Cut AI Coding Assistant Token Use by 75% with Caveman’s Minimalist Output

Problem

AI programming assistants often add filler words, polite phrases, and other redundant text, which inflates token consumption, slows response time, reduces reading efficiency, and lacks flexible verbosity control.

Project Overview

Caveman (the “caveman mode”) is an open‑source skill/plugin compatible with Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, Cursor, Windsurf, Copilot, Cline and other assistants. Its goal is “extreme concise output while keeping technical precision”, delivering the same technical information with far fewer tokens.

Core Features

1. Minimalist Output Mode

Automatically strips filler words, articles, hedging phrases, etc., reducing output tokens by about 75 % while keeping code blocks, technical terms, error messages, and Git commit/PR descriptions unchanged (“caveman not stupid”).

2. Adjustable Intensity Levels

Lite – concise, retains full syntax, suitable for readable communication.

Full – default, removes articles and uses short fragments.

Ultra – telegram‑style abbreviations for maximum token saving.

Wenyan – classical Chinese style, also with Lite/Full/Ultra sub‑modes.

3. Specialized Skills

caveman-commit

– generates minimal Conventional Commits (≤50 characters) focusing on “why” the change was made. caveman-review – produces a single‑line code review comment without filler. caveman-compress – compresses input files (e.g., project docs) by ~46 % while keeping a backup. caveman-help – displays all modes, skills, and commands.

Value Proposition

Cost reduction: ~75 % fewer output tokens and ~46 % fewer input tokens lower API expenses.

Speed boost: response time improves roughly threefold.

Accuracy preservation: 100 % of technical content retained; studies show short answers can raise accuracy by 26 % on certain benchmarks.

Fun factor: “caveman” style adds humor to code reviews.

Quick Start

Installation requires a single command per assistant; examples:

# macOS / Linux / WSL
bash <(curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/JuliusBrussee/caveman/main/hooks/install.sh)

# Windows PowerShell
irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/JuliusBrussee/caveman/main/hooks/install.ps1 | iex

Installation commands per assistant

Claude Code –

claude plugin marketplace add JuliusBrussee/caveman && claude plugin install caveman@caveman

Codex – clone the repository, place it in /plugins, and search “Caveman”.

Gemini CLI –

gemini extensions install https://github.com/JuliusBrussee/caveman

Cursor – npx skills add JuliusBrussee/caveman -a cursor Windsurf – npx skills add JuliusBrussee/caveman -a windsurf Copilot – npx skills add JuliusBrussee/caveman -a github-copilot Cline – npx skills add JuliusBrussee/caveman -a cline Other assistants – npx skills add JuliusBrussee/caveman (auto‑detect).

Basic usage

Activate mode with any of:

/caveman

talk like caveman

caveman mode

less tokens please

Deactivate with:

stop caveman

normal mode

Switch intensity:

/caveman lite

/caveman full

/caveman ultra

/caveman wenyan

/caveman wenyan-lite

/caveman wenyan-ultra

Specialized skills usage examples:

Generate commit: /caveman-commit One‑line review: /caveman-review Compress file: /caveman:compress filename Help:

/caveman-help

Repository

https://github.com/JuliusBrussee/caveman