Configuration Guide

Most decks only need a small frontmatter block. Add it at the top of slides.md:

---
theme: scholarly
lang: en
footerMiddle: Conference Name 2026
authors:
  - name: Jane Smith
    institution: MIT
    email: jane@mit.edu
  - name: John Doe
    institution: Stanford
    email: john@stanford.edu
themeConfig:
  colorTheme: classic-blue
  fontTheme: classic
  chromeMode: dark
  sectionMode: dark
---

Essential Options

Option	Purpose	Example
theme	Enable the theme	scholarly
lang	Theorem and proof labels	en, zh
aspectRatio	Slide dimensions	16/9, 4/3
bibFile	BibTeX source	./references.bib
bibStyle	Bibliography style	apa, ieee, chicago

Authors And Footer

Use author for a single name, or authors for structured multi-author decks:

authors:
  - name: Jane Smith
    institution: MIT
    email: jane@mit.edu
  - name: John Doe
    institution: Stanford

Footer defaults:

Position	Default
Left	Author name(s)
Middle	Empty unless footerMiddle is set
Right	Page number

Override text with footerLeft, footerMiddle, or footerRight.

Theme Config

Use themeConfig for visual and player behavior:

themeConfig:
  colorTheme: oxford-burgundy
  fontTheme: traditional
  chromeMode: dark
  sectionMode: dark
  beamerNav: false
  outlineToc: true
  outlineTocOpen: false

Option	Purpose	Default
fontTheme	Font preset id	classic
beamerNav	Footer navigation buttons in play mode	true
outlineToc	Footer TOC button and outline panel	false
outlineTocOpen	Open the outline panel on load	false
footnoteDisplay	both, hover-only, or notes-only	both

Color and surface controls:

Option	Controls	Default
colorTheme	Brand palette: primary, accent, paper tone, and base text color	classic-blue
contentMode	Ordinary slide canvas, readable content surfaces, quote, code, table, footnotes, Highlight, Block, and Theorem	Follows colorMode, then Slidev dark state
chromeMode	Header, footer, page number, navigation buttons, TOC, and toolbar surfaces	dark
sectionMode	Default appearance for layout: section slides	dark
colorMode	Legacy alias for contentMode	Deprecated
themeColors	Advanced CSS variable overrides for brand and footer colors	unset

Notes:

• Navigation buttons are hidden in overview, embedded, and print/export views.
• The footer TOC groups slides by layout: section.
• Long decks switch the TOC to a compact section-first view.
• Slides with hideInToc: true are hidden from the TOC.
• Legacy outlineSidebar and outlineSidebarOpen still work; prefer outlineToc and outlineTocOpen for new decks.

Color Surface Modes

Slidev colorSchema controls the player-level light/dark toggle. Scholarly splits theme surfaces into explicit controls:

• contentMode controls the ordinary slide canvas and readable content surfaces.
• chromeMode controls headers, footers, page numbers, navigation, TOC, and toolbar surfaces.
• sectionMode controls layout: section slides and accepts light, dark, match, and inverse.

contentMode accepts light and dark. chromeMode accepts light, dark, match, and inverse. Legacy colorMode is still supported as an alias for contentMode, and also preserves old chrome behavior when neither contentMode nor chromeMode is set, but new decks should use contentMode and chromeMode.

colorSchema: both
themeConfig:
  colorTheme: high-contrast
  contentMode: light
  chromeMode: dark
  sectionMode: dark

Common patterns:

Goal	Configuration
Light academic content with dark chrome and section dividers	contentMode: light, chromeMode: dark, sectionMode: dark
All-light deck	contentMode: light, chromeMode: match, sectionMode: match
All-dark deck	contentMode: dark, chromeMode: match, sectionMode: match
Accessibility-first deck	colorTheme: high-contrast and explicit surface modes

Theorem Numbering

Customize automatic theorem numbers:

theoremNumberFormat: '{number}'      # 1, 2, 3
theoremNumberFormat: '({number})'    # (1), (2), (3)
theoremNumberFormat: '[{number}]'    # [1], [2], [3]
theoremNumberFormat: '{number}.'     # 1., 2., 3.

Use the number prop for one manual number, or :autoNumber="false" for an unnumbered statement.

Font Sizes

Set global font sizes:

fontsize:
  body: 18px
  h1: 48px
  h2: 36px
  h3: 28px

Override on one slide:

---
fontsize:
  body: 20px
  h1: 50px
---

# Custom Sized Slide

Accepted values include px, rem, em, and numbers. Numbers are treated as pixels. Per-slide settings override global settings.

For cover-only typography, use scoped CSS on the cover slide:

<style>
.slidev-layout.cover h1 {
  font-size: 64px;
}
</style>

Footnotes

Set a global footnote display mode:

footnoteDisplay: hover-only

Override one slide:

---
footnoteDisplay: notes-only
---

Priority order:

1. Per-slide footnoteDisplay
2. Global headmatter footnoteDisplay
3. Legacy themeConfig.footnoteDisplay
4. Default both

Modes:

Mode	Behavior
both	Bottom notes plus inline hover/click preview
hover-only	Inline preview only
notes-only	Bottom notes only

Per-Slide Metadata

Set title, subtitle, layout options, or local overrides in slide frontmatter:

---
layout: figure
title: Model Overview
subtitle: Encoder and adapter path
hideInToc: true
---

Use Layouts and Components for page-specific props and examples.