Manim-Slides MCP Server

Overview

While traditional AI coding assistants can write Manim code, executing that code and structuring it into a readable presentation format has remained a manual process. This MCP server bridges the gap by providing AI clients (like Claude Desktop, Cursor, or Antigravity) with direct tools to:

1. Execute Manim Scripts: Dynamically run generated Manim code safely.

2. Handle Slides Orchestration: Natively support the Slide class for presentation logic.

3. Compile Presentations: Convert rendered animations into interactive HTML presentations (Reveal.js) directly from the AI prompt.

Demo

Features

• Direct Code Execution: Send Python code containing Manim Slide classes; the server handles temporary file creation, execution, and cleanup.

• Error Feedback Loop: Captures standard output and runtime exceptions, feeding them back to the AI for autonomous debugging.

• Live Render Progress: Streams rendered-frame percentage updates to the client via notifications/progress.

• Render Caching: Content-hashes each render request (code + scenes + quality) to skip re-rendering unchanged slides, reusing previously rendered media from .render_cache.

• HTML/Reveal.js Export: Seamlessly compiles the generated video assets into a fully functional interactive web presentation.

• One-Click Browser Preview: Serves the exported Reveal.js HTML on an ephemeral local HTTP server so it can be opened in a browser with a single call.

• State Management: Persists generated media in structured workspace directories for easy access.

Prerequisites

Ensure your system has the following installed:

• Python 3.10+

• uv (dependency and environment management)

• Manim Community Edition (Requires FFmpeg and LaTeX)

• Manim-Slides

Installation

git clone https://github.com/antoniomachuca/MCP-Manim-Slides.git
cd MCP-Manim-Slides

# Install uv if needed: https://docs.astral.sh/uv/getting-started/installation/

# Create the environment and install the project plus dev dependencies
uv sync --extra dev

Configuration

To integrate this server with an MCP-compatible client (e.g., Claude Desktop, Cursor, Antigravity), add the following to your client configuration JSON:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "manim-slides": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/MCP-Manim-Slides/.venv/bin/python",
      "args": [
        "/absolute/path/to/MCP-Manim-Slides/mcp_manim_slides/server.py"
      ],
      "env": {
        "WORKSPACE_DIR": "/path/to/your/output/directory"
      }
    }
  }
}

Available MCP Tools & Resources

Tools (@mcp.tool)

• hello_world(name: str = "World"): Connectivity check tool to verify client-server MCP communication.

• execute_manim_code(code: str, scenes: list[str] | None = None, quality: str = "l", media_dir: str | None = None, timeout: int = 600, use_cache: bool = True): Writes the provided Manim code to a secure temporary script, renders the scenes headlessly via manim-slides render, and returns paths to produced media files. Caches rendered output by a content hash of code/scenes/quality and skips re-rendering unchanged requests unless use_cache=False.

• compile_presentation(scenes: list[str], dest: str, folder: str = "slides", output_format: str = "auto", config: dict[str, str] | None = None, one_file: bool = False, workspace_dir: str | None = None, timeout: int = 300): Compiles rendered slide assets into an interactive presentation via manim-slides convert (supports html/Reveal.js, pdf, pptx, zip, custom Reveal.js themes and transition configs).

• export_revealjs_html(scenes: list[str], dest: str, folder: str = "slides", theme: str = "black", transition: str = "none", transition_speed: str = "default", controls: bool = False, progress: bool = False, slide_number: bool = False, hash: bool = False, loop: bool = False, title: str | None = None, config: dict[str, str] | None = None, one_file: bool = False, offline: bool = False, workspace_dir: str | None = None, timeout: int = 300): First-class Reveal.js HTML export via manim-slides convert --to html, with typed configuration for themes, transitions, navigation controls, slide numbers, deep linking, looping, and offline/one-file embedding.

• preview_slide(scene: str, slide_index: int = 0, output_format: str = "png", folder: str = "slides", workspace_dir: str | None = None, timeout: int = 120): Extracts a single slide preview (image frame png/jpg/webp, video snippet mp4, or animated gif) via FFmpeg for rapid visual validation without compiling the full presentation.

• list_scenes(folder: str = "slides", workspace_dir: str | None = None): Discovers and lists all rendered scenes, slide counts, and metadata available in the workspace.

• serve_revealjs_html(dest: str, workspace_dir: str | None = None, host: str = "127.0.0.1", port: int | None = None, open_browser: bool = True): Serves an exported Reveal.js HTML deck on an ephemeral local HTTP server for one-click browser preview. Returns the preview URL and optionally opens it in the default browser.

• stop_preview_server(port: int | None = None): Stops a running ephemeral preview server by port, or all preview servers when no port is given.

Resources (@mcp.resource)

• status://server: Telemetry resource returning current server status, Python version, and environment details.

• revealjs://config: Lists supported Reveal.js HTML export options (themes, transitions, transition speeds, boolean toggles, and defaults).

• slides://list: Resource listing all rendered slide configurations and metadata in the active workspace.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.