---
title: Slide metadata
description: Every field on a slide definition and on a slide module, what each one does, and what the deck defaults resolve them to.
sidebar:
  icon: tags
---

A slide is a `body` and optional metadata. Two shapes carry it: an entry in the `slides` array, and a module in `deck/slides/*.slide.tsx`.

## SlideDefinition

An entry in the array. `body` is required, everything else is optional.

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| - | - | - | - |
| `body` | `ReactNode` | - | The slide itself. |
| `slug?` | `string` | - | Fixes the URL at /slides/<slug>. Lowercase letters, digits, and hyphens, unique across the deck, never all digits. Without one the slide is served at its 1-based position. |
| `title?` | `string` | - | Names the slide in the header, the command center, and the presenter flow. A slide without one shows "Slide 4". Never becomes a slug. |
| `notes?` | `string` | - | Speaker-only text. Reaches the presenter window and never renders in the deck. |
| `stepCount?` | `number` | `0` | How many reveal steps the slide has. Pair it with SlideStep. |
| `header?` | `"visible" \| "hidden" \| "auto"` | `the deck's header.mode` | "auto" renders in the default layout and hides in fullscreen. |
| `footer?` | `"visible" \| "hidden" \| "counter"` | `the deck's footer.mode` | "counter" is a deprecated alias for "visible". |
| `layout?` | `"default" \| "fullscreen"` | `"default"` | fullscreen hands the whole canvas to the slide so media can bleed to every edge. |
| `background?` | `"default" \| "none" \| "spotlight" \| "grid" \| "accent" \| a name the theme adds` | `"default"` | Which background variant the theme paints. SlideBackground carries the name on data-slide-background, and deckard validate reports a name neither the runtime nor the theme paints. |
| `motion?` | `"auto" \| "frozen"` | `the deck's motion` | "frozen" holds this slide's motion background on one fixed frame. A slide whose background is painted in CSS is unaffected. |
| `sourcePath?` | `string` | - | Set by slideFromModule and discoverSlides. deckard validate checks it is a file on disk. |

Use `layout`, `header`, `footer`, and `background` to change the frame for one slide, rather than special-casing the route.

## SlideMeta

What a slide module exports as `meta`. Same fields as `SlideDefinition` minus `body` and `sourcePath`, plus one:

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| - | - | - | - |
| `order?` | `number` | - | Sorts this module inside the discovered group when discoverSlides runs with sort: "order". It cannot move the group. discoverSlides consumes it and leaves it off the definition, so a module can never push itself past a manual slide. |

`notes` can be exported either on `meta` or as its own top-level export. The top-level export wins.

```tsx deck/slides/pricing.slide.tsx
import type { SlideMeta } from "@thebuilder/deckard-core"

export const meta: SlideMeta = { slug: "pricing", title: "Pricing", order: 20 }
export const notes = "Pause on the middle tier."

export default async function PricingSlide() {
  return <PricingTable plans={await loadPlans()} />
}
```

A module has to export its component as `default`. Discovery throws naming the file when it does not, and when the module is async, because an eager glob hands back a promise instead of the exports.

## Slide ids

The `slides` array defines deck order. `resolveSlides` never reorders it, so moving a slide in the array is the only way to move it in the deck.

Ids are matched exactly. A slugged slide is served only at its slug and never at its position, so there is one URL per slide.

The deck fails to build on a duplicate slug, an empty slug, a slug with characters unsafe in a URL path, or a slug made only of digits.

## Step reveals

```tsx
{
  title: "The argument",
  stepCount: 3,
  body: (
    <OpenContentSlide eyebrow="Three parts" title="The argument">
      <SlideStep step={0}>Everyone agrees on the premise.</SlideStep>
      <SlideStep step={1}>Almost nobody acts on it.</SlideStep>
      <SlideStep step={2}>Here is what that costs.</SlideStep>
    </OpenContentSlide>
  ),
}
```

`step` is zero-based, and a step shows once the current step reaches it. Hidden steps stay in the layout, so a stepped slide takes its full height from the first step and `deckard check-overflow` measures it fully revealed.

The current step also rides in the URL as `?step=`, read on the client, which is how the presenter preview stays in sync without making the route dynamic.