A custom style is disabled

Confirm the style is a direct .md child of output-styles/ with a non-empty body. Run /diagnostics to see the source path and validation error, including when a style exceeds the size limit. Diagnostics do not include the style's instruction body.

Droid uses Default instead of the saved style

Confirm the style still exists, passes validation, comes from a trusted folder, and belongs to an enabled plugin. Droid keeps an unavailable selection but uses Default until the style becomes available again.

Output styles

Control how Droid structures and writes responses in interactive CLI sessions.

Output styles add response-writing instructions to interactive Droid CLI sessions. Choose a built-in style or create a Markdown file for a personal, project, or shared team style.

Choose an output style

1
Start an interactive session with droid.
2
Enter /settings.
3
Select Output style.
4
Choose a built-in or custom style.

Droid includes two built-in styles:

Default: Use Droid's standard response style.
Concise: Return short, direct responses without unnecessary detail.

The picker shows where each custom style came from, such as a user, project, or plugin. Your selection is saved as the outputStyle setting in ~/.factory/settings.json.

Create a custom style

Create an output-styles directory at the scope where you want the style to be available:

Scope	Location
User	`~/.factory/output-styles/<name>.md`
Project	`<repo>/.factory/output-styles/<name>.md`
Folder	`<repo>/<project-area>/.factory/output-styles/<name>.md`
Plugin	`<plugin>/output-styles/<name>.md`

Droid loads direct .md children of each output-styles directory. Nested files and other file types are ignored.

Each file contains optional YAML frontmatter followed by the instructions Droid should apply:

~/.factory/output-styles/review-notes.md

---
name: Review Notes
description: Put findings before the summary
---
 
Start with actionable findings, ordered by severity.
 
Keep the summary to two sentences.

name appears in the picker and defaults to the filename without .md. description appears below the name in the picker. Keep the Markdown body focused on response presentation. Repository instructions, tool permissions, and user requests still apply.

Note

Droid uses the style content available when a session sends its first request. Start a new session to use edits to that style. Selecting a different style takes effect on the next request.

Scope and precedence

Output styles apply only to interactive Droid CLI sessions. They do not change responses from droid exec, Automations, Missions, subagents, the Factory App, or web sessions.

Droid combines styles from the active settings hierarchy and enabled plugins. Higher-priority sources win when the same style is provided more than once. The built-in Default and Concise styles are reserved and cannot be replaced.

When Droid asks you to trust a working folder, review its style files before accepting. Project and folder styles, including styles from project-scoped plugins, remain unavailable until the folder is trusted.