renza

First-deck troubleshooting

These fixes accompany Make your first HTML deck. Keep your original files until you have checked the published result.

My AI returned code instead of a file

In a coding agent, ask: “Write this as deck.html in the current project folder and tell me its exact location.” If your tool cannot write local files but offers a file download, request a complete downloadable .html file and save it to the folder. If it only provides text, copy the HTML into a plain-text editor and save it as deck.html, not deck.html.txt. Open that file locally before uploading.

A chat answer or a link to an AI conversation is not the deck file. Return to the generation step.

The terminal cannot find npx or deck.html

npx comes with npm. Ask your agent to check Node.js and npm installation before running Renza. If the file is missing, open a terminal in the folder containing deck.html, or ask the agent to use its exact path. A filename containing spaces needs quotes.

npx renza check "my proposal.html"

Do not run the example commands against the ZIP download. Unzip the starter kit first. Return to preview.

Images or fonts disappeared after publishing

The starter example uses no external assets. For your own deck, put image files beside the HTML or in a subfolder, and reference them with relative paths such as images/logo.png. Publishing through the CLI bundles referenced local assets. Absolute paths on your machine and files outside the supplied folder are not a portable handoff.

If uploading through the browser, include the referenced assets using its folder or ZIP option. Keep the entry HTML and its relative paths intact. Remote images and fonts still depend on the remote host being available; ask your AI to use local assets you are allowed to distribute or system fonts instead. Test the published result in a private browser window. Return to publishing.

Text runs off a slide

Give your AI the slide title and the exact problem: “On Scope, the final paragraph is clipped. Shorten the copy without changing its meaning and fit it inside the slide.” Prefer less content over tiny text. Ask it to remove fixed overlays and avoid hiding overflow to conceal the problem.

Run npx renza check deck.html again, then visually inspect every slide locally and in Renza. A successful structure check does not catch all layout problems. Return to preview.

Guest links expire after seven days unless kept. Before expiry, run npx renza login from the same machine for CLI-published decks, or use the keep flow for browser-uploaded decks. Check npx renza me before publishing while signed in.

If the link has already expired, keep your local HTML and try signing in to find whether the deck was previously kept. If it is gone, publish your local file as a new deck and send the replacement link; do not assume an expired link will be restored. To intentionally start fresh with the CLI, use npx renza publish deck.html --new after checking the account. Return to keeping your deck.

My reviewer cannot leave a comment

Make sure you sent a review link from Share, not a public publishing link or your private owner URL. Public links intentionally have no comments. For per-person access, give at least commenter permission. Test the same link signed out and follow the name prompt. Return to the review step.

My revision created another deck

Stop publishing and keep both files. Look for the renza:id tag in the HTML used for the original publish; your agent must preserve that value. Remove --new from the command. Do not guess an identity or copy it from an unrelated deck.

Recover the original file with its identity tag, apply the revision there and run the same publish command. If you no longer have it, open the original deck in your library and use its known identity with the CLI; CLI documentation explains stable external IDs. Verify the original review URL before sending anything else. Return to revisions.

An old comment now points at the wrong slide

Comment pins currently refer to slide positions. Inserting or reordering slides can move older pins; keeping stable slide IDs alone does not prevent this. Restore the previous order for the review, or explicitly check and discuss affected feedback with your reviewer. See comments and versions.