Your folder
Where Casper stores carousels and how it stays in sync with your assistant.
Casper is folder-first. You choose one directory on your computer; the app and your assistant both use it. When the assistant updates a file, Casper shows the new screens.
Open or change folder
In the Casper sidebar:
- Open workspace… — first setup or after install.
- Change workspace… — switch to another project or machine path.
Casper expects a normal project folder with a slides/ directory. If the slide
kit is missing, the app offers to sync it — accept once so your assistant
has the right skills and commands for Casper.
Sync updates the slide kit (skills, workflows, assistant rules). It does not delete your carousels, repository files, or custom themes — see What sync touches below.
Same folder in your assistant
Your assistant must work on that exact folder — not a copy, not a export. Typical setup:
- Open the folder in Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, or similar.
- Open the same folder in Casper (Open workspace…).
- Brief the assistant; watch previews update in Casper.
What lives in the folder
You do not need to edit these by hand — your assistant does — but it helps to know what Casper is reading:
| Item | Purpose |
|---|---|
slides/ | One subfolder per carousel deck. |
repository/ | Source text and PDFs your assistant reads when building decks. |
repository/SOUL.md | Brand voice — tone, vocabulary, default CTA (see Repository). |
themes/ | Shared visual themes shipped with the workspace (optional). |
themes/custom/ | Your themes — safe across kit updates (see Themes and layouts). |
assets/ | Images reused across decks (optional). |
| Slide kit | Skills and rules your assistant uses (/casper-help, /create-slide, /edit-slide, etc.). |
Decks appear under Slides in Casper as soon as the files are written or updated.
What sync touches (and what it never does)
When you open a workspace, switch folders, or accept a kit sync in the sidebar, Casper merges an updated slide kit into your folder. That keeps assistant commands and skills current after an app update.
It is not a full reinstall. Casper does not wipe your folder and copy everything again. It updates managed kit files from the app package and removes kit files that no longer ship with the app (old skills, workflows, or agents). Your carousels and corpus are untouched.
Your work (owned — never deleted)
| Path | You own it? | Sync behavior |
|---|---|---|
slides/ | Yes | Never touched |
repository/ | Yes | Never touched (missing template files may be added once) |
project.json | Yes | Never touched |
themes/custom/ | Yes | Never touched — put personal themes here |
.agent/custom/ | Yes | Your local skills, agents, workflows — never removed or overwritten |
Slide kit (managed — updated by Casper)
| Path | Sync behavior |
|---|---|
.agent/ (except custom/) | Merged from the app — workflows like /create-slide, skills, agents |
| Removed from app | Pruned on next sync — stale slash commands disappear from managed kit |
.cursor/, .claude/, .agents/ | Symlinks regenerated into .agent/ (IDE adapters) |
If you edited a managed file under .agent/ by hand, the next sync
overwrites it with the shipped version. Put lasting customizations in
.agent/custom/.
When sync runs (and when it does not)
| Event | Sync? |
|---|---|
| Open or change workspace folder | Yes, if kit missing or outdated |
| Sync kit in the sidebar | Yes |
| App update made the kit stale | Yes |
| Assistant disconnects from preview | No |
| Browse slides or close a tab | No |
Last sync record: .open-slide/kit-sync.json at the workspace root.
Practical rule: carousels in slides/, source text in repository/, and
personal themes in themes/custom/ — treat those as permanent. Run kit sync
when Casper asks; your owned folders stay intact.
Production tracking
Approval stages (draft, in review, ready, published) are saved in
slides/.production-board.json — see Production. Your
carousel screen files are unchanged; the board is your workflow layer.
Project catalog (project.json)
At the workspace root, project.json lists decks for the app catalog —
titles, folders, and sort order. Your assistant maintains it when creating
decks with /create-slide. You normally do not edit it by hand.
| File | Purpose |
|---|---|
project.json | Deck catalog — titles, folders, order |
slides/.production-board.json | Kanban stages and publication metadata |
slides/.folders.json | Folder names and icons in the sidebar |
Sync never overwrites project.json. If a folder exists under slides/ but
is missing from the catalog, Casper may show an orphan warning — see
Troubleshooting.