deckcraft/docs/roadmap.md

DeckCraft roadmap: milestones and what's next

Last reviewed: 2026-10-10 · Last updated: 2026-10-13 · Change: trivial (embedded fonts leave the beta list except MicroType Express subsets; previous: minor, core-workflow alpha gate added; stage stays alpha) · Target: Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 16.113 (Microsoft 365) Last reviewed: 2026-10-13 · Last updated: 2026-10-13 · Change: minor (M9 text warps narrowed to adjust handles; the Transform gallery applies a preset) · Target: Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 16.113 (Microsoft 365) Last reviewed: 2026-10-13 · Last updated: 2026-10-13 · Change: trivial (owned PPTX corpus check started; previous: minor, core-workflow alpha gate) · Target: Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 16.113 (Microsoft 365) Last reviewed: 2026-10-13 · Last updated: 2026-10-13 · Change: trivial (owned PPTX corpus covers comments, links, custom shows, groups and inherited placeholders; previous: minor, core-workflow alpha gate) · Target: Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 16.113 (Microsoft 365) Last reviewed: 2026-10-13 · Last updated: 2026-10-13 · Change: trivial (owned PPTX corpus covers text effects, body layout, theme effects, fills, bevels and connectors; previous: minor, core-workflow alpha gate) · Target: Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 16.113 (Microsoft 365) Last reviewed: 2026-10-14 · Last updated: 2026-10-14 · Change: trivial (corpus_media.rs keeps 3-D models and animation bounce end; real-deck corpus still open) · Target: Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 16.113 (Microsoft 365) Last reviewed: 2026-10-14 · Last updated: 2026-10-14 · Change: trivial (chart trendlines round-trip; the real-deck corpus stays open; previous: minor, core-workflow alpha gate added; stage stays alpha) · Target: Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 16.113 (Microsoft 365) Last reviewed: 2026-10-14 · Last updated: 2026-10-14 · Change: trivial (Review previous/next comment; previous: minor, core-workflow alpha gate) · Target: Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 16.113 (Microsoft 365) Last reviewed: 2026-10-10 · Last updated: 2026-10-14 · Change: minor (six original starter decks; the large template gallery stays after beta; previous: minor, core-workflow alpha gate added; stage stays alpha) · Target: Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 16.113 (Microsoft 365) Last reviewed: 2026-10-14 · Last updated: 2026-10-14 · Change: trivial (Zoom dialog; previous: minor, core-workflow alpha gate) · Target: Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 16.113 (Microsoft 365) Last reviewed: 2026-10-13 · Last updated: 2026-10-13 · Change: trivial (owned PPTX corpus covers more deck kinds; handout-master text kept; previous: minor, core-workflow alpha gate) · Target: Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 16.113 (Microsoft 365) Last reviewed: 2026-10-14 · Last updated: 2026-10-14 · Change: trivial (show: See All Slides and zoom; previous: minor, core-workflow alpha gate) · Target: Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 16.113 (Microsoft 365) Last reviewed: 2026-10-14 · Last updated: 2026-10-14 · Change: trivial (presenter timer pause/reset, clock and notes size; previous: trivial, See All Slides and zoom) · Target: Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 16.113 (Microsoft 365) Last reviewed: 2026-10-14 · Last updated: 2026-10-14 · Change: trivial (custom show playback; previous: trivial, presenter timer) · Target: Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 16.113 (Microsoft 365) Last reviewed: 2026-10-14 · Last updated: 2026-10-14 · Change: trivial (go to slide shows the typed number; previous: trivial, custom show playback) · Target: Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 16.113 (Microsoft 365) Last reviewed: 2026-10-14 · Last updated: 2026-10-14 · Change: trivial (chart trendlines are drawn; the charts gap stays open for the data grid, chartex and secondary-axis export; previous: trivial, chart trendlines round-trip; the real-deck corpus stays open; core-workflow alpha gate added; stage stays alpha) · Target: Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 16.113 (Microsoft 365) Last reviewed: 2026-10-13 · Last updated: 2026-10-13 · Change: minor (Grid Options; previous: core-workflow alpha gate added; stage stays alpha) · Target: Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 16.113 (Microsoft 365)

Forward-looking: where DeckCraft is going and in what order. The one-page summary is ROADMAP.md; every shortfall is in gaps.md; numbers are in target-app-parity.md. Hours are Opus 5.5 agent wall-clock hours.

Alpha gate: PowerPoint's core workflows

What a typical PowerPoint user does every day, checked end to end on macOS, the main platform (craftrules standards/progress-docs.md, "The core-workflow gate"). Every workflow passes, so DeckCraft stays alpha. The "partial" rows don't block the workflow, but they are its weakest points and lead the beta plan.

Core workflow	Works end to end?	Evidence	Hours to full pass
Build a deck from scratch (theme, layouts, titles and bullets, shapes, pictures from file), save, close and reopen it	yes	Commands for all of it; .deckcraft and .pptx round-trip tests (crates/pptx/tests/roundtrip.rs, crates/format); AutoRecover. Close discards edits without asking (#60, PR #75); image paste fails on Windows/Linux (#53), though insert-from-file works	1–3
Open a colleague's .pptx, edit it, save it back as .pptx that PowerPoint opens	partial (not blocking)	The reader is lenient and keeps unknown objects. Files open in PowerPoint without repair (checked 2026-10-06). But only generated decks have been tested; text inside EMF/WMF pictures is missing; comment threads, media options and rewind are lost (#70, #74, #77)	31–55
Present: full-screen show with transitions, animations, media, presenter view with notes, next slide and timer	yes	48/48 transitions, 64 effects, triggers, builds, media playback, presenter window, See All Slides and zoom. The presenter timer pauses and resets, and notes have a size control. A custom show plays only its slides. Typing a slide number during the show shows it, and Enter goes there. Presenter view isn't placed on the second display automatically (drag it there; #433)	2–4
Add business content: tables, charts with their data, simple diagrams	partial (not blocking)	Tables with styles, merge/split, all D or P. Charts insert with the common types and edit data in the Chart Data dialog (P0 partial); SmartArt is basic (pre-drawn shapes)	12–20
Share the deck: PDF of slides, notes or handouts; images	yes	file.export PDF with text layer, links, bookmarks, handouts 1–9; PNG/JPEG. Artwork is raster in the PDF; no direct print (print the PDF)	10–16
Review: comments with replies, resolve, spelling	partial (not blocking)	Comments, replies and resolve work and survive .deckcraft and .pptx (#70); spelling is a small built-in list	4–8
Review: comments with replies, resolve, spelling	partial (not blocking)	Comments, replies and resolve work and survive .deckcraft; Previous and Next walk every slide and the pane lists them; threads are flattened on .pptx save (#70); spelling is a small built-in list	4–8

Current focus (2026-10-10)

1. Stop losing work and crashing: land Close's save prompt (#60, PR #75), the Windows GPU startup crashes (#40, #59), image paste on Windows/Linux (#53). 6–12 h.
2. PPTX on real decks: crates/pptx/tests/corpus.rs round-trips decks we author (open → save → reopen, parts and text) and keeps a notes master's header and footer. Still open: a larger corpus, comment threads, media options and rewind on save (#70, #74, #77), EMF/WMF and SVG. 31–55 h.
3. PPTX on real decks: the owned corpus now round-trips comments, hyperlinks and actions, custom shows, grouped rotated objects, and placeholders that inherit from the layout, and keeps paragraph default formatting and action sounds. Still open: a larger corpus, embedded fonts, comment threads, media options and rewind (#70, #74, #77), EMF/WMF and SVG. 31–55 h.
4. PPTX on real decks: the owned corpus now round-trips text effects, autofit, columns, vertical and RTL text, tab stops, line spacing, theme effects, gradient and pattern fills, 3-D bevels and connectors, and keeps a run's inner shadow, reflection and soft edge plus a bevel preset that had no 3-D XML. Still open: a larger corpus, embedded fonts, comment threads, media options and rewind (#70, #74, #77), EMF/WMF and SVG. 31–55 h.
5. PPTX on real decks: build an owned corpus, round-trip checks in CI, fix what breaks. corpus_media.rs keeps SmartArt and OLE XML, media bookmarks and trims, sections, fields, ink, 3-D models and animation bounce end. Comment threads, media options and rewind on save (#70, #74, #77), relationship-bearing SmartArt and OLE (#203), and EMF/WMF and SVG are still open. 31–55 h.
6. PPTX on real decks: crates/pptx/tests/corpus_kinds.rs round-trips tables, charts, animations, media, sections and masters/layouts, and keeps a handout master's header and footer. Still open: a larger corpus, comment threads, media options and rewind (#70, #74, #77), EMF/WMF and SVG. 31–55 h.
7. Review the open PRs: equations (#55), browser print (#66), Morph alignment (#67), macOS open-with (#68), font lookup (#80), Ukrainian (#34, after the catalog exists). 4–8 h.

Plan to beta (~120–210 h; ~40–70 h wall clock with 3–4 agents)

Beta means ~75% ready for real work and opening and saving PowerPoint's .pptx reliably (craftrules standards/progress-docs.md). Ranked:

#	Work	Hours	Moves
1	Stability: #60, #40/#59, soak and fuzz the editor	10–20	Stability 60 → 85%
2	PPTX real-deck corpus and fixes	20–35	File formats 58 → 75%
3	PPTX round-trip losses (#70, #74, #77), .potx/.ppsx/.pptm content types, MicroType embedded-font subsets	8–15	File formats → 80%
4	EMF/WMF and SVG pictures	8–14	File formats, Pictures
5	Vector PDF, printing	10–16	File formats, Files
6	Localization infrastructure + zh-Hans, es, fr, de, ja (with IME)	27–46	Localization 8 → ~40%
7	Font weights (#69), image paste (#53), Tab in text (#78)	6–11	Features
8	Charts: data grid, elements	6–10	Features
9	Animation Pane timeline, preview, effect options	5–8	Features
10	Presenter view on the right display, swap displays	2–4	Hardware, Slide show
11	Native macOS menu bar, Format Shape pane depth, start screen and window chrome fixes	13–22	UI/UX 60 → 75%
12	Performance baseline and the obvious fixes	4–8	Performance
Total		~120–210	Ready ~55% → ~75%

Parallelizes well: 1 (engine/app), 2–5 (pptx, render, pdf), 6 (ui-egui catalogs), 8–11 (UI) touch different crates. Needs a human: the owner opening PPTX outputs in PowerPoint and making reference renders, a Windows tester with the affected GPUs, native speakers to review translations.

After beta: toward full parity (~245–440 h more)

SmartArt editing, chartex chart types, the remaining animation effects and motion paths, Notes and Handout masters, edit points, text warp and 3-D, proofing dictionaries, Zoom, recording, video and GIF export, legacy .ppt import and .odp (owner decision), GPU rasterization and hardware video decode, the other 21 languages with RTL mirroring, a larger template gallery (six original starters ship), and local AI features (owner decision on models). Itemized with hours in gaps.md.

Milestones

From the local execution plan (plan/execution-plan.md, gitignored). Status as of 2026-10-10.

#	Milestone	Status	Open
M0	Skeleton and vertical slice	done
M1	Editing core	done
M2	PPTX import/export	done for generated decks	real-deck corpus, round-trip losses
M3	Shapes complete	mostly	edit points, Format Shape pane depth, bevel/3-D
M4	Design	mostly	Notes/Handout masters, variants, Designer
M5	Pictures and media	mostly	SVG/EMF, remove background, compress, icons, WMA/WMV
M6	Transitions and animations	mostly	Animation Pane timeline, remaining effects, transition sounds
M7	Slide show	mostly	second-display placement, laser, record
M8	Tables and charts	partly	chart data grid, elements, chartex types, draw table
M9	SmartArt, equations, WordArt	partly	SmartArt text pane and layouts, equations (PR #55), warp adjust handles
M10	Views	done	grid options, New Window
M9	SmartArt, equations, WordArt	partly	SmartArt text pane and layouts, equations (PR #55), text warps
M10	Views	done	grid options, Arrange All
M9	SmartArt, equations, WordArt	partly	SmartArt text pane and layouts, equations (PR #55), text warps
M10	Views	done	New Window
M11	Output	partly	vector PDF, SVG, GIF, MP4, print
M12	Review	partly	dictionaries, AutoCorrect, find/replace dialog, compare
M13	Automation and CLI parity	done
M14	1.0 polish and release	partly	i18n, native menu bar, signed releases done (v0.4.0)

History: the 2026-10-07 alpha checklist

Before the craftrules stages existed, DeckCraft defined "alpha" as: install a signed build on macOS, Windows or Linux, make a real deck from scratch or from a PowerPoint file, present it with transitions, animations and media, save back to .pptx/PDF without losing work, and hit no crashes on common paths. On 2026-10-07 it was ~80% there with these blockers:

Blocker (2026-10-07)	Status 2026-10-10
First real release run: signing, notarization, installers verified on each OS	Signed releases v0.1.0–v0.4.0 published; installers not hand-checked on each OS; Windows startup crashes on some GPUs (#40, #59)
PPTX fidelity on a corpus of real decks	First owned check in CI; notes-master header and footer kept. A larger corpus is still beta item 2
PPTX fidelity on a corpus of real decks	Owned check for comments, links, custom shows, groups and inherited placeholders. A larger corpus, embedded fonts and #70/#74/#77 stay open; beta item 2
PPTX fidelity on a corpus of real decks	Owned check for text effects, body layout, theme effects, fills, bevels and connectors. A larger corpus, embedded fonts and #70/#74/#77 stay open; beta item 2
PPTX fidelity on a corpus of real decks	First owned check of tables, charts, animations, media, sections and masters; handout-master text kept. A larger corpus is still beta item 2
Presenter view and Animation Pane polish	Still open; beta items 9 and 10
Soak and fuzz the editor	Still open; beta item 1
UI fidelity pass on the most-used ribbon groups and dialogs; first run	Partly (start-screen fixes #20, #49); beta item 11
Mascot app icon, README screenshots, user docs	App icon (with a scalable SVG, #29) and README screenshots in place; user docs open

By the standard's definitions DeckCraft is alpha (~55% ready); these blockers now feed the beta plan above.

Revision history

Date	Change	Summary
2026-10-13	trivial	Beta item 3: embedded fonts are in, except MicroType Express subsets
2026-10-13	minor	M9: the WordArt Transform gallery applies a text warp; adjust handles stay open
2026-10-13	trivial	Owned PPTX corpus check started; notes-master header and footer kept. Beta item 2 stays open for a larger corpus
2026-10-13	trivial	Owned PPTX corpus covers comments, links and actions, custom shows, rotated groups and inherited placeholders. Beta item 2 stays open for a larger corpus, embedded fonts and #70/#74/#77
2026-10-13	trivial	Owned PPTX corpus covers text effects, body layout, theme effects, fills, bevels and connectors. Beta item 2 stays open for a larger corpus, embedded fonts and #70/#74/#77
2026-10-14	trivial	Current focus: corpus_media.rs keeps 3-D models and animation bounce end; the real-deck corpus stays open
2026-10-14	trivial	Chart trendlines are drawn. The charts gap stays open for the data grid, chartex and secondary-axis export; the real-deck corpus (item 2) stays open
2026-10-14	trivial	Chart trendlines round-trip in an owned corpus slice; the real-deck corpus (item 2) stays open
2026-10-14	trivial	Review workflow: previous and next comment across the deck
2026-10-14	minor	After beta: six original starter decks exist; a larger template gallery remains
2026-10-14	trivial	View: Zoom dialog (percent or Fit)
2026-10-13	trivial	Owned PPTX corpus covers tables, charts, animations, media, sections and masters; handout-master text kept. Beta item 2 stays open for a larger corpus
2026-10-14	trivial	Present workflow notes go to slide number entry
2026-10-14	trivial	Present workflow notes custom show playback
2026-10-14	trivial	Present workflow notes presenter timer pause/reset, clock and notes size. Display placement stays open
2026-10-14	trivial	Present workflow notes See All Slides and zoom
2026-10-13	minor	M10: Grid Options dialog; New Window stays open
2026-10-10	minor	Added the alpha gate (six core workflows): all pass, two with partial depth; stage stays alpha
2026-10-10	major	Created: current focus, ranked beta plan with hours, milestones M0–M14 with status, the old alpha checklist as history