This slide explains what Deckrun is.
<!-- </slide-notes> -->

---

## Slide 3: How it works

Markdown in. PDF, video, audio out.

Step 3: Submit a generation job

curl -X POST https://api.agenticdecks.com/generate \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "markdown": "<your markdown here>",
    "theme_id": "deckrun-default",
    "outputs": ["pdf"]
  }'

Response (PDF-only may be synchronous):

{
  "job_id": "j_abc123",
  "status": "success",
  "artifacts": {
    "pdf": "https://artifacts.agenticdecks.com/j_abc123/deck.pdf"
  }
}

For heavy outputs (video, audio), the response is 202 Accepted with status: "queued".

Step 4: Poll for status (async jobs)

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  https://api.agenticdecks.com/jobs/j_abc123

Response:

{
  "job_id": "j_abc123",
  "status": "success",
  "artifacts": {
    "pdf": "https://artifacts.agenticdecks.com/j_abc123/deck.pdf",
    "mp4": "https://artifacts.agenticdecks.com/j_abc123/deck.mp4"
  }
}

Poll until status is "success", "failure", "timeout", or "cancelled". The job status schema includes queue_position and estimated_wait_seconds for in-progress jobs.

Step 5: Download or deliver

Retrieve the artifact URL directly, or configure an output_destination in the POST /generate request to push artifacts to S3, Google Drive, or another connector automatically.

Next steps