restyle

name	restyle
description	Switch the manuscript's citation style (APA 7, IEEE, Chicago, Vancouver, Harvard, MLA 9, or a custom CSL) after drafting has already started, based on user feedback or a venue change. An INSTRUCTION to change this project's style — a QUESTION about what a style requires, or about what switching one involves, belongs to citation-styles. Triggers on: 'switch to APA', 'change citation style', 'use IEEE instead', 'restyle references', 'atıf stilini değiştir'.
disable-model-invocation	true
argument-hint	<apa7|mla9|chicago-author-date|chicago-notes|ieee|vancouver|harvard|csl:<file>>

/restyle — Switch Citation Style Without Touching Drafts or the Bibliography

The kit's citation-styles skill already guarantees this is a one-config-line change (Golden Rule 3: bib/references.bib stays untouched, in-text citations are always pandoc [@key] syntax, style is applied only at render time via CSL). This command is the safe, single-step wrapper around that mechanism — it exists because users legitimately change their mind on style mid-project (a common request: "I usually use APA, but let's see what other options make sense").

Never hand-edit bib/references.bib or any draft file for a style change. If either seems necessary to satisfy the request, stop — that means the request is not actually a style switch (e.g. a genuinely non-CSL-expressible convention), and the citation-styles skill's Common Pitfalls table should be consulted instead.

Procedure

1. Parse and Validate the Target Style

1. Take the argument as the target style key. If empty, ask the user to pick from the same 7-option list new-project's wizard uses (APA 7 / IEEE / Chicago Author-Date / Vancouver-AMA / Harvard / MLA 9 / custom CSL).
2. Validate the key against .claude/skills/citation-styles/SKILL.md's "CSL File Mapping" table. Valid enum keys: apa7, mla9, chicago-author-date, chicago-notes, ieee, vancouver, harvard, or csl:<file> for a user-supplied CSL.
   • Unrecognized key (e.g. a common misspelling or a style the kit doesn't ship, like "nature" or "acs") → do NOT guess a filename. Report the valid key list and ask the user to pick one, or to use /ingest-template first if they have the exact CSL file for their venue.

2. Resolve and Confirm the CSL File Exists

1. Resolve the key to its .csl filename via the mapping table (never derive it by lowercasing/reformatting the key — apa7 is not apa7.csl).
2. For an enum key: confirm templates/csl/<file>.csl exists in this project. Missing → this is a kit installation problem, not a user error; report it plainly rather than silently proceeding with the old style.
3. For csl:<file>: confirm the user-supplied path exists (relative to project root, typically under templates/ingested/ if it came from /ingest-template — TEMPLATE SUPREMACY still applies if templates/ingested/template-profile.md exists, so warn the user if their /restyle choice conflicts with an ingested template's own citation-style rule).

3. Read Current Style and Report the No-Op Case

1. Read PROJECT.md's - **Citation style:** bullet.
2. If it already equals the target key: report "Already using <key> — nothing to change" and stop. Do not touch the file or trigger a rebuild for a no-op.

4. Apply the Change

1. Edit PROJECT.md (Edit tool, in this session — PROJECT.md is not one of the hook-protected data files) to change only the - **Citation style:** bullet value, keeping the rest of the line's Markdown comment intact.
2. Do not touch bib/references.bib, any file under drafts/, or outline/outline.md. A style switch changes rendering only.

5. Sanity-Check, Don't Re-Verify

A style switch cannot introduce a missing/fabricated citation (the underlying [@key] references and bib/references.bib entries are unchanged), so do not re-run citation-verifier or /verify-citations — that would be pure token waste for a change that cannot affect their result. Do run the cheap, already-fast structural check to catch the one thing a style switch can break — a target style with stricter/different required fields than the bibliography currently satisfies:

python scripts/bib_doctor.py --bib bib/references.bib

Report any new field-completeness gaps (e.g. Vancouver expects PMID/volume conventions some entries may lack) as advisory, non-blocking notes — these are pre-existing bibliography gaps the switch merely makes newly relevant, not something this command caused or must fix.

6. Offer to Rebuild

If build/paper.pdf or build/paper.docx already exists (a prior build under the old style), tell the user the existing artifact still reflects the OLD style and ask whether to rebuild now. If yes, dispatch format-engineer exactly as /submit-check Step 6 does (same build/docx/pdf mode, same artifacts directory) — this command does not build directly, to avoid duplicating that agent's build-time cross-reference and numbering checks.

7. Report

Citation style: [old-key] -> [new-key]
CSL file: templates/csl/[resolved-file].csl
bib/references.bib: unchanged (47 entries)
Drafts: unchanged
Bibliography hygiene: ✓ clean (or: N advisory field-completeness notes)
Rebuild: [triggered format-engineer -> build/paper.pdf] | [skipped — no prior build found] | [declined by user]

Common Mistakes This Command Prevents

Mistake	Why /restyle avoids it
Manually rewriting [@key] citations into (Author, 2024) for the new style	In-text syntax never changes; only render-time CSL does.
Re-fetching or editing bib/references.bib entries	The bibliography is style-agnostic; only the CSL file changes how it renders.
Re-running the full citation-verifier gate	A style switch cannot create a fabricated/missing citation — nothing there to re-check.
Guessing a CSL filename from the style name	Always resolve via the citation-styles mapping table; never lowercase-derive.
Forgetting an already-built PDF/DOCX still shows the old style	Step 6 explicitly flags a stale prior build and offers to rebuild.

See Also

• .claude/skills/citation-styles/SKILL.md — the underlying mechanism and full CSL mapping table.
• .claude/agents/format-engineer.md — the build agent this command may dispatch.
• scripts/bib_doctor.py — the only check this command re-runs.