R
Rideful Slides

What Layouts Are Available?

Every deck carries its own layouts. A new deck gets them from Rideful's starter template; an imported brand template brings its own, with pre-configured positions, colors, and decorative elements.

Layouts define the starting structure of a slide — what placeholders are created (title, body, subtitle) and where they're positioned. Layouts belong to the deck, not to Rideful — call deck_get to see which ones a given deck has and what their ids are.

Where Layouts Come From

There is no global list of layouts. Each deck has its own set, and the ids are unique to that deck.

New decks — the starter template

Creating a deck without picking a template — New Slide Deck → Blank in the app, or deck_create over MCP — copies Rideful's starter template for the aspect ratio you chose. The deck gets that template's layouts, theme, master and canvas size, and the first slide lands on the default layout with its placeholders already in place.

Imported decks — the template's own layouts

A deck created from a brand template, or imported from a .pptx file, carries the layouts of that file instead. See How do I use brand templates?

Decks with no layouts

A deck can have none — older blank decks, or a deck whose layouts were all deleted. That is a normal state, not an error: deck_get reports that the deck has no layouts, the add-slide picker offers a single Blank option, and new slides are created empty. Add layouts from the editor's Layouts view, or start a new deck from a template.

The default layout

Omit layoutId and the slide uses the deck's default — the first layout in the deck's order, marked (default) in deck_get. Reorder layouts in the Layouts view to change which one that is. When a deck has no layouts at all, omitting layoutId creates an empty slide.

Example

// Creating a new deck: omit layoutId. The deck is built from
// Rideful's starter template, and each slide lands on its default layout.
slide_bulk_create({
  name: "Quarterly Review",
  slides: [
    {
      title: "Q4 Business Review",
      subtitle: "January 2026"
    },
    {
      title: "Revenue Highlights",
      body: "- Total revenue: $4.2M\n- Growth: +18% QoQ\n- New customers: 34"
    }
  ]
})

Template Layouts

When you import a brand template (.potx or .potm) — or import a .pptx presentation — all of that file's layouts become available for slide creation. They include pre-configured positions, colors, fonts, and decorative elements from the original file.

What Template Layouts Include

  • Placeholders — title, subtitle, body, picture zones, footer, date, slide number
  • Text styling — font family, size, color, and alignment pre-set per placeholder
  • Background — color and/or background image
  • Decorative elements — shapes, logos, accent bars, and text overlays from the template

Discovering Template Layouts

Use MCP tools to explore available layouts — and, with the element tools, to edit them:

// 1. Read the deck — its layouts come with it
deck_get({ deckId: "deck_abc123" })
// → ### Available Layouts
// →
// →   1. "Title Slide" (default) — `layout-7Kd2Rm4p`
// →      Cover slide with centered title and subtitle
// →
// →   2. "Title and Content" — `layout-Qc9Wb3Xn`
// →      Standard content with a title and body area
// →
// →   3. "Blank" — `layout-Ze5Vh8Ta`
// →      Empty canvas with no placeholders

// 2. Add slides using those ids
slide_bulk_create({
  deckId: "deck_abc123",
  slides: [
    { layoutId: "layout-7Kd2Rm4p",
      title: "Our Approach",
      subtitle: "Discovery to launch" },
    { layoutId: "layout-Qc9Wb3Xn",
      title: "Timeline",
      body: "- Phase 1: Discovery\n- Phase 2: Build" }
  ]
})

// Layout ids belong to the deck. Ids read from a template with
// layout_list do not carry over to decks created from it.

Layout descriptions matter

Each template layout can have a description that tells AI agents when to use it. Without descriptions, the agent guesses based on structure alone. With descriptions, it picks the right layout for each slide's content. Add descriptions on the template detail page — see How do I use brand templates?

Editing a Layout

Agents can edit layouts, not just read them. The element tools take a layout id (“layout-…”) anywhere they take a slide id, and the change lands on the layout. Ask for “put our logo on the title layout” or “add an accent bar to every content slide” and that is the path your assistant takes.

Editing a layout changes every slide built on it, which makes it the right move for something deck-wide and the wrong move for fixing one slide. If you only mean one slide, say so — your assistant edits the slide instead.

  • Agent-created elements are decorative — shapes, text, and lines that sit behind every slide on the layout. Agents cannot create new placeholders; those come from the template.
  • Charts are slide-only — a chart on a layout is refused.
  • Layout name and description are still writable only on a template, via layout_update. The elements are editable on any deck.

Placeholder text on a layout is a prompt — and slides inherit it

Editing a placeholder's text on a layout sets the wording shown for that slot while it is empty. It is deliberately not content — otherwise it would materialize as literal text on every slide built from the layout. It shows as ghost text instead, both in the editor's Layouts view and on every empty placeholder of the slides built from that layout, updating live when you change it. Rideful's own wording (“Click to add title”) appears only where the layout carries no prompt of its own. To change what a slide actually says, edit the slide.

Choosing the Right Layout

  • Cover or section divider → the deck's title or divider layout
  • Standard content (bullets, text) → the deck's title-and-content layout
  • Custom or visual-heavy slide → the deck's blank layout, then add elements manually
  • Not sure → omit layoutId and take the deck's default

Layout names vary by deck — an imported template may call its cover layout “TITLE” or “Section Opener”. Match on the name and description that deck_get returns rather than on a fixed id.

Tip: When working with an AI assistant, you don't need to specify layout IDs yourself. Just describe what you want (“add a section divider”, “add a content slide with bullet points”) and the AI picks the appropriate layout.

Common Issues

  • AI picks the wrong template layout: Add descriptions to your template layouts. Without descriptions, the AI has to guess which layout fits each slide's content.
  • “Unknown layoutId” error: The id does not belong to this deck. Layout ids are per-deck, so an id copied from another deck or from a template will not resolve. The error lists the deck's real ids — use one of those, or omit layoutId for the default.
  • The deck lists no layouts: Older blank decks and decks whose layouts were deleted have none. Slides are created empty; add layouts in the editor's Layouts view.
  • Placeholders not matching my content: Use the deck's blank layout — or omit layoutId on a deck with none — and add elements manually when no layout fits your content structure.

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