michael-denyer

Signal Output Style — Design skill for Claude Code

Design community

Signal: a Claude Code output style that answers first, sizes replies to the question, and makes every number carry its unit and source.

How to install Signal Output Style

This entry records only its repository, not the path inside it, so there is no exact command to give. Open michael-denyer/signal-output-style and copy the folder into ~/.claude/skills/, or the file into ~/.claude/agents/.

What Signal Output Style does

Signal: a Claude Code output style that answers first, sizes replies to the question, and makes every number carry its unit and source.

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README

Signal

A custom [output style](https://code.claude.com/docs/en/output-styles) for Claude Code. It makes Claude answer first, keep replies proportional to the question, and attach a unit, a source and a measured/estimated label to every number it reports.

It keeps Claude Code's built-in software engineering instructions (`keep-coding-instructions: true`), so it changes how Claude talks, not how it codes.

Install

User level, available in every project:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/michael-denyer/signal-output-style/main/signal.md -o ~/.claude/output-styles/signal.md

Project level, checked in alongside the code:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/michael-denyer/signal-output-style/main/signal.md -o .claude/output-styles/signal.md

Create the directory first if it does not exist (`mkdir -p ~/.claude/output-styles`).

Activate

In the terminal, run `/config` and pick **Signal** under **Output style**. Claude Code writes the choice to `.claude/settings.local.json`.

Anywhere else, including the desktop app, set the field yourself in a settings file:

{
  "outputStyle": "Signal"
}

The output style is part of the system prompt, which Claude Code reads once at session start. Run `/clear` or start a new session for the change to take effect.

The standalone `/output-style` command was removed in Claude Code v2.1.91. Use `/config` or the setting above.

What it enforces

**Answer first.** The result, diagnosis or recommendation goes in line one. A single word or a single command can be the whole reply.

**Length tracks the question.** One fact gets one line. A design or risk question gets a recommendation plus its support. When the call is close, Claude takes the shorter form.

**Numbers carry their provenance.** "28% slower, 2.12 vs 2.95 tok/s" instead of "much slower", with the source, the as-of time or SHA, and the command that regenerates it.

**No claim of done without a check.** Every claim