[FEATURE] Please don't remove Output-Styles!

[kylesnowschwartz]

Preflight Checklist

• I have searched existing requests and this feature hasn't been requested yet
• This is a single feature request (not multiple features)

Problem Statement

Feature Request: Retain Output Styles Alongside Plugin System

Summary

Deprecating output styles in favor of plugins is a significant regression in UX. The plugin-based approach introduces unnecessary complexity and friction for a feature that currently works well.

Why Output Styles Should Stay

Simplicity & Usability:

• Easy swapping: Output styles allow instant persona switching without difficult configuration
• Zero setup: Work out of the box, no hooks to configure or debug
• Easily shareable: Simple text files anyone can use immediately
• Easy shut off: Easy to use the default - hooks by comparison require changing your configuration JSON files

Technical Superiority:

• Better adherence: Baked into system prompt = stronger instruction following (assumption)
• Token efficient: Minimal token overhead (assumption)
• Actually works: Output styles are stable and reliable (well tested by me in https://github.com/kylesnowschwartz/SimpleClaude/tree/main/simple-claude/output-styles)

Plugin System Problems:

• Difficult to swap: Changing hooks requires more steps than changing a setting
• High configuration overhead: Unnecessary complexity for simple persona changes
• Buggy implementation: Exit code 2 broken for plugin hooks (see [Bug] Stop hooks with exit code 2 fail to continue when installed via plugins #10412)
• Poor documentation: Users struggling to understand hook system is common for complex use cases

Proposed Solution

Proposal

Keep output styles as first-class citizens. Plugins are fine for extending functionality, but they're overkill for simple persona/style preferences. Don't force users into a complex system for something that currently just works.

The fun factor matters too - people enjoy customizing their Claude's personality. Making that harder serves no one. Certainly not me!

Thanks for your time.

Alternative Solutions

No response

Priority

High - Significant impact on productivity

Feature Category

Configuration and settings

Use Case Example

No response

Additional Context

No response

[septrcode]

literally this i just made my own issue about this it is a good feature they didnt need to "fix"

[karashiiro]

Output styles are also trivially portable, unlike hooks (#10675)

[kylesnowschwartz]

Rather than the session start hook that Anthropic is suggesting we use, an alternative could be some kind of --append-system-prompt tool that loads the configured output style? I would hate to replace a good, working feature with a janky 3rd-party add-on though. I also don't like the idea of having 'conflicting' styles within the system prompt. Which one wins?!

[kylesnowschwartz]

I have an output style that instructs Claud to output in structured HTML using details from the HTML specification. It's amazing. You can basically stream html responses. This also works for YAML, HTML, etc. Output styles are NOT just funny little instructions for claude to pretend to be a pirate.

On the left is the result of a question asked about kitty terminal with the output style on. On the right is what the output looks like if I use the --append-system-prompt cli flag, e.g. claude --append-system-prompt "$(command cat ~/.claude/output-styles/html-structured.md)"

The difference is plain. Save output-styles.

[Nek-12]

I'm using output styles to replace system prompt about coding with some other tasks (business-related). They are crucial to my workflow. I was able to achieve a lot because of the changed system prompts. If you do not undeprecate output styles or add any ability to replace claude's system prompt completely for the main agent, I'm leaving immediately as soon as my business, DevOps and sysadmin styles stop working.

Based on the documentation, plugins do not replace the system prompt, they append to the user prompt. And I cannot possibly use subagents every single time I submit my prompt, it's ridiculous. I used output styles because they REMOVED instruction about coding from the system prompt. What anthropic did with hooks is NOT the same as output styles.

Remove plugins instead - they are gimmicks.

[kylesnowschwartz]

I've performed more testing using https://github.com/badlogic/cchistory to trace how the system prompt changes with and without output styles, and also how the --system-prompt and --system-prompt-file flags (both pretty much undocumented, but real) change the prompt.

The truth is - output-styles is a minimal change to the overall prompt. Some prompting about tone is removed, and your output style is just added in. It should be easy to make a tool to replace output-styles if they remove the feature.

To be continued.

[Nek-12]

@kylesnowschwartz Can you provide more info on the differences please, maybe post raww diffs/files?

I want to know which workaround to choose for my workflows now. Would be grateful to you for that

[kylesnowschwartz]

@Nek-12 As a workaround for now the easiest thing to do is start claude like so: claude --system-prompt-file <path_to_output_style.md>

[milobird]

I agree with the above: a session start hook is a clunky alternative to output styles, and adherence won't be as good.

[ww2283]

they already dropped support for output-style from their end: in 2.0.28 my output-style is no longer effective as of Oct31, 2025. They said in their official doc that the drop will be on Nov 5th.