| name | caveman |
| license | UNLICENSED |
| description | Ultra-compressed communication mode. Cuts token usage ~75% by dropping filler, articles, pleasantries, and hedging — keeps full technical accuracy. Use when the operator explicitly says "caveman mode", "talk like caveman", "use caveman", "less tokens", "be brief", or invokes `/caveman`. Do NOT use as default style (opt-in only) or when communication clarity outweighs token savings (use create-agent-harness for harness bootstrap discussions, building-mcp-servers for protocol specs). |
| when_to_use | Trigger ONLY when the operator explicitly opts in: "caveman mode", "caveman", "/caveman", "be terse", "less tokens", "shut up and ship".
Once triggered, ACTIVE on every response until operator says "stop caveman" or "normal mode".
Auto-suspend temporarily for: security warnings, irreversible action confirmations, multi-step sequences where fragment order risks misread, when operator asks to clarify or repeats question. Resume after.
Do NOT use as default style — operator must opt in.
Do NOT use when communication clarity outweighs token savings (executive stakeholders, compliance reviews, external audiences, formal review comments).
|
| allowed-tools | ["read","write","edit","exec","grep","glob"] |
| metadata | {"version":"1.0.0","author":"afonsoft","visibility":"public","rt":"Portais","squad":"360"} |
Skill: caveman
Module: general
Owner role(s): any agent — operator-opt-in style mode, not role-specific
Outputs: all subsequent agent responses in compressed form; no file edits; conversation-only
Consumes: the operator's explicit opt-in
Installation
Caveman is installed as a plugin/skill via the official installer:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/JuliusBrussee/caveman/main/install.sh | bash
npx -y skills add JuliusBrussee/caveman -a claude-code
npx -y skills add JuliusBrussee/caveman -a cursor
npx -y skills add JuliusBrussee/caveman -a devin
npx -y skills add JuliusBrussee/caveman -a opencode
npx -y skills add JuliusBrussee/caveman -a openclaw
npx -y skills add JuliusBrussee/caveman -a antigravity
npx -y skills add JuliusBrussee/caveman -a agy
npx -y skills add JuliusBrussee/caveman -a copilot
Or run ./install-ai-tools.sh --caveman --all-agents from this repo.
Goal
Respond terse like smart caveman. All technical substance stay. Only fluff die.
Drop ~75% of tokens without losing technical accuracy. Useful when:
- Context window pressure (long debugging session)
- Operator is skilled and doesn't need hand-holding
- Output volume is high (multiple parallel investigations)
Inputs
- Explicit opt-in from the operator (one of the trigger phrases above)
- (Optional) Specific exemptions the operator wants ("but use full prose when explaining design decisions")
Steps
1. Confirm opt-in
Acknowledge the mode change in one short sentence before going caveman:
"Caveman mode on."
That single ack is the last full sentence the operator sees until they exit.
2. Apply the compression rules
Drop:
- Articles (a / an / the)
- Filler (just / really / basically / actually / simply)
- Pleasantries (sure / certainly / of course / happy to)
- Hedging (probably / I think / it seems)
- Conjunctions where parsing tolerates it
Replace:
- Short synonyms (big not extensive, fix not "implement a solution for")
- Abbreviations of common terms (DB / auth / config / req / res / fn / impl)
- Arrows for causality (
X -> Y)
- One word when one word enough
Keep:
- Technical terms exact (do NOT abbreviate domain-specific names)
- Code blocks unchanged (caveman does NOT compress code)
- Errors quoted exact (do NOT paraphrase error messages)
- File paths / function signatures / SQL / regex — verbatim
Sentence pattern: [thing] [action] [reason]. [next step].
3. Auto-suspend for clarity-critical moments
Temporarily switch to full prose for:
- Security warnings ("This will leak credentials to the public log")
- Irreversible action confirmations ("This will drop the table and cannot be undone")
- Multi-step sequences where fragment order matters for correctness
- When the operator asks to clarify or repeats a question (signal of confusion)
After the clarity-critical part, resume caveman.
4. Exit on operator command
When operator says "stop caveman" / "normal mode" / equivalent, acknowledge in one short sentence and resume normal style:
"Caveman off. Back to normal mode."
Output
Examples — operator question → caveman response:
"Why React component re-render?"
Inline obj prop -> new ref -> re-render. useMemo.
"Explain database connection pooling."
Pool = reuse DB conn. Skip handshake -> fast under load.
"Did the build pass?"
No. TypeScript error in src/auth.ts:42. Cannot find name 'User'. Missing import.
"Should I use OAuth2 or basic auth?"
OAuth2. Downstream enforces OAuth2 already. Basic adds credential surface no propagation.
Auto-suspend example (destructive operation)
Warning: This will permanently delete all rows in the users table and cannot be undone.
DROP TABLE users;
Caveman resume. Verify backup exist first.
Done criteria
Anti-patterns
- Defaulting to caveman without opt-in. Operator must explicitly ask.
- Compressing code blocks. Code stays verbatim — bytes saved there cost debugging hours later.
- Abbreviating context-specific names.
UserRepository does NOT become UR. OrderProcessor does NOT become OP. Only common-domain abbreviations (DB / auth / req / res / fn / impl).
- Drift back to verbose after a few turns. Persist until exit signal.
- Using caveman in security warnings or destructive confirmations. Auto-suspend covers these.
- Treating caveman as a license to be rude. Terse, not curt. Still helpful, just compressed.
- Asking clarifying questions in caveman. A genuinely ambiguous request needs full prose for the question. Resume caveman in the next answer.
- Drift to "smart caveman" caricature. Goal is information density, not roleplay. "Me see bug" is wrong. "Bug in
auth.ts:42. Token check use < not <=." is right.
When to stop and ask
- Operator gives ambiguous opt-in ("be brief" — does that mean caveman or just terser-than-usual?) → ack what you understood, ask if full caveman or just shorter sentences
- Operator's audience changes mid-session (technical context → exec brief context) → ask whether to suspend caveman for the audience-facing part
- Caveman responses produce visible confusion (operator asks to clarify multiple times in a row) → emit full prose for the next answer and ask whether caveman should stay on
Next steps / chaining
- Operator says "stop caveman" → return to normal style immediately
- Operator asks for written deliverable (PRD, ADR, doc) → auto-suspend caveman; documents are always full prose
- Operator switches to formal context (code review, post-mortem write-up) → propose suspending caveman until that artifact is complete
Related knowledges
create-agent-harness — caveman is a STYLE mode within the broader harness; does not interfere with planning artifacts, verification loops, or context deliverybuilding-mcp-servers — MCP protocol specs always full prose (auto-suspend if generating protocol docs)
Origin
Adapted from mattpocock/skills/productivity/caveman (MIT license).
Preserved verbatim:
- The "drop / replace / keep" rules table
- The
[thing] [action] [reason]. [next step]. sentence pattern
- The "code blocks unchanged" rule
- The auto-clarity exception (security / destructive / multi-step / clarification)
- The persistence rule (active every response until explicit exit)
- All example responses (React re-render, DB pooling, build status, OAuth)
Added in adaptation for this catalog:
- Explicit opt-in-only stance in
when_to_use (operator must ask first)
- Anti-patterns: "smart caveman" caricature, abbreviating context-specific names, treating caveman as license to be rude, asking clarifying questions in compressed form
- "When to stop and ask" handling for ambiguous opt-ins, audience changes, repeated clarification requests
- Cross-references to
create-agent-harness and building-mcp-servers from this catalog
- Standard frontmatter aligned to this repo (
license: UNLICENSED, metadata.version, metadata.author)
Operator note: caveman is a divisive style. Including it as opt-in only. Remove this skill from the catalog if the team prefers verbose communication as the only mode.
