presentation-md vs Claude Design — open agent decks vs Anthropic canvas

Side-by-side

Criterion	presentation-md	Claude Design
Where it runs	Any coding agent + MCP (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini, Copilot)	claude.ai/design (+ Claude apps) on Pro/Max/Team/Enterprise
Authoring model	✓ Typed Deck JSON — re-theme, audit, diff, export	Conversational canvas + direct edits / sliders
Theme library	✓ 75 schema-validated themes + structured proofs	Design systems / brand kits inside Anthropic’s product
Charts / data viz	✓ Native `chart` layout (bar/line/area/pie) + SVG HTML + editable PPTX	✓ Strong conversational chart generation
PowerPoint	✓ Native PPTX export + import + speaker notes	✓ PPTX / PDF / HTML / Canva send
Local / offline ownership	✓ Self-contained HTML + JSON on disk	Hosted canvas; exports leave the product
MCP / agent tools	✓ 9 typed tools (render, audit, themes, brand, import…)	In-product; handoff to Claude Code as a bundle
Browser Studio	✓ Free hosted Studio with craft knobs	Design canvas is the product surface
Price / lock-in	✓ MIT, npm, no account required	Uses Claude subscription limits (+ optional extra usage)

Where Claude Design is stronger

Vision-first canvas iteration with Opus-class models inside Anthropic’s UI
Conversational charts and brand-system application without leaving the chat
One-click Canva / Claude Code handoff for teams already in that ecosystem

Where presentation-md is stronger

Open, portable Deck JSON — same deck survives theme swap, audit, and PPTX round-trip
Works in every coding agent, not only Claude’s seat — MCP-native by design
75 gallery-proven themes with stunning-25 flagships (Solstice ultra-luxury, Aurora Glass, …)
No subscription gate to author or ship a deck you fully own

Verdict

Use Claude Design when you want a hosted visual canvas inside Anthropic’s product. Use presentation-md when the deck must live in your agent loop — schema, themes, Studio, MCP, and PPTX without a seat tax.

Try presentation-md in one command:

npx @presentation-md/install claude-code

Open Solstice in Studio →

Also compare: all frontend-slides md-slides Gamma Beautiful.ai Marp Slidev