plugin

caveman · alirezarezvani — Claude Code plugin: terse replies, fewer tokens

Q: How do I install caveman in Claude Code?

Add the marketplace with `/plugin marketplace add alirezarezvani/claude-skills`, then install the plugin: `/plugin install caveman@claude-code-skills`.

A compressed communication mode for Claude. The agent drops filler and pleasantries, keeps the technical content intact.

Install into Claude Code · Plugin marketplace All methods and platforms ↓

/plugin marketplace add alirezarezvani/claude-skills
/plugin install caveman@claude-code-skills

Open on GitHub

What caveman does

caveman switches Claude into a terse style. Instead of opening with a polite sentence, the agent goes straight to the answer, and the technical details stay accurate. Useful when verbose replies eat your token budget or you just want to read less.

The plugin ships three Python scripts built on the standard library. skills/caveman/scripts/caveman_compressor.py rewrites text by the mode's rules, token_savings_estimator.py measures how many tokens you save, and caveman_lint.py checks a reply against the style. Run any of them without arguments and it works on a built-in sample. There is also a cs-caveman-mode subagent and a /cs-caveman slash command for turning the mode on in one line. Python matters only for the scripts; the mode itself runs without it.

The base is Matt Pocock's caveman skill under MIT, and his wording plus the persistence rules carry over unchanged. The author layered tooling, three reference docs and a persona agent on top. Watch out for precise wording: legal or medical answers, or anything that leans on careful hedging, can lose meaning under compression, so switch the mode off there.

What it helps with

cut token spend on long agent replies
strip filler and pleasantries from answers
check a finished reply against the terse style
measure token savings on a chunk of text
turn the compressed mode on for a whole session

Example prompts for the agent

turn on caveman mode and keep answers short
compress this text with caveman_compressor.py
lint my reply with caveman_lint.py

How to install caveman

Plugin marketplace

/plugin marketplace add alirezarezvani/claude-skills

/plugin install caveman@claude-code-skills

Step by step, with commands for each platform: Claude Code plugins: marketplaces, installing, and building your own

Questions about caveman

How do I install caveman in Claude Code?

Add the marketplace with /plugin marketplace add alirezarezvani/claude-skills, then install the plugin: /plugin install caveman@claude-code-skills.

What does caveman do?

It puts the agent into a compressed style: no filler, articles or pleasantries, with technical accuracy kept. It also provides scripts for compressing text, estimating token savings and linting the style.

How is this different from Matt Pocock's original?

The voice and persistence rules come from his MIT-licensed caveman skill and stay verbatim. On top of that you get three Python scripts, reference docs, a cs-caveman-mode subagent and the /cs-caveman slash command.

Source text

caveman · MIT

# caveman

Ultra-compressed communication mode. Cuts token usage ~75% by dropping filler, articles, and pleasantries while keeping full technical accuracy.

## Attribution

**Derived from [Matt Pocock's caveman](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/main/skills/productivity/caveman)** (MIT). Matt's SKILL.md voice + activation triggers + persistence rules preserved verbatim per his MIT license.

## What this adds on top of Matt's original

| Addition | Where | Why |
|---|---|---|
| **3 stdlib Python tools** | `skills/caveman/scripts/` | Compressor (apply Matt's rules deterministically), token-savings estimator (measure %), lint (verify response follows rules) |
| **3 in-depth references** (5+ sources each) | `skills/caveman/references/` | Compression principles · Technical communication patterns · When caveman backfires (the auto-clarity exceptions, deepened) |
| **cs-caveman-mode persona agent** | `agents/cs-caveman-mode.md` | Persistent caveman-mode operator with hard rules for technical-content exceptions |
| **`/cs-caveman` slash command** | `commands/cs-caveman.md` | One-line trigger + persistence enforcer |

## Quick start

```bash
# Compress text per Matt's rules
python skills/caveman/scripts/caveman_compressor.py "Sure! I'd be happy to help you with that. The issue is..."

# Estimate token savings on a piece of text
python skills/caveman/scripts/token_savings_estimator.py "input text"

# Lint a response to check caveman compliance
python skills/caveman/scripts/caveman_lint.py "response text"
```

All three tools run with embedded samples if no input provided.

## License

MIT (matching Matt's upstream).

caveman by other authors comes first.

caveman JuliusBrussee A plugin that makes your agent answer shorter and read less of your logs, while code stays exact. One install, works with Claude and dozens more agents. ★ 115,125repo stars ponytail DietrichGebert ponytail steers Claude Code toward small, direct solutions and away from abstractions nobody asked for. Use it when you want the agent to build on what the project already has. ★ 176,443repo stars impeccable pbakaus Hands your agent a designer's vocabulary: 24 commands like polish, audit and bolder, so UI feedback stops being “make it pretty”. ★ 88,212repo stars last-30-days-skill mvanhorn Searches the web for what people posted about a topic in the last month and turns it into one structured brief. ★ 65,508repo stars claude-hud jarrodwatts Shows context usage, rate limits, running tools and todo progress under your input line. Useful when a session runs long and you want to watch the spend. ★ 28,841repo stars understand-anything Egonex-AI Turns codebases or markdown wikis into an interactive knowledge graph with a browser dashboard. Helps navigate unfamiliar repositories without reading files blindly. ★ 88,314repo stars mem0 mem0ai Adds persistent memory to Claude Code so your agent retains project context across terminal sessions. ★ 67,829repo stars

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