awesome-claude-output-styles

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Output styles are the right layer for fixing Claude's voice: they rewrite the system prompt itself and reframe the agent's identity around your voice — unlike CLAUDE.md rules, which are injected as context alongside everything else. Every style here mirrors the exact structure of Anthropic's built-in styles (identity line, Style Active marker, procedural rules), and the optional --enforce hook gives them the same per-turn reminder the built-ins get from the harness. One markdown file each, correct 2026 frontmatter, MIT-licensed, with the original author credited in the table below.

Why

Jesus. I had to lookup almost every word to make sense of this.

He's not alone — the August 2026 complaint threads run hundreds of upvotes, and the word "Claudisms" now has its own field guide. The model is brilliant; the register is exhausting. Pick a voice below and fix it in one command.

Before / after

Real, unedited Opus 5 voice, July 2026 threads:

The reason your React component is re-rendering is likely because you're creating a new object reference on each render cycle, which breaks React's referential equality check, so you may want to consider memoization…

The same answer, seven voices:

wait-whatafter Matt Pocock (@mattpocockuk) — context first, ASD-STE100, your project's vocabulary

We are hunting the extra re-renders in your list view. Your code creates a new object on each render. React sees a new object and draws again. Wrap the object in useMemo. Then React gets the same object and does not draw again.

cavemanafter Julius Brussee (@julius_brussee), 95k★

New object ref each render. Inline object prop = new ref = re-render. Wrap in useMemo. Done.

no-ai-slopafter Peter Yang (@petergyang) — direct, opinionated, zero filler

The inline object is new on every render, and React compares props by identity — so it re-renders each time. Wrap it in useMemo. Don't reach for React.memo here: it treats the symptom, this fixes the cause.

no-slopthe school of Siqi Chen (@blader) — the anti-Claudism voice

The component re-renders because the prop object is new each time, not because its contents changed. React checks identity, not contents. Wrap the object in useMemo and the identity stays stable.

unslopafter Lauren Tan's unslop skill (cursor/plugins) — surface tells out, an opinion in

React compares props by identity, not by contents, so a fresh object literal on every render is a new reference and any memoized child sees a changed prop. Wrap it in useMemo with the values it depends on and the reference stays stable. If it holds no render-dependent state at all, hoist it to module scope so it is created once.

adhdafter Ayoub Ghriss's i-have-adhd, 17k★

Wrap the inline object in useMemo — that stops the re-renders (~2 min). Why: a new object every render makes React think the prop changed.

gen-z

found it, no cap: you hand React a brand-new object every render, so it thinks something changed and redraws. wrap it in useMemo and it's a clean W.

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  styles                          20              │
│  credited authors & standards    20+             │
│  code touched by any persona     never           │
│  jargon left unexplained         0, by spec      │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Install

One style (installs and activates it):

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/smixs/awesome-claude-output-styles/main/install.sh | bash -s -- eli15

Everything (installs all 20 + the style-maker skill; activate later via /config):

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/smixs/awesome-claude-output-styles/main/install.sh | bash -s -- --all

After install — 3 steps. Styles only load at session start, so nothing changes until you restart Claude Code:

1. Restart Claude Code (or run /clear).
2. Type /config and find the Output style setting.
3. Pick the style you want from the list. Done — Claude answers in that voice from the next message on.

If you installed a single style, it's already selected — you only need step 1. Switching back: /config → Output style → Default.

[!TIP] The old /output-style command was removed in Claude Code v2.1.91 — most guides online still mention it and are outdated. /config is the way.

Switching without /config: the /style command

Twenty styles do not fit a settings menu comfortably. --all installs the /style command; on its own:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/smixs/awesome-claude-output-styles/main/install.sh | bash -s -- style-command

/style opens a picker over every style you have installed, four at a time, with Default always one click away. /style caveman switches straight to one. User styles are written to ~/.claude/settings.json, project styles to .claude/settings.local.json, so a personal preference never lands in a teammate's checkout.

Make it stick: --enforce

Claude Code reinforces its built-in styles every single turn — but never custom ones, so custom voices fade over a long session. Add --enforce to any install command and a tiny UserPromptSubmit hook gives whatever style you have active the same per-turn reinforcement:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/smixs/awesome-claude-output-styles/main/install.sh | bash -s -- eli15 --enforce

The hook is silent for built-in styles (no double reminders) and for default. Remove it anytime by deleting the entry from ~/.claude/settings.json → hooks.UserPromptSubmit.

Other agents

A style body is plain markdown; only the frontmatter is Claude Code's. --body prints the body without it, ready to paste into any agent's rules file:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/smixs/awesome-claude-output-styles/main/install.sh | bash -s -- --body caveman

Copy-paste commands for Codex, Cursor, Windsurf and AGENTS.md / GEMINI.md agents: docs/other-agents.md. Nothing is added to the style files to make this work — no markers, no version stamps. Those bytes would compete with the instructions in every session.

The styles

Understand — for explaining to humans

Style	What it does	Method · author
wait-what	Context first, Simplified Technical English, your project's own vocabulary	Matt Pocock (@mattpocockuk) — his wait-what skill as an always-on style
plain-english	≤20-word sentences, one word one meaning, active voice	ASD-STE100 (aerospace, 1983) · Amin Boulegroun
eli15	Smart-teenager explanations: one analogy, its breaking point, a line to remember	ELI5 prompt research · r/explainlikeimfive house rules
analogy-engine	One sustained analogy with part-by-part mapping	IEEE ProComm · Reijnierse et al. (JCOM 2025) · CMU metaphor checklist
feynman	Teaches, names the hard part, checks understanding with questions	Richard Feynman's technique
thing-explainer	Only the ten hundred most common words	Randall Munroe (xkcd, Thing Explainer)
ladder	Every answer at 3 levels: like I'm 5 → 15 → pro	the classic r/PromptEngineering pattern

Business — for decision-makers

Style	What it does	Method · author
executive	Answer first, ≤3 reasons, evidence on request	Barbara Minto's Pyramid Principle · BLUF · Sruthi Reddy · Joe Cotellese (@jcotellese)
smart-brevity	6-word tease, "Why it matters:", "Go deeper:"	Smart Brevity · Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, Roy Schwartz (Axios)