anthropic-pptx vs next-slide: which Claude PPT skill should you pick?

The single most-asked question after “should I use a Claude skill to make a deck?” is “which one?”. anthropic-pptx and next-slide sit on opposite ends of the spectrum: one optimizes for editability, the other for visual range.

Side by side

	anthropic-pptx	next-slide
Output	`.pptx` (Microsoft PowerPoint)	Single-file HTML
Editable after gen	Yes — in PowerPoint or Keynote	Only by editing HTML/CSS
Style options	Whatever you provide; bring-your-own	53 built-in styles, 6 families
Speaker notes	First-class	Possible but less polished
Charts	Real chart objects (editable)	Rendered HTML / SVG
Best audience	Execs / corporate / academic	Designers / launches / talks
Author	Anthropic (official)	codesstar
Install	`npx degit anthropics/skills/skills/pptx`	`git clone codesstar/next-slide`

anthropic-pptx — when the recipient edits

If your deck is going to live in Microsoft PowerPoint after generation — because the recipient will edit it, your team uses Office 365, your client demands .pptx — there’s no contest. anthropic-pptx outputs real PowerPoint files with editable charts, proper speaker notes, and master-slide compatibility.

It’s the engine. Visual flair is not its strength — pair with theme-factory or brand-guidelines for that.

next-slide — when style range matters

next-slide is single-file HTML output — beautiful, animated, keyboard-navigated, opens in any browser. The killer feature is 53 styles: dark families, editorial, bold, retro, artistic, cultural. Pick a style, get a deck.

But the deck is not editable in PowerPoint. The recipient gets a .html they can present, not edit.

30-second decision

Will the recipient edit it in PowerPoint?       → anthropic-pptx
Need real chart objects (not screenshots)?      → anthropic-pptx
Need speaker notes for presenter mode?          → anthropic-pptx
Need a designer-grade deck for one-time use?    → next-slide
Need to A/B-test visual styles?                 → next-slide
Need cross-cultural style options?              → next-slide
Want both?                                       → generate with anthropic-pptx,
                                                   apply theme-factory after

Hybrid path

If you want the best of both, the workflow is:

Generate structure with anthropic-pptx — get an editable .pptx skeleton with proper speaker notes and content blocks.
Apply theme-factory — pick one of 10 hand-tuned themes. Output stays editable.
Optionally re-render in next-slide for a high-style web version of the same deck.

This works because next-slide accepts existing .pptx as input — so you can have one source of truth (the .pptx for editing) and an HTML rendering for the slick presentation surface.