Kirigami
: How to use it, features, and the business problems it solves

What is Kirigami

Kirigami is a web service and API, run by an individual in Japan, that converts images and PDFs into editable PowerPoint (PPTX) files. It takes slides produced by image-generating AI, documents that survive only as images, screenshots and similar material, and returns a .pptx in which the text comes back as text boxes you can rewrite and the shapes come back as vector elements.

As of September 2026 the official top page leads with "Turn images generated with GPT Image 2 into editable PowerPoint" and calls the product an "AI PowerPoint agent". The screen is less a file drop zone than an instruction box with an attachment field: you attach an image, a PDF or a note, write what you want, and the converted deck comes back. The second entry point is the API — the same conversion can be called from a REST API, a CLI, MCP, or Claude Skills. The interface and the output are both available in 17 languages, Japanese among them.

(All figures are as published on the official site in September 2026.)

A slide that arrives as an image cannot be edited at all

Slides and infographics made with generative AI often look finished, yet resist any partial change. Because they are drawn as images, clicking a heading selects the picture, not the words. Advancing a fiscal year by one, or making a company name consistent, means rebuilding the whole deck. PDFs whose source file is long gone, and scanned paper documents, sit in the same position.

The official documentation describes the difference as "not a screenshot — the text stays editable, and shapes, layout and background are reproduced faithfully".

A four-stage pipeline rebuilds the image as a PPTX

Conversion runs as an asynchronous job. The official API documentation publishes the four stages and what each one does. The route is the same whether you start from the web screen or from the API.

A job moves through pending → waiting_images → processing → completed; if it fails permanently, the credits are returned automatically

The heart of it is the last stage, with its four steps. Shape outlines are first extracted as vectors, OCR reads the characters and their positions, the characters are then removed from the image side, and finally elements that belong together are bundled into one group. The official name for that bundling is Stack Mode, described as grouping related elements into a structure "with no holes left in it". Because the places where text was removed do not remain as gaps, the background is less likely to fall apart when the file is opened in PowerPoint.

How to use it

1. Create an account

   Sign up from the "Start for free" button on the top page; authentication is handled by Clerk. The official help centre states that "you can try one conversion for free" and that continued use requires creating an account and purchasing a plan, so ongoing work needs either a monthly plan or a credit pack.

2. Attach an image or PDF and write your instruction

   Drag an image, a PDF or a screenshot into the input box, or paste it with ⌘V. A multi-page PDF can be submitted in one go and is reconstructed slide by slide. The credit cost (10c per image) is shown beneath the input box.

3. Wait for the conversion

   According to the official help, one image usually takes a few seconds to about a minute. Complex images and large files can take longer. If an error occurs during conversion, no credits are consumed.

4. Collect the PPTX and finish it in PowerPoint

   Download the generated .pptx and open it in PowerPoint to edit, present and share. Because the text arrives as text boxes and the shapes as vector elements, your usual PowerPoint habits apply.

5. If you do this repeatedly, move it to the API, CLI or MCP

   There is no need to run the same conversion by hand every time. For the CLI, npm install -g @kirigami/cli, then kirigami login to authenticate through the browser, then kirigami convert slide.png --output deck.pptx. MCP-capable clients such as Claude Code, Claude Desktop and Cursor connect with a single line: claude mcp add --transport http kirigami https://kirigami.ai/api/mcp.

The conversion can be handed from a person to an agent

What most distinguishes this service from other converters is that the conversion itself is published in a form other programs can call. The public API was released as v1 on 22 April 2026, and v1.1.0 on 26 April added endpoints for layer decomposition and HTML-to-PPTX, along with remote MCP.

• REST API — POST /api/v1/convert submits a job that merges 1 to 50 images into a single PPTX, and GET /api/v1/jobs/:jobId returns its status. The specification is served as OpenAPI 3.1 from /api/openapi.json, with an interactive reference through Scalar
• CLI — install @kirigami/cli globally and receive the key through the browser. Because the API key need not be hard-coded, CI/CD only needs an environment variable
• MCP — two routes, remote HTTP (/api/mcp) and local stdio. The remote route runs OAuth 2.0 (PKCE) automatically and exposes three tools: kirigami_decompose_image, kirigami_html_to_pptx and kirigami_get_usage. If MCP requests must not leave your network, the bundled Node.js script can be launched over stdio instead
• Skills — two .skill packages for Claude Code and Claude Desktop. kirigami converts an image straight to PPTX (10 credits per image), while kirigami-html has Claude design the slides in HTML first and then turns them into PPTX (5 credits for PPTX generation, 5 for image decomposition). The two share ~/.kirigami/config.json, so one login covers both

Features

Supported input and output

Pricing

Pricing runs on credits: one conversion (one image) costs 10 credits. A PDF costs its page count × 10, so a ten-page PDF consumes 100 credits. Uploading, polling a job and browsing the marketplace cost nothing.

If you would rather not subscribe, or you have used up the month's credits, you can buy an extra credit pack.

• Free usage — there is no free plan on the pricing page. The top page does carry a "Start for free" button, and the help centre says "you can try one conversion for free". The number of credits granted at sign-up is not published (as of September 2026)
• Payment — credit card through Stripe (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, JCB and others). Subscriptions are charged automatically on the renewal date; credit packs are charged immediately at purchase
• Cancellation — cancel any time from "Subscription management" in the dashboard; service continues until the end of the current billing period
• Refunds — as a digital service, refunds are not offered as a rule. Serious defects, or a payment error that leaves credits unallocated, can be raised through the refund request form in the dashboard

How uploaded images are handled

Before putting internal documents or proposals through an outside service, it is worth checking retention and third-party processors first. The official privacy policy (updated 16 March 2026) and security policy (updated 10 December 2025) set this out.

If you are adopting it for a company, start from the fact that it is run by a sole proprietor and settle early whether you need invoice billing or a separate confidentiality agreement. Payment is by Stripe credit card only; no invoice billing is advertised.

How it differs from other converters

There are several ways to make an image-based deck editable again: convert it with Kirigami, convert it with a different service, fix it with a feature of whatever created it, or rebuild it with a slide-generating AI. Which fits depends on what you want to preserve, and on whether you want to automate the conversion.

If you want the conversion called from an AI agent or an internal script rather than run by hand each time, Kirigami — with its API, CLI and MCP all in place — is the option to look at. If instead you want to adjust wording and positions carefully in the browser before exporting, a service with a built-in editor such as Swift-Slide takes fewer steps. If what you really want is editable slides from the outset, GAMMA and Canva are built for that, and for turning prose into diagrams there is Napkin.

Frequently asked questions

The information on this page is based on what was published on the official site as of September 2026. Please check the official site for the latest specifications and pricing.