Key Features

Scholarly builds on Slidev with the pieces academic presentations usually need: research layouts and components, BibTeX citations, theme presets, and editor tools.

Academic Deck Structure

• 34 layouts covering covers, sections, content slides, figures, comparisons, methods, results, timelines, appendices, defenses, and references.
• Headers and footers with author names, conference text, page numbers, and optional Beamer-style navigation.
• A footer outline for long decks, grouped by layout: section.

If you know what the next slide needs to say, start with Layouts.

Research Components

Components keep recurring academic content consistent from slide to slide:

Component area	Components
Statements	Theorem, Block, Highlight, Keywords
Structure	Steps, Columns
Evidence	MetricCard, MetricGrid, EvidenceBlock, EquationBlock, ResultTable
Paper context	DatasetCard, PaperCard, ContributionList, CaveatList
References	Cite, references layout, footnote previews

Theorem-like statements support English and Chinese labels, automatic numbering, manual numbers, and custom number formats.

Citations And Footnotes

• Use @citekey for parenthetical citations.
• Use !@citekey for narrative citations.
• Use standard Markdown footnotes with Scholarly styling.
• Hover footnote markers on desktop to preview notes, or click to pin them.
• Generate references from BibTeX with APA, Harvard, Vancouver, IEEE, MLA, or Chicago styles.

For most decks, bibFile and bibStyle are the only citation settings you need.

Data-Driven Result Slides

Import JSON or CSV into ResultTable and MetricGrid, using the theme's small data helpers where needed. There is no charting dependency. For a few values on one page, a Markdown table is usually simpler.

Data-Driven Slides shows complete examples, including where to place the files and imports.

Paper Metadata Scaffolding

Generate a paper summary from a BibTeX key:

pnpm exec sch paper summary --bib references.bib --key sample2026

The command reads the title, authors, year, DOI, URL, and venue, then creates a paper-summary slide. Add --layout paper-card for a component snippet or --json for structured output. If required fields are missing, the CLI prints warnings and still creates editable Markdown.

Theme Presets

Scholarly includes color and font presets for academic decks, including classic blue, Oxford burgundy, Cambridge green, Yale blue, Princeton orange, Nordic blue, warm sepia, monochrome, and high contrast.

Choose a palette in Color & Typography Themes, then adjust its light and dark modes in Theme Mode and Contrast.

Authoring Tools

• CLI templates create complete projects; workflows append a sequence of slide snippets.
• pnpm exec sch doctor reports setup problems with actionable fixes.
• VS Code snippets insert layouts and components.
• VS Code previews show the same generated screenshots used by the docs.

See VS Code Extension for editor setup.

Working offline

BibTeX citations, manual notes, reference slides, and local data imports do not require a remote service. Install dependencies and download any fonts, images, or other remote assets before presenting offline. Verify the deck with the network disconnected.