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gamma-migration-deep-dive Deep dive into migrating to Gamma from other presentation platforms.
Use when migrating from PowerPoint, Google Slides, Canva,
or other presentation tools to Gamma.
Trigger with phrases like "gamma migration", "migrate to gamma",
"gamma import", "gamma from powerpoint", "gamma from google slides".
npx skills add jeremylongshore/claude-code-plugins-plus-skills --skill gamma-migration-deep-dive ai automation claude-code devops mcp ai-agents
Gamma Migration Deep Dive
Current State
!npm list 2>/dev/null | head -10
Overview
Migrate presentation workflows from PowerPoint, Google Slides, Canva, or other platforms to Gamma's AI-powered generation. Gamma takes a fundamentally different approach -- instead of manually placing slides, you provide content and Gamma generates the presentation. Migration is about converting your content pipeline, not your slide files.
Prerequisites
Gamma API access (Pro+ plan)
Source presentations accessible for content extraction
Node.js 18+ for migration scripts
Completed gamma-install-auth setup
Migration Approaches
Approach When to Use Effort Content extraction + regeneration Lots of text-heavy presentations Medium Import via Gamma UI One-off migration of key decks Low Template recreation Repeatable presentation formats
Parallel operation Gradual transition over time Low
Key insight: You don't "import" slides into Gamma. You extract content from old presentations and regenerate them using Gamma's AI. This often produces better results than the originals.
Instructions
Step 1: Inventory Source Presentations // scripts/inventory-presentations.ts
import { readdir, stat } from "node:fs/promises";
import { join, extname } from "node:path";
interface PresentationInfo {
path: string;
format: string;
sizeMB: number;
lastModified: Date;
}
async function inventoryPresentations(dir: string): Promise<PresentationInfo[]> {
const entries = await readdir(dir, { recursive: true });
const presentations: PresentationInfo[] = [];
for (const entry of entries) {
const ext = extname(entry).toLowerCase();
if ([".pptx", ".ppt", ".key", ".pdf", ".md"].includes(ext)) {
const fullPath = join(dir, entry);
const info = await stat(fullPath);
presentations.push({
path: fullPath,
format: ext,
sizeMB: info.size / (1024 * 1024),
lastModified: info.mtime,
});
}
}
console.log(`Found ${presentations.length} presentations:`);
const byFormat = presentations.reduce((acc, p) => {
acc[p.format] = (acc[p.format] || 0) + 1;
return acc;
}, {} as Record<string, number>);
console.log("By format:", byFormat);
return presentations;
}
Step 2: Extract Content from PowerPoint // scripts/extract-pptx.ts
// Use 'pptx-parser' or 'officegen' to extract text content
import JSZip from "jszip";
import { readFile } from "node:fs/promises";
import { DOMParser } from "xmldom";
async function extractPptxContent(pptxPath: string): Promise<string[]> {
const buffer = await readFile(pptxPath);
const zip = await JSZip.loadAsync(buffer);
const slides: string[] = [];
const slideFiles = Object.keys(zip.files)
.filter((f) => f.match(/ppt\/slides\/slide\d+\.xml$/))
.sort();
for (const slideFile of slideFiles) {
const xml = await zip.file(slideFile)!.async("string");
const doc = new DOMParser().parseFromString(xml);
// Extract all text elements
const textNodes = doc.getElementsByTagName("a:t");
const texts: string[] = [];
for (let i = 0; i < textNodes.length; i++) {
const text = textNodes[i].textContent?.trim();
if (text) texts.push(text);
}
slides.push(texts.join("\n"));
}
return slides;
}
// Convert extracted content to Gamma prompt
function slidesToGammaPrompt(slides: string[], title: string): string {
let prompt = `${title}\n\n`;
slides.forEach((content, i) => {
prompt += `Slide ${i + 1}:\n${content}\n\n`;
});
return prompt;
}
Step 3: Batch Migration Script // scripts/migrate-to-gamma.ts
import { createGammaClient } from "../src/client";
import { pollUntilDone } from "../src/poll";
import pLimit from "p-limit";
const gamma = createGammaClient({ apiKey: process.env.GAMMA_API_KEY! });
const limit = pLimit(2); // Max 2 concurrent generations
interface MigrationItem {
title: string;
content: string;
sourceFile: string;
}
async function migrateBatch(items: MigrationItem[]) {
const results = await Promise.allSettled(
items.map((item) =>
limit(async () => {
console.log(`Migrating: ${item.title}`);
const { generationId } = await gamma.generate({
content: item.content,
outputFormat: "presentation",
textMode: "condense", // AI condenses extracted text
exportAs: "pptx", // Get PPTX for comparison
});
const result = await pollUntilDone(gamma, generationId);
return {
title: item.title,
sourceFile: item.sourceFile,
gammaUrl: result.gammaUrl,
exportUrl: result.exportUrl,
creditsUsed: result.creditsUsed,
};
})
)
);
// Report
const succeeded = results.filter((r) => r.status === "fulfilled");
const failed = results.filter((r) => r.status === "rejected");
console.log(`\nMigration complete: ${succeeded.length} succeeded, ${failed.length} failed`);
for (const r of results) {
if (r.status === "fulfilled") {
console.log(` OK: ${r.value.title} → ${r.value.gammaUrl}`);
} else {
console.log(` FAIL: ${r.reason}`);
}
}
}
Step 4: Template Recreation For recurring presentation types (weekly reports, proposals, etc.), create Gamma templates:
Migration steps for templates:
1. Identify repeating presentation formats in your org
2. Create a one-page template gamma in the Gamma app:
- gamma.app → Create → design a single representative page
3. Note the template gamma ID from the URL
4. Use POST /v1.0/generations/from-template with the gammaId
5. Update your automation scripts to use generateFromTemplate()
// After template creation in Gamma UI
const MIGRATED_TEMPLATES: Record<string, string> = {
"weekly-report": "gamma_template_weekly_abc123",
"sales-proposal": "gamma_template_proposal_def456",
"team-update": "gamma_template_update_ghi789",
};
async function generateFromMigratedTemplate(
templateKey: string,
content: string
) {
const gammaId = MIGRATED_TEMPLATES[templateKey];
if (!gammaId) throw new Error(`Unknown template: ${templateKey}`);
const { generationId } = await gamma.generateFromTemplate({
gammaId,
prompt: content,
exportAs: "pdf",
});
return pollUntilDone(gamma, generationId);
}
Step 5: Validation Checklist After migrating each presentation:
- [ ] Content accuracy: AI-generated text matches source intent
- [ ] Slide count: reasonable for the content volume
- [ ] Theme/branding: workspace theme applied correctly
- [ ] Export quality: PDF/PPTX downloads successfully
- [ ] Links preserved: any URLs from original are in the content
- [ ] Stakeholder review: key presentations reviewed by owners
Supported Migration Paths Source Method Fidelity Notes PowerPoint (.pptx) Extract text → regenerate Content-high, design-new AI redesigns slides Google Slides Export as .pptx → extract Content-high, design-new Export first Canva Export as .pdf → extract text Medium Limited text extraction Keynote (.key) Export as .pptx → extract Content-high, design-new Export first Markdown (.md) Direct use as content High Best migration path Notion pages Export as .md → use directly High Clean text extraction
Error Handling Issue Cause Solution Content too long Exceeds 100K token limit Split into multiple presentations Credit budget exceeded Too many migrations at once Batch over multiple days Poor output quality Content too unstructured Add structure (headings, bullets) to extracted content Missing images Images in source not extracted Gamma generates new images; reference image concepts in text
Resources
Next Steps Review gamma-core-workflow-a for ongoing content generation after migration.
Create or update AgentSkills. Use when designing, structuring, or packaging skills with scripts, references, and assets.
Create or update AgentSkills. Use when designing, structuring, or packaging skills with scripts, references, and assets.
Set up and use 1Password CLI (op). Use when installing the CLI, enabling desktop app integration, signing in (single or multi-account), or reading/injecting/running secrets via op.
CLI to manage emails via IMAP/SMTP. Use `himalaya` to list, read, write, reply, forward, search, and organize emails from the terminal. Supports multiple accounts and message composition with MML (MIME Meta Language).
Create or update AgentSkills. Use when designing, structuring, or packaging skills with scripts, references, and assets.
Create or update AgentSkills. Use when designing, structuring, or packaging skills with scripts, references, and assets.
Set up and use 1Password CLI (op). Use when installing the CLI, enabling desktop app integration, signing in (single or multi-account), or reading/injecting/running secrets via op.
CLI to manage emails via IMAP/SMTP. Use `himalaya` to list, read, write, reply, forward, search, and organize emails from the terminal. Supports multiple accounts and message composition with MML (MIME Meta Language).
