Autoflow

Autoflow analyzes plain markdown and infers the best layout for each slide. No directives needed — just write text, and StellarDeck chooses headings, positioning, alignment, and emphasis. Convention over configuration for slide design.

Navigate the deck above to see autoflow in action. Every slide was written as plain paragraphs — autoflow added all the layout directives.

How It Works

Each slide passes through a pipeline before the parser runs:

1. Skip checks — slides with explicit directives (#[fit], ![right], position modifiers), code fences, or custom blocks (:::columns) are left alone.
2. Rule matching — the slide is tested against each rule in order. First match wins.
3. Directive injection — the matched rule injects directives into the raw markdown. The parser handles them normally.

Autoflow never invents content. It only adds the same directives you would write by hand.

Rules

Eight rules, evaluated in this order:

Rule	When it matches	What it does
Title	First slide, 2+ paragraphs, short title line	#[fit] centered title, normal subtitle
Divider	Single line, 1-2 words	#[fit] heading, centered
Diagonal	2 paragraphs, at least one ends with ?	Top-left + bottom-right positioning
Z-Pattern	Exactly 4 short paragraphs	Four corners: TL, TR, BL, BR
Alternating	3+ short paragraphs	Accent color rotation
Statement	1-4 short lines (max 8 words each)	#[fit] headings, alignment varies
Split	One bare image + text	![right] or ![left], alternating sides
Autoscale	More than 8 lines or 80+ words	[.autoscale: true]

Title

The first slide gets special treatment. A short opening line followed by longer paragraphs becomes a #[fit] title with subtitle text.

slide.md

Punch **Slides**

Bold text-only slides for **storytelling**.
No images needed — just **words** and **rhythm**.

Diagonal

Two paragraphs where at least one contains a question. Positioned on opposite corners for Z-axis reading flow.

slide.md

What is **distraction** and what is **disruption**?

**Arrogance** or **procrastination**?

Statement

Short plain-text lines (1-4 lines, max 8 words each) become #[fit] headings that fill the slide.

slide.md

Think **big**.
Act **small**.

Divider

A single line with one or two words becomes a full-width #[fit] heading. Perfect for section breaks.

slide.md

**Learn** fast.

Split (image + text)

When autoflow detects a bare image and text on the same slide, it creates a split layout — image on one side, text on the other. The side alternates between slides.

slide.md

![](images/coaches/yuval-ayalon.webp)

The discipline of hand balancing requires years of patient, consistent practice.

Anti-Monotony

When consecutive slides match the same rule, autoflow varies their presentation:

• Statements rotate alignment: center, left, right.
• Diagonals mirror corner positions: TL/BR becomes TR/BL on the next diagonal.

Based on Steven Bradley’s alternating rhythm principle — visual variety within structural consistency.

Enabling Autoflow

Three ways to turn it on:

Frontmatter — add autoflow: true at the top of your markdown:

footer: My Talk
autoflow: true

First slide content here.

Toolbar — click the Autoflow toggle in StellarDeck’s toolbar. Saves the preference to the sidecar file.

Sidecar — autoflow state persists in .stellar.json alongside your .md file:

{
  "autoflow": true,
  "theme": "Nordic, 1",
  "lastSlide": 0
}

The sidecar approach means autoflow never modifies your markdown. Layout inference is a presentation-time concern.

Mixing Autoflow with Explicit Directives

Autoflow respects your choices. If you write ![right] or #[fit] explicitly, autoflow won’t override the image position — but it will still apply text-level improvements to the rest of the slide. You only fully opt out with autoflow: false in frontmatter.

Rules Are Evolving

Autoflow rules are actively improving. New rules (image position rotation, aspect-ratio aware layouts, phrase-bullet palettes) will be added in future releases, and existing rules may be refined. In a future version, rules will be individually configurable via presets (Storyteller, Presenter, Dense) or per-rule overrides.

The current rule set is stable for production use — changes are additive and backward-compatible.