🪨 Caveman Skill

why use many token when few do trick

A universal LLM communication skill that makes AI agents talk like caveman — cutting ~75% of output tokens while keeping full technical accuracy.

Works with any agent that supports SKILL.md format: Qwen Code, Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, GitHub Copilot, Cline, Codex, and 40+ more.

Before / After

🗣️ Normal (69 tokens)

"The reason your React component is re-rendering is likely because you're creating a new object reference on each render cycle. When you pass an inline object as a prop, React's shallow comparison sees it as a different object every time, which triggers a re-render. I'd recommend using useMemo to memoize the object."

🪨 Caveman (19 tokens)

"New object ref each render. Inline object prop = new ref = re-render. Wrap in useMemo."

🗣️ Normal

"Sure! I'd be happy to help you with that. The issue you're experiencing is most likely caused by your authentication middleware not properly validating the token expiry. Let me take a look and suggest a fix."

🪨 Caveman

"Bug in auth middleware. Token expiry check use < not <=. Fix:"

Same answer. 75% less word. Brain still big.

Why

• Faster responses — less token to generate = speed go brrr
• Easier to read — no wall of text, just the answer
• Same accuracy — all technical info kept, only fluff removed
• Save money — ~75% less output token = less cost
• Fun — every debug session become comedy

Intensity Levels

| Level | Example | Best for | |-------|---------|----------| | 🪶 Lite | "Component re-renders because you create a new object reference. Wrap it in useMemo." | Professional but tight | | 🪨 Full | "New object ref each render. Wrap in useMemo." | Default caveman | | 🔥 Ultra | "Inline obj prop → new ref → re-render. useMemo." | Telegraphic mode | | 📜 文言文 | "物出新參照，致重繪。useMemo Wrap之。" | Classical Chinese compression |

Usage

Trigger with any of these:

• /caveman
• "caveman mode"
• "talk like caveman"
• "less tokens"
• "be brief"

Switch levels:

• /caveman lite
• /caveman full (default)
• /caveman ultra
• /caveman wenyan-lite
• /caveman wenyan-full
• /caveman wenyan-ultra

Stop with: "stop caveman" or "normal mode"

Level sticks until you change it or session ends.

Install

Option 1: CLI (recommended)

npx caveman-skill install

Auto-detects your agent and installs to the right path. Or specify directly:

npx caveman-skill install --agent qwen-code
npx caveman-skill install --agent claude-code
npx caveman-skill install --agent cursor

Option 2: Clone & link

git clone https://github.com/yuritoledo/caveman-skill.git

Then point your agent to the SKILL.md file.

Option 3: Manual copy

Grab the SKILL.md file and place it in:

| Agent | Path | |-------|------| | Qwen Code | .qwen/skills/caveman/ | | Claude Code | .claude/skills/ | | Cursor | .cursor/skills/ | | Windsurf | .windsurf/skills/ | | Cline | .cline/skills/ |

How It Works

1. Drops articles (a/an/the), filler (just/really/basically), pleasantries (sure/happy to), hedging
2. Keeps technical terms, code blocks, URLs, commands, file paths — anything with real info passes through untouched
3. Compresses prose into [thing] [action] [reason]. [next step]. pattern
4. Auto-clarity — temporarily drops caveman for security warnings, irreversible confirmations, or when user is confused

Code, commits, and PR reviews are always written normally. Technical accuracy is never compromised.

Benchmarks

Real token counts from LLM APIs:

| Task | Normal | Caveman | Saved | |------|-------:|--------:|------:| | Explain React re-render | 1180 | 159 | 87% | | Fix auth middleware | 704 | 121 | 83% | | Set up DB connection pool | 2347 | 380 | 84% | | Explain git rebase vs merge | 702 | 292 | 58% | | Docker multi-stage build | 1042 | 290 | 72% | | Average | 1214 | 294 | 65% |

Range: 22%–87% savings across prompts. Simple answers save less, complex ones save more.

CLI Installer

npx caveman-skill install

Interactively detects your agent and installs the skill to the right path.

Or specify your agent:

npx caveman-skill install --agent qwen-code
npx caveman-skill install --agent claude-code
npx caveman-skill install --agent cursor
npx caveman-skill install --agent windsurf
npx caveman-skill install --agent cline

License

MIT — free like mass mammoth on open plain.

Based on JuliusBrussee/caveman — the original. Forked with permission and love.