A guide for choosing one output style from the simple-output-styles plugin and applying it globally.

It is for selecting and setting a default response style, such as concise plain language or more detailed developer documentation.

It reduces the need to compare configuration options by recommending a style or explaining the available choices and their trade-offs.

pick — Skill for Claude Code by stefanobaghino

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

Any agent

npx skills add stefanobaghino/simple-output-styles --skill pick

Clone the repo

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/stefanobaghino/simple-output-styles

Made for: Claude Code.

Or install simple-output-styles, the plugin that ships this one along with the rest of its 2 skills.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

README.md

[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/stefanobaghino/simple-output-styles/pick/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/stefanobaghino/simple-output-styles/pick)

Your own site

<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/stefanobaghino/simple-output-styles/pick"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/stefanobaghino/simple-output-styles/pick/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

Your own site · 80×15

<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/stefanobaghino/simple-output-styles/pick"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/stefanobaghino/simple-output-styles/pick.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>

Per session 44 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.

When invoked 711 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.

Security scan B 1 finding. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.

Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.

Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

Model	Per session	Once invoked
Fable 5.1	$0.00044	$0.00711
Opus 5	$0.00022	$0.00356
Sonnet 5	$0.00009	$0.00142
Haiku 4.5	$0.00004	$0.00071

Measured 9d ago against content hash 413d44678b92, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-08, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade B, and why

pick scanned grade B with 1 finding against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 9d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Reads agent configuration directoriesmediumAgent snooping

.claude/, .codex/, .gemini/ hold keys, settings and other credentials a mod has no legitimate need for.

1. Read `~/.claude/settings.json`. If the file does not exist, create it with

plugin/skills/pick/SKILL.md · 66 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 66 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Pick an output style

Get the user from a fresh install to an active style with one decision. You recommend a style, the user picks, and you set the choice in their global settings.

Open with the recommendation: actionable-clarity. In testing it wrote the answers that were easiest to understand, it kept more details than any other style, and it says "maybe" when a claim is unsure. Its one trade-off: answers run a little longer than Claude's normal output.

Ask the user one question: go with the recommendation, or see the other options? If the user already named a style, skip to step 3.

Step 2: the full list (only when asked)

Present the six styles, each with one line of spirit and its main pro and con in plain words:

actionable-clarity (recommended) — answer first, every detail kept, honest about uncertainty. Clearest in testing; answers run a little longer.
plain-language — familiar words, short sentences, reader first. Nearly as clear, with shorter answers and the best care for "maybe"; can cut details you need.
developer-docs — the direct, conversational documentation voice. Clear, with answers about normal length; can sound more certain than it should.
clarity-flow — reader-centered sentence craft: actors as subjects, actions as verbs. Keeps details very well and shortens answers; mid-pack on clarity.
classic-concise — omit needless words. The shortest answers of any style; less clear than the leaders, and sometimes drops a "maybe".
technical-simplified — controlled language built for procedure documents. In everyday chat it tested hardest to understand and dropped the most details; pick it only if you want that philosophy.

Let the user pick one, or none — stopping without a style is a fine outcome.

Step 3: set the style globally

Read ~/.claude/settings.json. If the file does not exist, create it with an empty object first.
If outputStyle is already set to another style, tell the user what is active and confirm the replacement before you write.
Set outputStyle to the chosen style, in the plugin-qualified form that /config writes, for example "outputStyle": "simple-output-styles:actionable-clarity". Change only that key and keep every other setting as it is.
Check that the file is still valid JSON after the edit.

Read the full file on GitHub · 66 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

9d ago First seen · 66 lines · 44 tokens per session scan B 413d44678b92

Subscribe to this mod's changes

pick is a skill published in the GitHub repository stefanobaghino/simple-output-styles (16 stars, last pushed 3d ago), licensed 0BSD. It adds 44 tokens to every session and 711 once invoked, about $0.0002 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it B with 1 finding (reads agent configuration directories). No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.

Claude Code Productivity claude-code-plugin controlled-language llm-evaluation output-style technical-writing

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pick