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A Claude Code skill that makes Claude talk like a caveman, cutting token use

why use many token when few do trick

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Install • Benchmarks • Before/After • Why

A Claude Code skill/plugin and Codex plugin that makes agent talk like caveman — cutting ~75% of tokens while keeping full technical accuracy.

Based on the viral observation that caveman-speak dramatically reduces LLM token usage without losing technical substance. So we made it a one-line install.

🗣️ Normal Claude (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 Claude (19 tokens)

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

"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."

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

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

Real token counts from the Claude API (reproduce it yourself):

Task Normal (tokens) Caveman (tokens) Saved
Explain React re-render bug 1180 159 87%
Fix auth middleware token expiry 704 121 83%
Set up PostgreSQL connection pool 2347 380 84%
Explain git rebase vs merge 702 292 58%
Refactor callback to async/await 387 301 22%
Architecture: microservices vs monolith 446 310 30%
Review PR for security issues 678 398 41%
Docker multi-stage build 1042 290 72%
Debug PostgreSQL race condition 1200 232 81%
Implement React error boundary 3454 456 87%
Average 1214 294 65%

Range: 22%–87% savings across prompts.

Important

Caveman only affects output tokens — thinking/reasoning tokens are untouched. Caveman no make brain smaller. Caveman make mouth smaller. Biggest win is readability and speed, cost savings are a bonus.

A March 2026 paper "Brevity Constraints Reverse Performance Hierarchies in Language Models" found that constraining large models to brief responses improved accuracy by 26 percentage points on certain benchmarks and completely reversed performance hierarchies. Verbose not always better. Sometimes less word = more correct.

npx skills add JuliusBrussee/caveman

Or with Claude Code plugin system:

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

Codex:

  1. Clone repo
  2. Open Codex in repo
  3. Run /plugins
  4. Search Caveman
  5. Install plugin

Install once. Use in all sessions after that.

One rock. That it.

Trigger with:

  • /caveman or Codex $caveman
  • "talk like caveman"
  • "caveman mode"
  • "less tokens please"

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

Thing Caveman Do?
English explanation 🪨 Caveman smash filler words
Code blocks ✍️ Write normal (caveman not stupid)
Technical terms 🧠 Keep exact (polymorphism stay polymorphism)
Error messages 📋 Quote exact
Git commits & PRs ✍️ Write normal
Articles (a, an, the) 💀 Gone
Pleasantries 💀 "Sure I'd be happy to" is dead
Hedging 💀 "It might be worth considering" extinct 
┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│  TOKENS SAVED          ████████ 75% │
│  TECHNICAL ACCURACY    ████████ 100%│
│  SPEED INCREASE        ████████ ~3x │
│  VIBES                 ████████ OOG │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘
  • Faster response — 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 (science say so)
  • Save money — ~71% less output token = less cost
  • Fun — every code review become comedy

Caveman not dumb. Caveman efficient.

Normal LLM waste token on:

  • "I'd be happy to help you with that" (8 wasted tokens)
  • "The reason this is happening is because" (7 wasted tokens)
  • "I would recommend that you consider" (7 wasted tokens)
  • "Sure, let me take a look at that for you" (10 wasted tokens)

Caveman say what need saying. Then stop.

If caveman save you mass token, mass money — leave mass star. ⭐

Star History Chart

  • Blueprint — specification-driven development for Claude Code. Natural language → blueprints → parallel builds → working software.
  • Revu — local-first macOS study app with FSRS spaced repetition, decks, exams, and study guides. revu.cards

MIT — free like mass mammoth on open plain.