CLI Reference

All Cuppa Studio CLI commands and options.

Installation

# No install needed — use npx
npx mycuppa <command>

# Or install globally
npm install -g mycuppa

Commands

`init [name]`

Create a new presentation project with a starter slides.md.

mycuppa init my-talk
# Creates my-talk/slides.md

`build <file.md>`

Compile markdown into a .cup file.

mycuppa build slides.md
# Output: slides.cup

mycuppa build slides.md --out presentation.cup
# Custom output path

mycuppa build slides.md --dir
# Output as directory instead of .cup file

mycuppa build slides.md --watch
# Watch mode — rebuild on changes

Option	Description
`--out <path>`	Custom output path
`--dir`	Output as directory (JSON files) instead of .cup
`--watch`	Watch for changes and rebuild

`serve <input>`

Start a dev server with hot reload.

# Serve from markdown (auto-builds)
mycuppa serve slides.md

# Serve from .cup file
mycuppa serve slides.cup

# Serve from directory
mycuppa serve my-talk/

# Custom port
mycuppa serve slides.md --port 8080

# Enable backstage remote
mycuppa serve slides.md --backstage

Option	Description
`--port <port>`	Server port (default: 3000)
`--backstage`	Enable backstage remote at `/backstage`

`export <input>`

Export to standalone HTML or PDF.

# Export as HTML
mycuppa export slides.cup --out talk.html

# Export as PDF (requires Playwright)
mycuppa export slides.cup --format pdf --out talk.pdf

Option	Description
`--format <type>`	`html` (default) or `pdf`
`--out <file>`	Output file path

`validate <input>`

Validate a presentation structure.

mycuppa validate slides.cup
mycuppa validate my-talk/

`ai <prompt>`

Generate or refine presentations with AI. Requires ANTHROPIC_API_KEY environment variable.

# Generate from prompt
mycuppa ai "Explain OAuth 2.0 in 8 slides"

# Generate from existing content
mycuppa ai --from meeting-notes.md

# Refine existing presentation
mycuppa ai --refine my-talk/

# Generate and auto-serve
mycuppa ai "Quick standup update" --serve

Option	Description
`--from <file>`	Source content to transform
`--refine <dir>`	Existing presentation to refine
`--out <dir>`	Output directory
`--serve`	Auto-serve after generation
`--model <model>`	AI model to use

`preview <github-url>`

Preview a GitHub README as a presentation (experimental).

mycuppa preview https://github.com/user/repo

Option	Description
`--out <dir>`	Output directory
`--port <port>`	Server port

MCP Server

Cuppa Studio includes an MCP server for AI-powered presentation workflows. Configure it in your MCP client (Claude Desktop, etc.):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cuppa-studio": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@cuppa-studio/mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Available Tools

Tool	Description
`generate_presentation`	Generate a presentation from a prompt — outputs a `.md` file
`refine_presentation`	Modify an existing presentation — reads `.cup` or `.md`, outputs `.md`
`compile_markdown`	Compile Cuppa Studio markdown into a .cup file
`read_cupfile`	Read and parse a .cup file from disk
`write_cupfile`	Write a CupFile JSON object to a .cup archive
`list_themes`	List all available themes with color schemes
`list_templates`	List all presentation templates

Prompt Templates

The MCP server provides 10 prompt templates for common presentation types:

tech-talk — Technical talk with code and diagrams
team-update — Team status update with stats
product-demo — Product demo with features and metrics
workshop — Hands-on workshop with exercises
pitch-deck — Investor pitch deck
architecture-review — System architecture review with diagrams and file trees
sprint-demo — Sprint demo with shipped features, diffs, and metrics
code-walkthrough — Code walkthrough with file trees, diffs, and callouts
incident-postmortem — Incident postmortem with timeline and root cause
api-docs — API documentation with endpoints, params, and examples

Backstage Remote

When serving with --backstage, a mobile-optimized presenter remote is available at /backstage. Open the LAN URL on your phone to control the presentation wirelessly.

mycuppa serve slides.md --backstage
# → Slides:    http://localhost:3000/
# → Backstage: http://localhost:3000/backstage
# → LAN:       http://192.168.1.10:3000/backstage

The backstage view shows:

Current and next slide previews
Speaker notes for the current slide
Presentation timer
Navigation controls (prev/next, slide picker)

Open the LAN URL on your phone to control the presentation wirelessly while presenting on the main screen.

VS Code Extension

The Cuppa Studio VS Code extension provides live preview, AI editing, and template scaffolding directly in your editor.

# Install from marketplace
ext install cuppatech.cuppa-studio

Available commands (open with Ctrl+Shift+P):

Command	Description
`Cuppa Studio: Open Preview`	Live preview panel (`Cmd`+`Shift`+`V`)
`Cuppa Studio: Export as .cup`	Compile markdown to .cup
`Cuppa Studio: Import .cup File`	Open a .cup file as markdown
`Cuppa Studio: Generate Presentation`	AI-generate from a prompt
`Cuppa Studio: Edit Slide with AI`	Refine the current slide with AI
`Cuppa Studio: Refine Presentation with AI`	Refine the full presentation
`Cuppa Studio: New from Template`	Scaffold from a template family
`Cuppa Studio: Set API Key`	Configure Anthropic API key