| name | caveman-compress |
| description | Rewrite a target file (memory note, doc, scratch plan) in compressed
caveman form to shrink its token footprint, preserving every technical
fact, code block, and link. Shows a diff and confirms before overwriting.
TRIGGER when: /caveman-compress <file> invoked, or asked to compress a doc/memory file.
|
| argument-hint | <file> |
Caveman Compress
Rewrite a file in compressed form. Read core rules first: .claude/skills/caveman/SKILL.md.
Scope (check first — refuse out of scope)
In-scope targets only:
- files under
.oh/memory/** (notes, daily logs)
- untracked scratch files (not committed to git)
- a file the user passes with explicit "compress this anyway" override
Everything else is out of scope — refuse with a one-line reason. In particular:
docs/**, README.md, CLAUDE.md/AGENTS.md — published / load-bearing prose; brevity is intentional there..oh/tasks/archive/** and other archives — not read by default; compressing is busywork that mutates the record for ~0 live-token gain..oh/context/**, .claude/skills/**, .claude/agents/** — auto-loaded / behavior-steering. Token budget there is /context-audit's job (it has a safe ablation gate); compression here can silently change behavior.
Procedure
- Read the target file. Refuse politely if no path given, or if the path is out of scope (see above).
- Rewrite prose at
full level: drop articles/filler, fragments allowed.
- Preserve verbatim: code blocks, commands, URLs/links, tables, frontmatter, file/symbol names, numbers, headings (structure intact).
- Show the rewrite and an estimated token delta. Confirm before overwriting — this edits a tracked file; do not write without a yes.
- On confirm, write the file. Report old → new approx token count.
Guardrails
- Never compress:
LICENSE, CHANGELOG.md, generated/lock files (*.lock, skills.lock), or anything under .github/. These have exact-format contracts.
- Refuse files where compression would break a parser (JSON, YAML data,
prd.json) — compression is for human-prose docs, not machine-read data.
- Compressing a
.oh/memory/ note is fine; preserve the ## Heading -- HH:MM UTC log structure (.oh/skills/retro/references/memory-protocol.md).
