Caveman: A Claude Code Skill That Cuts 75% of Tokens by Using Caveman-Style Speech

What Caveman Does

Caveman is a Claude Code skill that makes Claude talk like a caveman, cutting approximately 75% of tokens while keeping full technical accuracy. The approach is based on the observation that caveman-speak dramatically reduces LLM token usage without losing technical substance.

Before and After Examples

The source provides specific examples of token reduction:

• 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 ."
• Normal Claude: "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."
• Caveman Claude: "Bug in auth middleware. Token expiry check use < not <= . Fix:"

Installation

Install with either of these commands:

npx skills add JuliusBrussee/caveman

Or through the Claude Code plugin system:

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

Usage

Trigger caveman mode with these phrases:

• /caveman "talk like caveman"
• "caveman mode"
• "less tokens please"

Stop caveman mode with:

• "stop caveman"
• "normal mode"

What Caveman Changes and Keeps

Caveman removes:

• Filler words
• Articles (a, an, the)
• Pleasantries (e.g., "Sure I'd be happy to")
• Hedging (e.g., "It might be worth considering")

Caveman keeps:

• Code blocks (writes normally)
• Technical terms (e.g., polymorphism stays polymorphism)
• Error messages (quotes exactly)
• Git commits & PRs (writes normally)

Benefits and How It Works

The source claims these benefits:

• 75% tokens saved
• 100% technical accuracy maintained
• ~3x speed increase
• 75% less cost on output
• Faster responses due to fewer tokens to generate

Caveman eliminates wasted tokens on phrases like:

• "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)

Repository Details

The repository has 746 stars, 14 forks, and uses the MIT license. The latest release is v1.0.0 from April 4, 2026.