Understanding output styles in Claude Code (deprecated feature). Use when user asks about customizing Claude's behavior, output styles, or explanatory/learning modes.
Provides educational insights during coding tasks. Use when users ask about customizing Claude's behavior or request learning/explanatory modes.
/plugin marketplace add reggiechan74/claude-plugins/plugin install claude-code-metaskill@claude-pluginsThis skill inherits all available tools. When active, it can use any tool Claude has access to.
Output styles are deprecated as of November 5, 2025. The feature has been automatically converted to plugins and is no longer supported.
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.
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
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.
Users should transition to:
The explanatory output style is available as a plugin:
/plugin marketplace add anthropics/claude-code
/plugin install explanatory-output-style@claude-code-plugins
For customizing Claude Code's behavior, use:
--append-system-prompt for session-specific instructions