Initial commit

skills/output-styles/SKILL.md

@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+---
+name: output-styles
+description: 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