Score
9.0
/ 10
Installs
170K
Repo Stars
75.7K
Last Updated
9d ago
Quality Ratio
100%
Description
Verified
Language
JavaScript
First Published
Apr 2026
Summary
The Caveman Help agent skill provides an on-demand, quick-reference guide to all the available communication modes and utility skills within the "caveman" system. This agent skill is designed for developers who leverage "caveman" modes to achieve terse AI communication, optimize token usage, or generate specific output formats like commit messages and pull request reviews. It is a well-adopted skill with solid traction. When triggered by phrases such as `/caveman-help` or "what caveman commands", it displays a card detailing various compression modes, including `Lite`, `Full`, `Ultra`, and `Wenyan` variants for different levels of conciseness. It also outlines specialized skills such as `caveman-commit` for generating terse Conventional Commits and `caveman-review` for concise, one-line PR comments, alongside instructions for deactivating or configuring default modes.
Skill Definition
Display this reference card when invoked. One-shot — do NOT change mode, write flag files, or persist anything. Output in caveman style.
Modes
| Mode | Trigger | What change |
|---|---|---|
| Lite | /caveman lite | Drop filler. Keep sentence structure. |
| Full | /caveman | Drop articles, filler, pleasantries, hedging. Fragments OK. Default. |
| Ultra | /caveman ultra | Extreme compression. Bare fragments. Tables over prose. |
| Wenyan-Lite | /caveman wenyan-lite | Classical Chinese style, light compression. |
| Wenyan-Full | /caveman wenyan | Full 文言文. Maximum classical terseness. |
| Wenyan-Ultra | /caveman wenyan-ultra | Extreme. Ancient scholar on a budget. |
Mode stick until changed or session end.
Skills
| Skill | Trigger | What it do |
|---|---|---|
| caveman-commit | /caveman-commit | Terse commit messages. Conventional Commits. ≤50 char subject. |
| caveman-review | /caveman-review | One-line PR comments: L42: bug: user null. Add guard. |
| caveman-compress | /caveman-compress <file> | Compress .md files to caveman prose. Saves ~46% input tokens. |
| caveman-help | /caveman-help | This card. |
Deactivate
Say "stop caveman" or "normal mode". Resume anytime with /caveman.
Language
Keep user's language by default. User write Portuguese → reply Portuguese caveman. Compress the style, not the language. Technical terms, code, commands, commit types, and exact error strings stay verbatim unless user ask for translation.
Configure Default Mode
Default mode = full. Change it:
Environment variable (highest priority):
export CAVEMAN_DEFAULT_MODE=ultra
Config file (~/.config/caveman/config.json):
{ "defaultMode": "lite" }
Set "off" to disable auto-activation on session start. User can still activate manually with /caveman.
Resolution: env var > config file > full.
More
Full docs: https://github.com/JuliusBrussee/caveman