How do I install the Output Styles skill?

Run npx skillmds add majiayu000/output-styles in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Output Styles safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. Capability flags: docs only. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Output Styles?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Output Styles free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Output Styles?

majiayu000 (@majiayu000) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Output Styles by majiayu000 — Agent Skill

Name: Output Styles
Rating: 4.2 (5 reviews)
Author: majiayu000

File contents

Claude Code Output Styles

Deprecation Status

Output styles are deprecated as of November 5, 2025. The feature has been automatically converted to plugins and is no longer supported.

What Output Styles Were

Output styles allowed customization of Claude Code's behavior beyond software engineering tasks. They directly modified the system prompt while preserving core capabilities like file operations and script execution.

Built-in Styles (Deprecated)

Default: Standard software engineering assistance

Explanatory: Provides educational 'Insights' in between helping you complete software engineering tasks

Learning: Collaborative mode where Claude shares insights and requests user contributions, marked with TODO(human) comments

How They Worked

Output styles excluded default code generation instructions and substituted custom system prompt guidance instead. This differed from CLAUDE.md or --append-system-prompt, which only appended context rather than replacing the base prompt.

Migration Path

Users should transition to:

SessionStart hooks - for adding context at session start via plugin-based automation
Subagents - for specialized AI assistants with custom system prompts and specific tool permissions
Plugins - the primary replacement, with more powerful and flexible ways to customize Claude Code's behavior

Installation Example

The explanatory output style is available as a plugin:

/plugin marketplace add anthropics/claude-code
/plugin install explanatory-output-style@claude-code-plugins

Recommended Alternatives

For customizing Claude Code's behavior, use:

Plugins for distributable, reusable customizations
Subagents for task-specific specialized assistants
SessionStart hooks for session initialization context
CLAUDE.md for project-specific context
--append-system-prompt for session-specific instructions

---name: output-stylesdescription: Understanding output styles in Claude Code (deprecated feature). Use when user asks about customizing Claude's behavior, output styles, or explanatory/learning modes.--- # Claude Code Output Styles ## Deprecation Status Output styles are **deprecated** as of November 5, 2025. The feature has been automatically converted to plugins and is no longer supported. ## What Output Styles Were Output styles allowed customization of Claude Code's behavior beyond software engineering tasks. They directly modified the system prompt while preserving core capabilities like file operations and script execution. ## Built-in Styles (Deprecated) **Default**: Standard software engineering assistance **Explanatory**: Provides educational 'Insights' in between helping you complete software engineering tasks **Learning**: Collaborative mode where Claude shares insights and requests user contributions, marked with `TODO(human)` comments ## How They Worked Output styles excluded default code generation instructions and substituted custom system prompt guidance instead. This differed from `CLAUDE.md` or `--append-system-prompt`, which only appended context rather than replacing the base prompt. ## Migration Path Users should transition to: 1. **SessionStart hooks** - for adding context at session start via plugin-based automation 2. **Subagents** - for specialized AI assistants with custom system prompts and specific tool permissions 3. **Plugins** - the primary replacement, with more powerful and flexible ways to customize Claude Code's behavior ## Installation Example The explanatory output style is available as a plugin: ``` /plugin marketplace add anthropics/claude-code /plugin install explanatory-output-style@claude-code-plugins ``` ## Recommended Alternatives For customizing Claude Code's behavior, use: - **Plugins** for distributable, reusable customizations - **Subagents** for task-specific specialized assistants - **SessionStart hooks** for session initialization context - **CLAUDE.md** for project-specific context - `--append-system-prompt` for session-specific instructions

Frequently asked questions