gws-slides Skill: What It Does and How to Install It

Lets Claude read, create and change Google Slides presentations through the gws command-line tool.

Installs: 42.2K; on skills.sh
Stars: 32K; on GitHub
Updated: Oct 2026; last repo commit

gws-slides teaches Claude the gws slides commands from the Google Workspace CLI. Claude can get a presentation, create a blank one with a title, and send batchUpdate requests that change it. It needs the gws program installed and signed in to your Google account, and its first instruction is to read the gws-shared skill for sign-in and safety rules. If any one request in a batchUpdate is invalid, SKILL.md says the whole batch fails and nothing is applied.

Good for

People who want Claude to build or edit Google Slides decks
Teams automating slide updates from other data
Claude Code users who already use the gws CLI for Workspace

Install gws-slides

Claude Code

Copy this prompt.

Install the gws-slides skill in Claude Code. Run this command:

npm install -g @googleworkspace/cli
gws auth setup
npx skills add https://github.com/googleworkspace/cli/tree/main/skills/gws-shared
npx skills add https://github.com/googleworkspace/cli/tree/main/skills/gws-slides

Then check that it loaded and tell me how to use it.

2
Paste it into Claude Code. It shows the change and asks before running it.

Requires Node.js 18+, A Google Cloud project, A Google account.

The README says gws is not an officially supported Google product and is under active development, so expect breaking changes. If Google consent shows "hasn't verified this app" while your OAuth app is in testing mode, the README says to continue.

From the project README. Source.

What's in the skill

When it loads

Google Slides: Read and write presentations.

Sections in SKILL.md

API Resources
presentations
Discovering Commands

Key facts

Author: googleworkspace
Repository: googleworkspace/cli
License: Apache-2.0
Skill version: 0.22.5
Installs on skills.sh: 42,220 (Nov 2, 2026)
GitHub stars: 32,038 (Nov 2, 2026)
skills.sh audits: Gen Agent Trust Hub pass, Socket pass, Snyk pass (Nov 2, 2026)
Last repo commit: Oct 30, 2026
Files: 1 file: SKILL.md only
Needs: The gws program (SKILL.md lists it as a required binary) and the gws-shared skill
Status: The README says gws is not an officially supported Google product

What it includes

Creates a blank presentation with the title you give
Only the title is used; other fields in the request, including content, are ignored.
Write · gws slides presentations create
Gets the latest version of a presentation
Network · gws slides presentations get
Applies one or more updates to a presentation; all or nothing
Each request is validated first. If any is invalid, the whole call fails and nothing is applied.
Write · gws slides presentations batchUpdate
Operations on the pages resource of a presentation
gws slides presentations pages
Browses the resources and methods you can call
Runs code · gws slides --help
Shows a method's required parameters, types and defaults before Claude builds a call
Use its output to build the --params and --json flags.
Runs code · gws schema slides.<resource>.<method>

From the official docs

Permissions

Medium risk

It lets Claude create and change presentations in your Google account through the gws command line. Sign in with the narrowest permissions you can and ask for --dry-run before any change.

What it can do

Read your data
Create and change things
Delete things
Read-only mode

Watch out for

It can change or replace slides in your account
batchUpdate applies edits to a presentation and create makes new ones. gws-shared tells Claude to confirm write and delete commands and to prefer --dry-run. Ask for a dry run first, and test on a copy. github.com
Sign-in gives gws access to your Google account
gws auth login asks for Google permissions. The README shows how to choose individual services so the consent screen asks for fewer, so pick only what you need.
The gws program is under active development
The README warns to expect breaking changes before v1.0. Pin the version you tested.

Security advisories

No published security advisories as of Nov 2, 2026.

Technical details

Turning on read-only	No read-only mode is documented. The --dry-run flag shows a request without sending it.
Talks to	The gws program calls Google Workspace APIs. Your AI provider receives the data Claude reads from Google
Sign-in and keys	Sign-in is handled by the gws program. The README says credentials are encrypted at rest (AES-256-GCM) with the key in your OS keyring, or in ~/.config/gws/.encryption_key when the file backend is set.
Scopes	Claude runs the gws program on your machine gws signs in with your Google account and calls the Slides API

Questions

How do I install gws-slides?

Use the install box above. It installs the gws program, signs you in, and adds gws-shared and gws-slides. The README says there are 100+ gws skills and shows installing them all or one at a time.

Do I need gws-shared too?

Yes. The first line of SKILL.md says to read ../gws-shared/SKILL.md for sign-in, global flags and security rules, and to run gws generate-skills if it is missing.

Does it need an API key?

Not in the usual sense. The README requires a Google Cloud project for OAuth credentials, a Google account, and Node.js 18+ for the npm install. gws-shared also shows a service-account route.

Does gws-slides work in the Claude app?

The README documents no Claude app install. The skill drives a program on your machine, so use it in Claude Code or another local agent.

Is gws-slides safe?

It can create and change presentations in your Google account, so sign in with the narrowest permissions you can, use --dry-run first and test on a copy. The skill file is one SKILL.md and bundles no scripts. The gws program is not an officially supported Google product.

Information

updated Nov 2, 2026

Repository: googleworkspace/cli
Folder: skills/gws-slides

googleworkspace/cli skills.sh

Sources

Docs, issue trackers and discussions this page is built from.

Show all 6

googleworkspace/cli README · github.com
gws-shared SKILL.md · github.com
googleworkspace/cli · github.com
skills CLI commands · github.com
gws-slides SKILL.md · github.com
gws-slides on skills.sh · skills.sh