| name | caveman-compress |
| description | Compress a memory file such as CLAUDE.md or a todo list into caveman format to save input tokens, keeping a readable backup. Trigger: /caveman-compress.
|
Caveman Compress
Purpose
Compress natural language files (CLAUDE.md, todos, preferences) into caveman-speak to reduce input tokens. Compressed version overwrites original. Human-readable backup saved as <filename>.original.md, but NOT beside the source file — it lives in an out-of-tree data dir ($XDG_DATA_HOME/caveman-compress/backups/<parent-dir-name>/, or %LOCALAPPDATA%\caveman-compress\backups\<parent-dir-name>\ on Windows) so skill auto-loaders don't re-ingest it as a live file.
Trigger
/caveman-compress <filepath> or when user asks to compress a memory file.
Process
-
The compression scripts live in scripts/ (adjacent to this SKILL.md). If the path is not immediately available, search for scripts/__main__.py next to this SKILL.md.
-
From the directory containing this SKILL.md, run:
python3 -m scripts <absolute_filepath>
- The CLI will:
- detect file type (no tokens)
- call Claude to compress
- validate output (no tokens)
- if errors: cherry-pick fix with Claude (targeted fixes only, no recompression)
- retry up to 2 times
- if still failing after 2 retries: report error to user, leave original file untouched
- Return result to user
Compression Rules
Remove
- Articles: a, an, the
- Filler: just, really, basically, actually, simply, essentially, generally
- Pleasantries: "sure", "certainly", "of course", "happy to", "I'd recommend"