OpenProgram Docs

Output styles#

An output style is a block of text appended to the system prompt describing how replies should be written. It changes tone, length, and structure; it does not change what the agent can do, which tools it has, or which model it uses.

One style is active at a time. It applies to every model call that goes through the prompt assembler: chat turns, agentic function bodies, and background agents.

Switching styles#

In the TUI:

/style              # list every style, marking the active one
/style concise      # switch
/style default      # back to no extra guidance

From the shell:

openprogram config get agent.output_style
openprogram config set agent.output_style concise

The Web settings page renders the same setting as a dropdown under the Agent group.

The style is a global preference stored as agent.output_style in ~/.openprogram/config.json, so it persists across sessions and restarts. A change applies to the next turn.

Built-in styles#

Name Effect
default Appends nothing. Identical to having no output style at all.
concise Answers in as few words as the question allows; result first, no preamble or closing summary.
explanatory Gives the answer, then the reasoning, the trade-offs weighed, and how a change fits its surroundings.
direct States conclusions without hedging, drops caveats that do not change the decision, and corrects wrong premises plainly.
detailed Covers edge cases, failure modes, and assumptions; structures longer answers with headings or lists.

Custom styles#

A custom style is a markdown file whose filename is the style name and whose body is the text appended to the prompt. Discovery mirrors how skills are found, in ascending precedence:

  1. Built-in, from the table above
  2. User, ~/.openprogram/output-styles/<name>.md
  3. Project, <cwd>/output-styles/<name>.md

Later sources win on a name collision, so a project file named concise.md replaces the built-in of that name, and a user file replaces it everywhere except in a project that overrides it again.

mkdir -p ~/.openprogram/output-styles
cat > ~/.openprogram/output-styles/lab-notes.md <<'EOF'
## Output style: lab notes

Report work as a lab notebook entry. State what was tried, what was observed,
and what it implies. Record negative results as plainly as positive ones.
EOF

openprogram config set agent.output_style lab-notes

YAML frontmatter is stripped if present, so a file can carry a description: for its own bookkeeping without that text reaching the model. A file whose body is empty is ignored rather than registered as a blank style.

Where the text lands#

Output styles are a registered context component (output_style, layer L0), so the text enters the prompt through the single assembler in openprogram/context/components.py rather than being tacked onto a user message.

Within L0 the style sits after the identity and tool-use guidance and before the agent's own inline system prompt. An agent's specific instructions therefore come later in the prompt and win where the two conflict.

Because default produces an empty string and empty components are dropped, the default configuration assembles a prompt byte-for-byte identical to one built with no output-style component registered.

Last updated · 2026-08-13
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