Output styles

Output styles change how Claude responds, not what it knows. They modify the system prompt to set role, tone, and output format. Reach for one when you keep re-prompting for the same voice every turn.

Built-in styles

Style	Behavior
Default	The standard software-engineering system prompt.
Proactive	Executes immediately, makes reasonable assumptions, prefers action over planning. Permission prompts still apply.
Explanatory	Adds educational "Insights" while completing tasks, explaining implementation choices.
Learning	Collaborative, learn-by-doing mode; inserts TODO(human) markers for you to implement.

NOTE

Explanatory and Learning produce longer responses by design, which increases output tokens.

Setting a style

Run /config and select Output style to pick from a menu. Your choice saves as outputStyle in .claude/settings.local.json:

{
  "outputStyle": "Explanatory"
}

You can also edit the outputStyle field directly in any settings.json layer. Output style is read once at session start, so changes take effect after /clear or a new session.

IMPORTANT

The standalone /output-style command was deprecated in v2.1.73 and removed in v2.1.91. Use /config or edit the outputStyle setting instead.

Custom styles

A custom style is a Markdown file — frontmatter plus the instructions to append to the system prompt. The filename becomes the style name unless you set name in frontmatter. Save it at one of:

• User: ~/.claude/output-styles/
• Project: .claude/output-styles/
• Managed policy: .claude/output-styles/ inside the managed settings directory

---
name: Diagrams first
description: Lead every explanation with a diagram
keep-coding-instructions: true
---

When explaining code or architecture, start with a Mermaid diagram, then explain in prose.

Set keep-coding-instructions: true to retain Claude Code's built-in software-engineering behavior while changing how it communicates. Omit it (the default is false) when Claude isn't doing software engineering at all — for example, a writing assistant.

NOTE

Frontmatter fields may evolve. Verify the current set (name, description, keep-coding-instructions, and others) in the official docs.

When to use what

Output styles modify the system prompt and apply to every response. For project conventions and codebase context, use CLAUDE.md instead. For a one-off addition, use --append-system-prompt.

Source: code.claude.com/docs/en/output-styles