linkedin-carousel-generator

LinkedIn PDF Document Carousel Generator

On LinkedIn, attaching multiple PNG/JPG images creates a static photo grid—not a swipeable carousel. True swipeable LinkedIn carousels are multi-page 4:5 portrait PDF documents. Always export and attach the rendered deck as a single PDF document.

Step 0. Steer Weak Prompts Out of B2B AI Slop (Mandatory First Gate)

Lazy prompts ("make a LinkedIn carousel on SaaS onboarding", "5 AI marketing tips") default to generic AI slop: dark navy cyber grids, glowing cyan icons, screaming ALL-CAPS headlines, paint-brush price highlights, slanted ribbons, echoed stat pills, and "Found this valuable? Repost ♻️" end cards.

Before planning pages, read references/anti-slop.md and lock one restrained B2B editorial system:

• Swiss Print Grid (Stripe Press, McKinsey Quarterly): matte warm bone #F5F3EE, carbon ink #141413, 1 restrained accent (#1D4ED8 cobalt or #0F766E teal), 1px #D6D3CD hairlines, sentence-case headlines, >= 40% open paper.
• FT / Bloomberg Data Journalism: salmon #FFF1E5 or cool newsprint #F2F4F7, #111827 ink, flat 2D bar/line charts with direct value labels, tabular numerals, quiet source footer.
• Minimal Product UI (Linear, Vercel, Ramp): flat #F7F7F8 stone or #0B0C0E carbon, 1px subtle border, real pixel-exact UI screenshots pasted via placeImages, sentence-case geometric sans.

Three Hard Restraint Invariants

1. Max 3 elements per page + >= 35% flat negative space: (1) quiet plain-text page index (02 / 08 with no pill border), (2) sentence-case headline + 1 concise sentence (<= 24 words total), and (3) one concrete visual proof (1px-framed product screenshot, flat 2D chart, or clean workflow diagram with real tool logos).
2. Real visual proof on every page:

   What is this page about?
   ├── A product, pricing page, public report, doc, repo, or source article with a URL
   │   → screenshotUrl = that URL inside a minimal 1px hairline border (no cartoon macOS window bar).
   │     Paste exact browser pixels afterward with genppt_revise_slides(placeImages, cover: true).
   ├── A named company, tool, or platform (HubSpot, Salesforce, Stripe, Linear...)
   │   → visual names its official wordmark and palette; imageUrl when you have a clean asset.
   ├── A metric, benchmark, or before/after result
   │   → flat 2D chart with direct value labels, units, and source footer (zero 3D bars or gradients).
   └── A real person (founder, executive, customer portrait)
       → imageUrl = Wikimedia Commons or official press portrait on this page only.
   

3. Copy & visual anti-slop blocklist:
   • Copy: Zero em dashes (—) or spaced en dashes (–). Ban "isn't X, it's Y", "The secret isn't...", "delve", "game-changer", "unlock", "thrilled to share", and "Repost ♻️" begging. State every metric once per page (never echo headline numbers in adjacent pill badges).
   • Visuals: Ban ALL-CAPS shouting headlines, paint-brush splatters, slanted ribbons, sci-fi HUD bars, glassmorphism pills, dark edge vignettes, waxy HDR CGI illustrations, and blank numbered code lines.

Step 1. Structure the B2B Narrative Arc

What is the source material?
├── Case Study / Experiment / Post-Mortem → 7–11 pages (Outcome Hook → Baseline → Mechanism → Proof Chart → Playbook → One-Page Summary)
├── Tactical Playbook / Framework (N steps) → N + 2 pages (Cover + N steps + Cheat-Sheet Matrix), minimum 6, capped at 14
└── Sharp Contrarian Data Point / Teardown → 6–7 pages

• Aspect ratio: Always 4:5 (1.25× mobile height in LinkedIn's document reader without letterbox bars).
• Safe margins: 60px clear on all four edges (clearing LinkedIn's top-right page-counter pill and bottom fullscreen bar).

Step 2. Build the Page-by-Page Beats

1. Page 1 — Outcome Cover: Sentence-case headline under 9 words stating a concrete metric or mechanism ("We audited 420 SaaS trials. 81% of spend leaked on 3 pages."), paired with the key chart or live UI crop and a quiet Swipe → cue at bottom-right.
2. Page 2 — Baseline / Flaw: Why the conventional setup fails, shown with 1 concrete number and a real screenshot or comparison table.
3. Pages 3 to N−1 — One Mechanism Per Page (<= 24 words): Alternate clean layouts (framed live UI → flat 2D chart → 2-column before/after → real icon workflow). Keep all supplied numbers verbatim.
4. Page N — One-Page Cheat-Sheet Summary: Compact 4–5 row decision matrix or checklist recapping the whole framework on a single save-worthy page (never a "Follow me for more!" filler card).

Step 3. Gather Visual Assets (Mandatory Before Rendering)

1. List every company, product, report, and source URL in the carousel; verify each URL loads logged out without a login wall.
2. Assign websiteUrls (max 6), per-slide screenshotUrl, imageUrl (portraits strictly per-slide, never in referenceImageUrls), unsplashQuery (real places/environments only), and deck-wide brand logos in referenceImageUrls.

Step 4. Write Restrained visual Prompts and artDirection

visual formula: [flat matte surface & whitespace split] + [top band: plain index + sentence-case headline] + [lower/right 1px-framed proof visual].

"Matte #F5F3EE warm bone paper with 40% open negative space and 60px margins: plain '03 / 08' index and sentence-case #141413 headline in the top band above a 1px #D6D3CD rule; lower two-thirds frames the live pricing page inside a minimal 1px border with a flat #1D4ED8 callout label on the Enterprise tier."

artDirection: Specify the chosen Step 0 surface/ink/accent hexes, sentence-case typography, 1px hairline grid, 60px margins, and explicit bans on ALL-CAPS shouting, brush-stroke splatters, slanted ribbons, HUD pills, echoed stat badges, cartoon traffic-light bars, vignettes, and waxy HDR CGI.

Step 5. Render & Run Anti-Slop Visual QA + placeImages

1. Call genppt_create_slideshow (https://genppt.com/mcp) with aspectRatio: "4:5", title, thesis, slides, websiteUrls, referenceImageUrls, attachmentUrls, artDirection, autoRender: true.
2. Call genppt_get_deck ({ deckId, waitSeconds: 45 }) until phase === "ready".
3. Visual QA + placeImages upgrade: Inspect every slide image. For any slide where the model redrew a webpage screenshot into simplified cartoon UI, call genppt_revise_slides with placeImages (cover: true, up to 10 slides synchronously) to paste the untouched browser capture. Revise any slide showing visual/copy slop, echoed badges, cookie modals, or margin clipping.
4. Mandatory PDF export: Call genppt_export_deck with { deckId, format: "pdf" } and use downloadUrl. Never attach loose PNGs to a LinkedIn carousel post.

Step 6. Write the Companion Commentary & Stage/Publish

• Lines 1–2 (under 190 chars before "...see more"): Lead with the sharpest number or finding — never "I put together a carousel on...".
• Body (3–5 short lines): Scannable operator prose, zero em dashes (—), zero "isn't X, it's Y" clichés, and a <= 58-char PDF document title.

Is a social publishing MCP or LinkedIn integration connected?
├── Yes → Attach the exported PDF `downloadUrl` as a LinkedIn document attachment with your <=58-char title:
│   ├── Connector flags the account as review-required, or it is a personal executive profile (default)
│   │   → Save as a draft only, display the exact commentary + Page 1..N previews + PDF link, and wait for explicit approval before publishing.
│   └── Company page with autonomous publishing explicitly enabled
│       → Publish live and return the post URL.
└── No → Display the slide previews inline, provide `downloadUrl` for the multi-page PDF + `studioUrl`, and output the ready-to-paste LinkedIn post copy.