[FEATURE] Option to set output style in non-interactive mode

Resolved 💬 7 comments Opened Aug 20, 2025 by j-greig Closed Jan 6, 2026

Description

Currently (v1.0.81) output styles as introduced in the recent release only work in interactive mode via /output-style command. There's no way to use custom output styles with the -p (print/headless) mode, which limits automation and scripting capabilities.

## Current Behavior

  • Output styles can only be set interactively using /output-style [style]
  • The outputStyle field in .claude/settings.local.json doesn't affect -p

mode

  • Custom output styles in .claude/output-styles/ cannot be used with headless

execution

## Desired Behavior

Add support for output styles in non-interactive mode through one or more of
these approaches:

  1. CLI flag: claude -p "prompt" --output-style french-teacher
  2. Settings respect: Have -p mode respect the outputStyle field in

settings.json

  1. System prompt integration: Allow output style files to be loaded as system

prompts

## Use Cases

  • Automated generation with specific communication styles (e.g., different

languages, educational modes)

  • Batch processing with custom output requirements
  • Integration with tools expecting specific output formats

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