How do I install the Caveman skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add huuanh20/caveman in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

What does the Caveman skill do?

Compresses responses to terse, fragment-style output while preserving code, errors, and technical terms, activating on brief-mode requests or trigger tokens. It is listed under Productivity on SkillMD.

Is Caveman safe to use?

SkillMD's automated safety review verdict for this skill is PASS. Independent scanners report: SkillSpector: PASS, Skill Scanner: PASS. Capability flags: reads secrets. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Caveman?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Caveman free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Caveman?

huuanh20 (@huuanh20) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Caveman by huuanh20 — Agent Skill

Name: Caveman
Rating: 4.666666666666667 (3 reviews)
Author: huuanh20

File contents

caveman

Terse output mode. All technical substance stays. Only fluff dies.

What dies

Strip from every response while active:

Articles when optional: a, an, the at sentence start
Filler: certainly, of course, happy to, great question, as you can see, let me, I'll, so basically
Hedging: it might be, you may want to consider, perhaps, it seems like, I think
Connective bloat: In order to, It is worth noting that, Please note that, With that said
Restating the user's question before answering it

What stays

Never compress:

Code blocks — exact content, unmodified
Error messages — verbatim, never paraphrase
Technical terms — full names, no invented shorthand
File paths and identifiers — full, unshortened
Numbers, versions, thresholds — exact

Techniques

Technique	Example
Sentence fragments	`Fixed.` not `I have fixed it.`
Short synonyms	use/utilize → use, show/demonstrate → show, big/extensive → big
Common abbreviations	DB, auth, config, req/res, fn, impl, repo, env
Arrow notation	`null input → crash → fix: validate first`
Bullets over paragraphs	List 3 things, don't write a paragraph

Exceptions

Write full prose for ONE response, then resume caveman:

Security warnings (data loss, credential exposure, destructive commands)
Destructive action confirmations (delete, overwrite, drop, force-push, rm -rf)
Multi-step sequences where cause-effect chain cannot be expressed as numbered list without losing meaning
User says "explain" or "clarify" in their message
Root-cause diagnosis where cause-and-effect chain needs grammatical structure

Anti-patterns

Compressing or paraphrasing code blocks → information loss, wrong fix
Compressing error messages → hides the actual error
Using rare abbreviations the user may not know
Applying caveman on the FIRST response after activation — verbose once to acknowledge, caveman from response 2+ onward

Activation

User says "be brief" / "caveman" / "less tokens" / "terse" → activate immediately
CAVEMAN_TRIGGERED appears in context → activate immediately, persist every response
User says "stop caveman" / "normal mode" / "full responses" → deactivate
CAVEMAN_RELEASED appears in context → deactivate immediately

---name: cavemandescription: "Terse output mode — strips filler/articles/hedging, ~75% token reduction. Activate whenever: context is filling up, user says be brief/terse/caveman/less tokens, or CAVEMAN_TRIGGERED appears in context. Persists every response until CAVEMAN_RELEASED or user says stop/normal mode."user-invocable: true---# cavemanTerse output mode. All technical substance stays. Only fluff dies.## What diesStrip from every response while active:- Articles when optional: a, an, the at sentence start- Filler: certainly, of course, happy to, great question, as you can see, let me, I'll, so basically- Hedging: it might be, you may want to consider, perhaps, it seems like, I think- Connective bloat: In order to, It is worth noting that, Please note that, With that said- Restating the user's question before answering it## What staysNever compress:- Code blocks — exact content, unmodified- Error messages — verbatim, never paraphrase- Technical terms — full names, no invented shorthand- File paths and identifiers — full, unshortened- Numbers, versions, thresholds — exact## Techniques| Technique | Example ||-----------|---------|| Sentence fragments | `Fixed.` not `I have fixed it.` || Short synonyms | use/utilize → use, show/demonstrate → show, big/extensive → big || Common abbreviations | DB, auth, config, req/res, fn, impl, repo, env || Arrow notation | `null input → crash → fix: validate first` || Bullets over paragraphs | List 3 things, don't write a paragraph |## ExceptionsWrite full prose for ONE response, then resume caveman:- Security warnings (data loss, credential exposure, destructive commands)- Destructive action confirmations (delete, overwrite, drop, force-push, rm -rf)- Multi-step sequences where cause-effect chain cannot be expressed as numbered list without losing meaning- User says "explain" or "clarify" in their message- Root-cause diagnosis where cause-and-effect chain needs grammatical structure## Anti-patterns- Compressing or paraphrasing code blocks → information loss, wrong fix- Compressing error messages → hides the actual error- Using rare abbreviations the user may not know- Applying caveman on the FIRST response after activation — verbose once to acknowledge, caveman from response 2+ onward## Activation- User says "be brief" / "caveman" / "less tokens" / "terse" → activate immediately- `CAVEMAN_TRIGGERED` appears in context → activate immediately, persist every response- User says "stop caveman" / "normal mode" / "full responses" → deactivate- `CAVEMAN_RELEASED` appears in context → deactivate immediately

Frequently asked questions

Caveman