For developers and technical communicators who want cinematic, code-reviewable, AI-augmented presentations.
Cadenza is a React + Remotion based presentation framework that brings together four qualities no existing tool has put in one place: React-native authoring, a cinematic motion ceiling, complete presentation semantics (decks, slides, steps, transitions, notes, presenter view), and first-class ergonomics for AI coding agents.
It is not a Gamma replacement. It is not a WYSIWYG slide editor. It is a developer-facing framework for people who write technical talks, data-heavy explainers, and documentation-first decks — and for the AI agents that increasingly help them do so.
Pre-alpha. Current routing phase: Phase 2 closeout accepted.
Phase 1 produced the semantic core: the typed TSX API surface,
state-to-timeline compiler, runtime intent/navigation layer, render-safe
metadata and DOM helper, validation reports, first authoring skills, and an
all-domain MVP fixture. Builder work and the selected closeout remediations are
trace-complete in trace/phase1/.
Phase 2 has produced the React + Remotion preview adapter: package boundary,
@remotion/player integration, deterministic player navigation, render-safe
readiness behavior, browser measurement diagnostics, targeted visual sanity,
and active-phase traceability coverage gating. Reviewer closeout is accepted in
trace/phase2/review-phase2-closeout.md.
MP4/PDF export and hosted rendering remain out of scope.
The current roadmap is ROADMAP.md. Earlier strategic analysis
that led to the project lives in
docs/analysis/analysis-final.md
(English) and docs/analysis/analysis-final.zh.md
(中文).
The state of the art, honestly stated:
- Slidev is mature for Markdown-driven slides, but it is Vue-native and caps out on animation complexity.
- Motion Canvas has world-class motion primitives but an imperative generator paradigm that is hostile to AI code generation and decoupled from DOM ergonomics.
- Spectacle is React-native but the presentation product layer has been under-invested for years.
- Remotion is an outstanding rendering and animation backbone — but Remotion upstream has explicitly declined to build a presentation product on top of itself, and its frame-driven model is fundamentally at odds with the event-driven navigation slides require.
- Gamma, Tome, Beautiful.ai, Copilot + Designer are excellent AI deck tools for business users. They are not developer tools. We are not competing with them.
Cadenza sits in the gap those leave open.
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Author-facing Typed API (thin, React-native) │
│ <Deck> / <Slide> / <Step> / <Transition> / <Notes> / ... │
└──────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────┘
│
┌──────────────────────────▼─────────────────────────────────┐
│ State-to-Timeline Compiler │
│ discrete deck tree → continuous Remotion timeline │
└──────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────┘
│
┌──────────────────────────▼────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Render-Safe Component Layer │
│ <SafeImage> / <SafeFont> / <TypographyBox> / <MediaFrame> │
│ Encapsulates Remotion's asset-loading and timing invariants │
└──────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────┘
│
┌──────────────────────────▼─────────────────────────────────┐
│ Remotion Runtime (Player / Transitions / Lambda export) │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Four ideas carry the architecture:
- Typed API first, DSL last. Agents and authors target a stable TypeScript surface. DSL (if ever needed) is a Phase 3+ concern.
- Render-safe layer as default path. Asset-loading traps, font timing, export determinism are absorbed by controlled components. Raw Remotion remains available as an escape hatch.
- Skills before MCP. Early AI investment goes into
AI-ready docs + system prompts + skill pack. MCP is layered later, once structured lookup becomes a real bottleneck. - TSX-first authoring. Modern LLMs write usable TSX today. We constrain them through the typed API, not through a new language.
See docs/analysis/analysis-final.md §4 for the full argument.
Built for:
- Developers giving React Summit / KubeCon / JSConf technical talks
- Technical writers building data-heavy explainers (statistics, distributed systems, compilers, etc.)
- Educators producing programming course material
- Documentation-first teams who want slides as code-reviewable artifacts
- AI coding agents that generate decks for any of the above
Not built for:
- Business users looking for AI-generated quarterly decks — see Gamma or Tome
- Teams that need WYSIWYG editing, real-time collaboration, comments, or version history as a primary workflow — at least not before the core framework reaches 1.0
- Users who don't want to touch code
If you're not sure whether this is for you, skim goals-non-goals.md and docs/analysis/analysis-final.md §1.2.
Cadenza is licensed under the Apache License 2.0. See LICENSE.txt and NOTICE.txt.
Cadenza is built on top of Remotion. Remotion has its own license that is separate from Cadenza's Apache 2.0 license:
- Individuals, students, and small teams can use Remotion for free under its Remotion License.
- Companies above a specified employee threshold require a commercial Remotion license.
- Remotion Lambda (cloud rendering) is a paid service.
Using Cadenza does not exempt you from Remotion's license requirements. If your organization is subject to Remotion's commercial licensing, you must obtain that license directly from Remotion. Cadenza does not redistribute Remotion; it depends on it as a peer dependency.
- Maintainer: @DrEden33773 (Eden Wang)
- Co-maintainers: None yet. Interested?
CONTRIBUTING.mdwill land before broader external contribution intake. - Decision record: All significant architectural decisions live in
docs/adr/.
| Phase | Focus | Exit Criteria |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Technical pre-commitment | See trace/phase0/status.yaml |
| 1 | Core Semantics & Typed API | Frozen Phase 1 scenarios are green; the all-domain fixture compiles to deterministic preview/offline TimelineMap signatures; real React/Remotion rendering and export are not claimed |
| 2 | React + Remotion Preview Adapter | The all-domain fixture renders in a real React + Remotion browser preview with player navigation and render-safe readiness behavior; MP4/PDF export remains out of scope |
| 3 | AI Authoring Strengthening | Agent-authored decks can be generated, previewed, diagnosed, and repaired through the local validation loop |
| 4 | Presentation Product Layer (pruned) | Maintainer dogfoods a production-adjacent technical talk through preview and presenter workflows |
| 5 | Export + 0.1 Alpha Readiness | A longer agent-authored technical talk exports through the supported pipeline; the public API has remained stable for 1 month |
Full roadmap and rationale: ROADMAP.md.
Pre-alpha contributions are currently limited to:
- Review feedback on
ROADMAP.md, frozen Phase 1 trace, and Phase 2 closeout trace - Discussion of architectural decisions in
docs/adr/ - Focused issues that respect
goals-non-goals.md
Broader code contributions should wait until the next phase contracts and
CONTRIBUTING.md land.
Cadenza stands on the shoulders of several projects:
- Remotion — the rendering, transition, and export backbone
- Slidev — the proof that developer-first slides are viable and worth investing in
- Motion Canvas — demonstrating just how high a programmatic motion ceiling can go
- Strategic analysis (English):
docs/analysis/analysis-final.md - Strategic analysis (中文):
docs/analysis/analysis-final.zh.md - Compiler design:
docs/design/compiler-design.md - Testing taxonomy:
docs/design/testing-taxonomy.md - Architectural decisions:
docs/adr/ - Goals and non-goals:
goals-non-goals.md