Tools

From Microsoft: converts PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, HTML and other files or URLs to Markdown so agents can read and search them. A single convert_to_markdown tool over STDIO or local HTTP.

Converts PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, HTML, images, audio and more into Markdown that keeps headings, lists and tables, ready for LLMs to read and analyze. Maintained by Microsoft; requires Python 3.10+.

From Firecrawl: converts Word, PowerPoint, Excel, PDF, EPUB, RTF and more into clean Markdown locally in milliseconds, keeping headings, tables, footnotes and formulas so agents can read attachments. Needs Node.js; optional Firecrawl cloud OCR for scans uploads the whole file.

Unofficial Python library and CLI for driving Google NotebookLM (now Gemini Notebook): bulk-import sources, ask cited questions, and generate and download podcasts, videos, slides, quizzes and flashcards. Ships an agent skill. Relies on undocumented APIs and needs a Google sign-in.

Turns articles, reports, papers or notes into a .pptx of full-slide images with speaker notes, in 12 styles such as lectures and thesis defenses; slide text is not editable. Needs Python 3; uses Codex's built-in image generation, or an OpenAI-compatible image API key in Claude Code.

Unofficial nlm CLI and MCP server for NotebookLM (now Gemini Notebook): bulk-create notebooks, import web pages and docs, and generate audio overviews, quizzes, flashcards, mind maps and slides for teaching and study. Relies on undocumented APIs and a Google sign-in, so it may break.

From ISCAS's Chinese Information Processing Lab: Claude Code or Codex write slides from your brief, render each page to check layout, and export an editable PPTX, for lectures and academic talks. Needs macOS, Linux or WSL with Python (uv), npm and LibreOffice; install per the README.

A research-writing plugin from K-Dense: searches the literature in real time before drafting, then produces papers, reviews, grant proposals, posters and slides with verifiable citations and figures. Literature search needs a Parallel API key; PDF output needs LaTeX.

Econometrician Pedro Sant'Anna's academic Claude Code setup (fork the repo to use it): Beamer/Quarto lecture slides, paper review and mock refereeing, R/Python analysis and replication packages, with specialist subagents and quality gates. Needs Git and Python; slides need XeLaTeX and Quarto.

Turns a paper (arXiv link or PDF) into method diagrams, slides with a generated image per page (PPTX/PDF export) and an in-depth HTML explainer with formulas, for lab meetings and lectures. No API key; images use Codex's built-in generator or, in Claude Code, a separate image skill.

Builds conference talks, lab meeting decks, defenses, lectures and grant reports to academic norms: assertion-style titles, slides ordered by the argument, one cited chart per results slide, and a closing conclusions slide. Pair with Anthropic's pptx skill; on claude.ai, enable code execution.

Converts PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, EPUB, web pages and images to clean Markdown locally, keeping page anchors, tables and two-column reading order, with full-text search across folders. Formerly pdf-reader-mcp; no uploads, no API key. Needs Node.js 18+; OCR for scans needs tesseract.

Turns Manim animations into step-through slide decks: mark slide breaks in scene code, render, then present with manim-slides or export to HTML, PDF or PPTX, for math and science classes and talks. Scenes are Python (agents can write them); needs Manim, plus LaTeX for formulas.

AI agents collaborate via the ADDIE instructional design model: enter a course name to get a syllabus, LaTeX slides, lecture scripts and assessments, convertible to editable PPTX. Open-source code for an EACL 2026 paper; needs an OpenAI API key, LaTeX for PDFs and Node.js for PPTX.