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HomeDocsClaude Code CLI 8 Oct 2026
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Modifying system prompts changedagent-sdk/modifying-system-prompts

Nearest release: v2.1.294, published under an hour after upstream edited the page. Shown because the two are within 24 hours of each other. Nothing here says the release caused the edit.

Upstream edited this page at 8 Oct 2026 03:42 UTC, give or take a minute or two: the time comes from Anthropic’s own sitemap rather than from a commit. This site recorded the change at 8 Oct 2026 03:58 UTC.

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109109An output style is a markdown file with [frontmatter](/docs/en/output-styles#frontmatter) for metadata, followed by the prompt content. Save it to `~/.claude/output-styles/` for a user-level style available in every project, or `.claude/output-styles/` in your repository for a project-level style you can commit and share with your team.
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111A custom output style leaves the `claude_code` preset's software engineering instructions out and uses your own. To keep them and layer your instructions on top, set `keep-coding-instructions: true` in the frontmatter. Those instructions are only in Claude Code's full system prompt, so the setting has no effect in a session on the shorter system prompt, which you pin on or off with [`CLAUDE_CODE_SIMPLE_SYSTEM_PROMPT`](/docs/en/env-vars#variables). Keep them when your agent is still doing software engineering work. Leave them out when you're replacing the role entirely.
111A custom output style leaves the `claude_code` preset's software engineering instructions out and uses your own. To keep them and layer your instructions on top, set `keep-coding-instructions: true` in the frontmatter. Those instructions are only in Claude Code's full system prompt, so the setting has no effect in a session on the shorter system prompt; set [`CLAUDE_CODE_SIMPLE_SYSTEM_PROMPT`](/docs/en/env-vars#variables) to `0` to select the full prompt on any model. Keep them when your agent is still doing software engineering work. Leave them out when you're replacing the role entirely.
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113113The example below defines a code-review persona that keeps the coding instructions, since reviewing code still benefits from Claude Code's security and code-quality guidance. Save it as `~/.claude/output-styles/code-reviewer.md` to make it available across projects:
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503503| **Management** | On filesystem | CLI + files | In code | In code |
504504| **Default tools** | Preserved | Preserved | Preserved | Lost (unless included) |
505505| **Built-in safety** | Maintained | Maintained | Maintained | Must be added |
506| **Customization level** | Additions only | Replace or extend default | Additions only | Complete control |
506| **Customization level** | Additions only | Additions; can omit coding instructions | Additions only | Complete control |
507507| **Version control** | With project | Yes | With code | With code |
508508| **Scope** | Project-specific | User or project | Code session | Code session |
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