Output Customization

Output Styles Meta Skill

🚨 MANDATORY: Invoke docs-management First

STOP - Before providing ANY response about output styles:

1. INVOKE docs-management skill
2. QUERY for the user's specific topic
3. BASE all responses EXCLUSIVELY on official documentation loaded

Skipping this step results in outdated or incorrect information.

Verification Checkpoint

Before responding, verify:

• Did I invoke docs-management skill?
• Did official documentation load?
• Is my response based EXCLUSIVELY on official docs?

If ANY checkbox is unchecked, STOP and invoke docs-management first.

Overview

Central authority for Claude Code output styles. This skill uses 100% delegation to docs-management - it contains NO duplicated official documentation.

Architecture: Pure delegation with keyword registry. All official documentation is accessed via docs-management skill queries.

When to Use This Skill

Keywords: output styles, output style, concise style, verbose style, markdown style, code-sparse style, /output-style command, custom output styles, output style frontmatter, output style prompt, style switching, output behavior, response format, output formatting

Use this skill when:

• Understanding available output styles
• Selecting appropriate output style for a task
• Creating custom output styles
• Configuring output style frontmatter
• Switching between output styles
• Comparing output style behaviors
• Customizing output format and verbosity

Keyword Registry for docs-management Queries

Use these keywords when querying docs-management skill for official documentation:

Output Style Fundamentals

Built-in Styles

Style Configuration

Style Management

Use Cases

Comparisons to Related Features

Custom Style Development

Quick Decision Tree

What do you want to do?

1. Understand available styles -> Query docs-management: "built-in output styles", "output style overview"
2. Use default coding assistant -> Query docs-management: "default output style", "software engineering style"
3. Learn about the codebase -> Query docs-management: "explanatory style", "educational insights"
4. Learn by doing (hands-on) -> Query docs-management: "learning style", "TODO human markers", "learn-by-doing"
5. Switch output style -> Query docs-management: "/output-style command", "switch output style"
6. Create custom style -> Query docs-management: "create custom output style", "output style frontmatter"
7. Compare to related features -> Query docs-management: "output styles vs CLAUDE.md", "output styles vs agents"
8. Where to save style files -> Query docs-management: "output style file location", "~/.claude/output-styles"

Topic Coverage

Built-in Output Styles

• Default: Standard software engineering assistant behavior
• Explanatory: Adds educational "Insights" between tasks to help understand implementation choices
• Learning: Collaborative learn-by-doing mode with TODO(human) markers for user contributions

Output Style Frontmatter

• name field (optional - defaults to filename)
• description field (optional - for UI display in /output-style menu)
• keep-coding-instructions field (optional - default false, whether to keep coding instructions in system prompt)

Style Configuration Options

• Default style configuration
• Per-session style switching
• Style persistence across sessions

/output-style Command

• List available styles
• Switch to different style
• View current style
• Style selection syntax

Custom Style Creation

• File location for custom styles
• Frontmatter structure
• Prompt crafting for custom behavior
• Testing and validation

Style Selection Criteria

• Task-based recommendations
• Verbosity preferences
• Output format needs
• Code vs explanation balance

Style Comparisons

• Output Styles vs CLAUDE.md vs --append-system-prompt (system prompt modification approaches)
• Output Styles vs Agents (main loop vs specific tasks, different configuration options)
• Output Styles vs Skills (stored system prompts vs stored prompts)
• When to use each approach

Delegation Patterns

Standard Query Pattern

User asks: "What output styles are available?"

1. Invoke docs-management skill
2. Use keywords: "built-in output styles", "output style overview"
3. Load official documentation
4. Provide guidance based EXCLUSIVELY on official docs

Multi-Topic Query Pattern

User asks: "I want brief responses with less code"

1. Invoke docs-management skill with multiple queries:
   - "concise style", "brief responses"
   - "code-sparse style", "minimal code"
2. Synthesize guidance from official documentation

Troubleshooting Pattern

User reports: "My custom output style isn't working"

1. Invoke docs-management skill
2. Use keywords: "output style frontmatter", "create custom output style"
3. Check official docs for style configuration requirements
4. Guide user through proper style setup

Troubleshooting Quick Reference

Repository-Specific Notes

This repository does not currently use custom output styles. Output style documentation is relevant for:

• Understanding how output styles affect response behavior
• Potential custom style creation for repository-specific workflows
• Understanding style configuration for team preferences

When working with output style topics, always use the docs-management skill to access official documentation.

Auditing Output Styles

This skill provides the validation criteria used by the output-style-auditor agent for formal audits.

Audit Resources

Scoring Categories

Thresholds: 85+ = PASS, 70-84 = PASS WITH WARNINGS, <70 = FAIL

Related Agent

The output-style-auditor agent (Haiku model) performs formal audits using this skill:

• Auto-loads this skill via skills: output-customization
• Uses audit framework and docs-management for rules
• Generates structured audit reports
• Invoked by /audit-output-styles command

External Technology Validation

When auditing output styles that reference external technologies (scripts, packages, runtimes), the auditor MUST validate claims using MCP servers before flagging findings.

Technologies Requiring MCP Validation:

• .NET/C# scripts: Validate with microsoft-learn + perplexity
• Node.js/npm packages: Validate with context7 + perplexity
• Python scripts/packages: Validate with context7 + perplexity
• Shell scripts: Validate with perplexity
• Any version-specific claims: ALWAYS validate with perplexity

Validation Rule:

Never flag a technology usage as incorrect without first:

1. Querying appropriate MCP server(s) for current documentation
2. Verifying with perplexity for recent changes (especially .NET 10+)
3. Documenting MCP sources in the finding

Stale Data Warning:

• microsoft-learn can return cached/outdated documentation
• ALWAYS pair microsoft-learn with perplexity for version verification
• Trust perplexity for version numbers and recently-released features

References

Official Documentation (via docs-management skill):

• Primary: "output-styles" documentation
• Related: "settings", "configuration", "terminal-config"

Repository-Specific:

• Output style settings: .claude/settings.json (outputStyle setting)

Version History

• v1.1.0 (2025-11-27): Content accuracy fixes
  • Fixed built-in styles (Default, Explanatory, Learning - not concise/verbose/markdown/code-sparse)
  • Fixed frontmatter fields (keep-coding-instructions, not "prompt")
  • Added "Comparisons to Related Features" section (vs CLAUDE.md, vs Agents, vs Slash Commands)
  • Added file location keywords (~/.claude/output-styles, .claude/output-styles)
  • Updated decision tree with correct styles
  • Updated topic coverage with accurate descriptions
• v1.0.0 (2025-11-26): Initial release
  • Pure delegation architecture
  • Comprehensive keyword registry
  • Quick decision tree
  • Topic coverage for all output style features
  • Troubleshooting quick reference

Last Updated

Date: 2025-11-28 Model: claude-opus-4-5-20251101

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