The key fact is that the extra left adjoint sends each representable to an indecomposable projective object. Let be epic. The inverse image preserves epimorphisms and coproducts, because it is a left adjoint between toposes. Apply it and lift the unit through the resulting epimorphism, using projectivity of . A map from to a coproduct selects one component, by evaluation at and the Yoneda lemma. Thus for some we obtain with .
Transpose across to . The displayed equality says that its composite back to is the identity. This proves the required indecomposable-projective property.
Since idempotents split in , part (ii) supplies objects and isomorphisms . Full faithfulness of the Yoneda embedding transports the action of on representable arrows to a functor . For ,
These identifications are natural in both and . Hence
Its right adjoint is consequently the right Kan extension from part (i), uniquely up to natural isomorphism. Thus the entire geometric morphism is induced by .
A representable functor is an indecomposable projective object. Given an epimorphism , evaluate at . Epimorphisms and coproducts in a presheaf category are pointwise, so is the image of some element of a particular . By the Yoneda lemma, that element defines , and its composite into corresponds to , hence is the identity. The selected component is split epic. More generally, evaluation sends any epimorphism to a surjection, so a map from lifts through any epimorphism; this also proves its ordinary projectivity.
Conversely, every presheaf has the canonical epimorphism
whose component is the natural transformation named by . It is pointwise surjective, since an element at is reached from its own summand at . If is indecomposable projective, one component has a section . The endomorphism of is idempotent and therefore corresponds to an idempotent morphism .
If idempotents split in , choose with , . Then : the mutually inverse maps are and . Thus
Without that hypothesis the argument still proves that every such object is a retract of a representable. The initial presheaf is not indecomposable projective, since its identity is the empty-coproduct epimorphism and has no component to select.