diff --git a/presbuild b/presbuild
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..6f71cc4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/presbuild
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+# build a presentation from a markdown file via pandoc and latex beamer
+
+if [ -z $1 ]; then
+  echo "needs name"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+outfile="${1%.md}.pdf"
+
+pandoc "$1" -t beamer -o "$outfile"
+xdg-open "$outfile"
diff --git a/presinit b/presinit
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..1325a35
--- /dev/null
+++ b/presinit
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+# init a presentation .md
+
+if [ -z $1 ]; then
+  echo "needs name"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+read -p "Title? " title
+read -p "Author? " author
+
+echo "\
+---
+title: $title
+author: $author
+colortheme: magpie
+---
+
+# First slide
+
+Foobar
+" > "$1"
+
+$EDITOR "$1"
\ No newline at end of file