powerpoint-mcp-live

Edit a PowerPoint presentation while it's open — the AI attaches to the window you already have, it doesn't start its own.

Live editing · Windows (COM) · 23 tools

Most PowerPoint MCP servers (including this workspace's own mcp-server-powerpoint) work by starting a fresh, invisible PowerPoint process, opening your file in it, and closing it again when done. That's great for scripted deck generation, but it means the AI is never looking at the same window you are.

powerpoint-mcp-live does the opposite: it attaches to whatever PowerPoint window you already have open via COM, using the same "find the running application" approach as word-mcp-live and excel-mcp-live. It never launches PowerPoint and never closes it — it only touches presentations you opened yourself.

Requirements

• Windows (COM automation is Windows-only — there is no macOS/Linux mode for this project)

• Microsoft PowerPoint installed and already running with a presentation open

• Python 3.11+

Related MCP server: mcp-powerpoint

Installation

git clone <this-repo-url>
cd powerpoint-mcp-live
pip install -e .

Or run straight from source with uv — no install step needed:

uv run powerpoint_mcp_server.py

Client setup (.mcp.json)

Point your MCP client at the project directory. For Claude Code, add this to .mcp.json in your project (or ~/.claude.json for a user-wide config):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "powerpoint-live": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "--directory",
        "G:/Ai/MCP/powerpoint-mcp-live",
        "run",
        "powerpoint_mcp_server.py"
      ],
      "env": {
        "MCP_AUTHOR": "Your Name",
        "MCP_AUTHOR_INITIALS": "YN"
      }
    }
  }
}

If you installed it with pip install -e . instead, you can use the console script directly:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "powerpoint-live": {
      "command": "powerpoint-mcp-live",
      "env": {
        "MCP_AUTHOR": "Your Name",
        "MCP_AUTHOR_INITIALS": "YN"
      }
    }
  }
}

MCP_AUTHOR / MCP_AUTHOR_INITIALS set the author name/initials attached to new slide comments (default: "Author" / "").

Supported functions

Every tool operates on a presentation that's already open in PowerPoint. presentation is optional almost everywhere — omit it to target the active presentation.

Not yet covered: tables, charts, SmartArt, animations, transitions, templates/themes — for those, use mcp-server-powerpoint, which starts its own PowerPoint instance and has much broader operation coverage.

Example prompts

"I have this deck open — read the text on slide 3 and tell me if the bullets are too long."
"Add a new slide after slide 2 with a blank layout."
"Add a text box on slide 4 that says 'Draft — do not distribute' in red."
"Make the title on slide 1 bold and increase it to 44pt."
"Export slide 5 as an image so I can check whether anything overlaps."
"Add a comment on slide 3 asking if the chart numbers are up to date."

Known limitations

• Windows only. PowerPoint COM automation doesn't exist on macOS/Linux.

• The presentation must already be open in PowerPoint. This server doesn't create or open files — see mcp-server-powerpoint for that.

• No single-undo grouping. Word's COM API can wrap several edits into one Ctrl+Z; PowerPoint's cannot (neither can Excel's). A tool call that performs multiple writes may need several Ctrl+Z's to fully undo.

• Comments require PowerPoint 2016+ (modern threaded comments).

Development

See CLAUDE.md for architecture notes and design constraints — in particular, why this server must never launch or quit PowerPoint itself.