About this design
Where the Mainframe style comes from, and what it signals.
Mainframe recreates a 1980s computer terminal session at presentation scale. The background is near-black green #061006 covered by a horizontal scanline texture -- a repeating-linear-gradient overlay at rgba(0,0,0,0.35) every 3px -- that makes the slide surface feel like a phosphor monitor rather than a flat screen. Every character is set in VT323, a monospace terminal Google Font, the only typeface in the system.
Primary text is phosphor green #33FF66 with a subtle 10px glow at 45 percent opacity. Secondary text is dimmer green #7FBF93, used for shell commands, status labels, and supporting copy. The slide structure is strict: a dashed #1E4426 rule below a 'SYS://DECK/SLIDE-NAME' and 'TTY1 - 09:41 - READY' status bar opens every slide; metrics appear in bordered panels formatted as bracket readouts like [ARR: $4.2M]; charts use stacked rectangular segments with 3px gaps like LED level meters; lists are directory listings with three-digit line numbers.
This is the most committed character theme in the library. It earns a strong reaction from developer audiences who recognize the terminal frame; it loses the room when that context is missing. Use it for developer talks, security briefings, technical retrospectives, or any presentation where the terminal metaphor carries meaning for the people in the seats.
Use it for
- Developer conference and meetup talks
- Security or infrastructure incident retrospectives
- Technical product launches for a developer audience
- Internal engineering all-hands and sprint reviews
Skip it for
- Any audience that will not recognize a terminal session; the joke requires the reference
- Print handouts, where dark backgrounds consume toner and scanlines disappear
The slide design prompt
This is the exact text that gets sent to your AI.
Create a presentation styled as a 1980s computer terminal session, the 'Mainframe' theme. Background: near-black green (#061006) with a faint horizontal scanline texture across the whole slide. Every character on every slide is set in the monospace terminal font 'VT323' (a Google Font). Primary text: phosphor green (#33FF66) with a subtle glow; secondary text: dimmer green (#7FBF93). Every slide opens with a status bar: 'SYS://DECK/<SLIDE-NAME>' on the left, 'TTY1 · 09:41 · READY' on the right, separated from content by a dashed dark-green rule. Headlines are uppercase and prefixed with '> '. Slides end with a solid block cursor '█'. Metrics appear as bracket readouts like [ ARR: $4.2M ▲12.4% ] in bordered dark panels. Charts: bars built from stacked rectangular segments with small gaps, like LED level meters, brightest green for the key bar. Lists are styled as directory listings with three-digit line numbers and '▸' markers. Strictly avoid: any color besides greens, rounded corners, photos, proportional fonts. Use this theme for my slides. Ask me what the presentation is about first, then apply the theme to every slide.View this prompt and its data on GitHub
How to use this prompt
From copied text to a finished Mainframe deck in four moves.
- 01
Copy the prompt
Use the copy button, or open it pre-filled in Claude or ChatGPT with one click from the panel on this page.
- 02
Tell the AI your topic
The prompt instructs the AI to ask what your presentation is about first. A sentence or a pasted outline is enough.
- 03
Generate and iterate
Ask for more slides or swap a layout. The avoid list at the end of the prompt keeps Mainframe on-style while the content changes.
- 04
Or skip straight to a deck
SlideSpeak turns your topic or document into a finished Mainframe presentation, exportable as PowerPoint or PDF.
Common questions
Working with the Mainframe slide design prompt in practice.
