How to Get Started with Slidev

Slidev is a presentation tool for developers: you write slides in Markdown, and it renders them as a web app you can present in a browser or export. To get started, you need Node.js installed locally, then you scaffold a project, run the dev server, and write your slides in a Markdown file. The official entry points are the Getting Started and Syntax Guide pages in the Slidev documentation.

What you need before you start

• Node.js and a package manager. Slidev is distributed as an npm package, so a working Node.js environment is the prerequisite. The docs do not state a minimum version on the pages referenced here, so check the Getting Started page for the current requirement rather than assuming.
• A text editor. Slides are plain Markdown files, so any editor works.
• No prior Vue knowledge required for basic use. Slidev is built on Vue and Vite, and you can extend it with Vue components and layouts, but the default authoring path is Markdown.

The basic workflow

The documentation is organized so that you move through it in roughly this order:

1. Getting Started — install and scaffold a project, then run it.
2. Syntax Guide — learn the Markdown conventions Slidev adds on top of standard Markdown.
3. User Interface — the presenter view, navigation, and on-screen controls.
4. Animations, Theme & Addons, Components, Layouts — layer in styling and interactivity once the basics work.
5. Exporting and Hosting — turn the deck into a PDF, images, or a deployed site.

Scaffolding and running

Slidev projects are created from a starter template and run through its CLI. The exact command is on the Getting Started page; the shape of the process is:

• Create a new project from the template.
• Install dependencies.
• Start the dev server, which serves your deck locally and hot-reloads as you edit.
• Edit the main Markdown file to change slides.

The expected result after the dev server starts is a live preview in your browser that updates when you save the Markdown file. If the server starts but the page is blank or errors, the usual causes are a failed dependency install or a syntax error in the Markdown frontmatter.

Writing slides

Each slide is separated by a --- divider in the Markdown file. A frontmatter block at the top of the file configures the deck as a whole (theme, title, and similar options), and per-slide frontmatter can override settings for a single slide. The Syntax Guide covers the specifics, including code blocks with syntax highlighting, which is one of the main reasons developers pick Slidev over generic slide software.

Where to go next

The site also exposes /llms.txt and /llms-full.txt for machine-readable versions of the documentation, which is useful if you want an assistant to reference the docs while you write.

Practical notes

• Slidev is released under the MIT License, so it is free to use and modify. The pages referenced here do not describe any paid tier or account requirement.
• Because the deck is a web app, "exporting" and "hosting" are separate concerns: exporting gives you a static file for sharing, hosting gives you a live URL.
• Start with the default theme and plain Markdown. Add themes, addons, and custom Vue components only after the basic deck renders correctly, since those are the layers most likely to introduce build errors.