manifest.json Reference — AuraDeck docs

manifest.json is the only required metadata file in an AuraDeck presentation. It controls slide order, presentation metadata, and theming.

Full example

{
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "title": "My Presentation",
  "author": {
    "name": "Jane Doe",
    "email": "jane@example.com",
    "url": "https://example.com"
  },
  "created": "2026-03-02T00:00:00Z",
  "modified": "2026-03-02T12:30:00Z",
  "description": "A presentation about interesting things.",
  "tags": ["demo", "tutorial"],
  "aspect_ratio": "auto",
  "slides": [
    {
      "index": 0,
      "file": "a1b2c3d4.html",
      "title": "Title Slide",
      "notes": "Welcome the audience. Introduce the topic.",
      "transition": "fade",
      "duration_seconds": 30.0
    },
    {
      "index": 1,
      "file": "e5f6g7h8.html",
      "title": "Overview",
      "notes": "Explain the agenda.",
      "transition": "slide-left"
    }
  ],
  "theme": {
    "background": "#0f0c29",
    "foreground": "#ffffff",
    "accent": "#e94560",
    "secondary": "#533483"
  },
  "images": [
    "images/hero-bg.svg",
    "images/chart.png"
  ],
  "global_css": "global.css"
}

Top-level fields

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
`version`	string	No	`"1.0.0"`	Manifest schema version. Currently `"1.0.0"`.
`title`	string	Yes	—	Presentation title. Shown in the title bar and metadata.
`author`	object	Yes	—	Author information (see Author).
`description`	string	Yes	—	Short description of the presentation. Can be empty `""`.
`created`	string	No	—	ISO 8601 timestamp of creation.
`modified`	string	No	—	ISO 8601 timestamp of last modification. Updated automatically on save.
`tags`	string[]	No	`[]`	Freeform tags for categorisation.
`aspect_ratio`	string	No	—	Slide aspect ratio. `"auto"`, `"16:9"`, or `"4:3"`. Omit or set to `"auto"` to render at the viewport's natural ratio.
`slides`	array	Yes	—	Ordered list of slides (see Slide entry).
`theme`	object	No	—	Presentation-wide colour theme (see Theme).
`images`	string[]	No	`[]`	List of image asset paths relative to the manifest root. Informational — images are loaded from slide HTML directly.
`global_css`	string	No	—	Path to a shared CSS file injected into every slide at render time.

Author

Field	Type	Required	Description
`name`	string	Yes	Author's display name.
`email`	string	No	Contact email.
`url`	string	No	Website or profile URL.

Slide entry

Each entry in the slides array represents one slide.

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
`file`	string	Yes	—	Filename of the slide HTML file, relative to the manifest root.
`title`	string	Yes	—	Human-readable slide title. Shown in the slide panel and presenter view.
`index`	integer	No	—	Display order index (0-based). When present, used for sorting; when omitted, array order is used.
`notes`	string	No	—	Speaker notes shown in presenter mode. Plain text.
`transition`	string	No	—	Transition effect when entering this slide. One of `"fade"`, `"slide-left"`, `"slide-right"`, `"none"`.
`duration_seconds`	number	No	—	Suggested duration for this slide in seconds. Used for pacing guidance in presenter mode.

Theme

Optional colour scheme applied to the viewer chrome (not the slides themselves — slides control their own styling via inline CSS).

Field	Type	Required	Description
`background`	string	No	Background colour (CSS value, e.g. `"#0f0c29"`).
`foreground`	string	No	Text colour.
`accent`	string	No	Primary accent colour.
`secondary`	string	No	Secondary accent colour.

Validation

AuraDeck does not strictly validate manifest.json on load — unknown fields are preserved through round-trips and ignored. The minimum viable manifest is:

{
  "title": "Hello",
  "author": { "name": "You" },
  "description": "",
  "slides": [{ "file": "slide1.html", "title": "Slide 1" }]
}

If a slide's file does not exist in the deck, the slide is shown as an error placeholder in the editor and skipped in the viewer.

Slide HTML authoring →