style-presets

name	style-presets
description	Reference for the communication style presets — the axis model, what each preset governs, how the managed CLAUDE.md block works, and how to add a preset.
disable-model-invocation	true
user-invocable	false

Style presets reference

The style plugin ships rule blocks that govern how information is communicated: tone, terminology, phrasing, and the shape output takes. It does not govern code style (that is the linter's job) or visual design (that is designer@magus).

The axis model

Presets sit on one of two axes, and the axis decides how they combine.

Axis	Rule	Presets
verbosity	pick exactly one — they contradict each other	direct, explanatory, terse
modifier	combine freely	evidence-first, plain-language, no-slop, structured, calibrated, terminology

The one-verbosity rule is not a style preference. terse says "do not explain unless asked" and explanatory says "explain the specific choice"; applied together they cancel, and the model resolves the contradiction unpredictably turn to turn. One wins by being the only one present.

plain-language lists terse as a conflict for the same reason: glossing jargon on first use costs words that terse forbids. The other modifiers are orthogonal and stack cleanly.

What each preset governs

Preset	Governs
direct	Answer position, no preamble/postamble, recommend over survey
explanatory	Reasoning after the conclusion, rejected alternatives, mechanism claims
terse	Word count, fragments over sentences, no unrequested explanation
evidence-first	Commands and real output behind every claim; negative controls
plain-language	Jargon glosses, concrete nouns, active voice, reader impact
no-slop	Banned vocabulary, banned connectives, em dashes, formatting tics
structured	Table vs list vs paragraph, headings, backticks, file:line
calibrated	Confidence matching evidence, "I don't know", correction discipline
terminology	One name per concept; filled from the codebase at apply time

The managed block

/style:apply writes a single delimited region into CLAUDE.md:

<!-- style:begin -->
<!-- presets: direct, no-slop, evidence-first -->
## Communication style
...
<!-- style:end -->

Two properties matter:

1. Re-applying replaces, never appends. The markers make the region addressable. Without them, the second run produces a second voice section that contradicts the first, and neither is obviously stale.
2. Everything outside the markers is untouched. The command reads the rest of CLAUDE.md but never rewrites it.

The <!-- presets: ... --> line is the record of what is applied. /style:list reads it; do not edit it by hand, because it will disagree with the body below it on the next run.

Cost

CLAUDE.md is injected on every turn. A preset that reads well and changes nothing is pure overhead — it is charged for on every message and only earns its place by changing output.

Each preset is deliberately short. /style:apply reports the block's line and character count for the same reason. If a project applies all nine presets, that is the point at which to ask which ones actually altered anything.

Adding a preset

Drop a file in ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/styles/<name>.md:

---
name: <kebab-case, matching the filename>
axis: verbosity | modifier
summary: <one line — becomes the option description in /style:apply>
conflicts: <comma-separated preset names, or empty>
template: true   # optional — only if the body needs filling from the codebase
---

### <Title Case heading>

- <rules>

The body after the frontmatter is copied verbatim into CLAUDE.md, so write it as the rules themselves, not as documentation about the rules. It must open with a ### heading so it nests under the block's ##.

Both commands discover presets by globbing the directory. Nothing is registered, and no manifest lists them — a new file is available immediately.

Write rules that are checkable. "Be clear" cannot be followed or violated; "no em dashes" and "cite the command that produced the output" can.