slideload

Turn a web/HTML slide deck into a PDF. One page per slide and build step, so animations are captured as they play.

Works with reveal.js decks directly, and with anything else that advances on a key press (Slidev, remark, impress.js, …) by pressing the key until the screen stops changing.

No dependencies! It drives the existing Chromium you already have.

Requirements

• Bun or Node 22+
• Chromium browser: Brave, Chrome, Chromium, or Edge installeds

Usage

Bun:

bun src/cli.js https://example.edu/slides/week1
bun link            # optional: installs the `slideload` and `sl` commands
sl <url>

bun link puts the commands in ~/.bun/bin. If sl isn't found, add it to your PATH:

echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.bun/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc && source ~/.zshrc

Node:

node src/cli.js https://example.edu/slides/week1
npm link            # optional: installs the `slideload` and `sl` commands
sl <url>

Output goes to <last url segment>.pdf in the current directory.

Options

Flag	Meaning
-o, --out <file>	output path (default <deck-name>.pdf)
--final	one page per slide (last build step only)
--notes	also write <out>.notes.md with speaker notes, if the deck exposes them
--driver <name>	force studio, reveal, or keys (default: auto-detect)
--key <name>	key the keys driver presses (default ArrowRight; e.g. Space, PageDown)
--settle <ms>	wait after each move before capturing
--max-pages <n>	safety cap, default 500
--raster	screenshot pages (JPEG) instead of vector; use if a deck prints badly
--quality <1-100>	JPEG quality for --raster, default 90
--scale <n>	device scale for --raster, 2 = retina, default 1
--headed	show the browser window
--browser <path>	browser executable (default: Brave, then Chrome/Chromium/Edge)
--profile <dir>	browser profile dir (default ~/.slideload/profile)
--timeout <ms>	wait for a known framework before falling back, default 15000

Deck behind a login?

Run with --headed, log in in the window that opens, then press Enter in the terminal. The login is saved in ~/.slideload/profile for next time. (Your normal Brave profile can't be used: Chromium blocks automation on the default profile since v136.)

Deck not detected?

The keys fallback presses ArrowRight and stops after three presses that change neither the screen nor the URL. If the deck uses another key or animates slowly, try --key Space or --settle 1000. Autoplaying video or looping animation looks like a change and produces extra pages; --max-pages bounds it.

License

GPL-3.0. See LICENSE.