PresentationsCAN I VIBECODE
Beautiful.ai?
BUILD FIRST
- One specific customer type and one primary use case
- A vertical slice that completes the main job without manual workarounds
- Visible limits, review steps, and a fallback when an external dependency fails
LEAVE FOR LATER
- Broad third-party integrations
- High-scale collaboration, syncing, and permissions
- Automation that can cause harm without human review
RESEARCH NOTES
What this tool actually does.
Beautiful.ai is a commercial, browser-based AI presentation tool (company founded 2018, San Francisco) whose differentiator is 'Smart Slides': constraint-based slide layouts that automatically realign, resize, space, and animate content as users edit, so users never format from scratch. Verified official-site workflow: (1) start with a prompt, pasted outline, or source material; (2) review/refine a slide-by-slide outline before generation; (3) set design direction via themes plus image source or consistent AI image style; (4) generate and iterate, swapping Smart Slide layout variants per slide while preserving exact copy. Entry points include AI generation, multi-slide designer templates, or one slide at a time. Team features: reusable brand themes (colors, fonts, logos, icons, footers), shared slide libraries, real-time collaboration, permissions, and locked themes. Output: present in-a
RESEARCHED BUILD PROMPT
Give this to your coding agent.
Build 'Slidesmith', a web app inspired by the Beautiful.ai / Smart Slides workflow — not a clone. Workflow: a user enters a topic/prompt or pastes an outline; the app proposes a slide-by-slide outline the user edits before generation; the user picks a brand theme (colors, fonts, logo placeholder, footer text); the app renders slides from a deterministic 'smart layout' engine that auto-aligns and reflows content as the user types, adds images, or pastes bullets; per slide the user can switch among 3-5 layout variants (title, bullet list, image+text, stat callout, quote) without losing content; finished decks export to .pptx and PDF and render as a shareable link with presenter view. User-facing requirements: deck outline sidebar, canvas slide editor with inline editing, layout-variant picker, theme panel, export dialog, undo/redo, autosave to localStorage. Technical requirements: React + TypeScript frontend; a content model separated from layout so text/images persist across layout swaps; a CSS/layout-rules engine (e.g., flexbox-based component library with per-layout constraints for alignment, overflow, and image cropping); LLM API integration (prompt-to-outline, slide text polish) behind a serverless endpoint with the user's own API key; PPTX export via pptxgenjs; PDF export via print-to-PDF rendering. Explicitly do NOT copy Beautiful.ai branding, its proprietary Smart Slide artwork/templates, or its specific UI look; use original design and naming. Out of scope: real-time multi-user collaboration, shared team libraries, marketplace templates, branded mobile apps, billing/licensing, server-hosted media storage. Deliver a README covering setup (env vars for LLM key), architecture notes, and important limitations: layout engine handles common slide types only, AI output quality varies, export fidelity is approximate, and no feature parity with the commercial product is claimed.