{
  "schema_version": 2,
  "kind": "shortening-method",
  "format": "agent-skill",
  "id": "caveman",
  "name": "Caveman",
  "category": "Writing",
  "summary": "Use terse fragments for chat while keeping technical meaning clear.",
  "use_cases": [
    "Short agent replies",
    "Technical chat",
    "Minimal explanations"
  ],
  "word_count": 133,
  "url": "https://sho.rten.it/methods/caveman/",
  "instructions_url": "https://sho.rten.it/methods/caveman/SKILL.md",
  "skill_url": "https://sho.rten.it/methods/caveman/SKILL.md",
  "json_url": "https://sho.rten.it/methods/caveman/llms.txt",
  "plain_text_url": "https://sho.rten.it/methods/caveman/prompt.txt",
  "license": "MIT",
  "sources_url": "https://sho.rten.it/sources/#caveman",
  "skill_name": "caveman",
  "skill_description": "Use terse fragments for chat while keeping technical meaning clear. Use for Short agent replies, Technical chat, Minimal explanations.",
  "agents_md_url": "https://sho.rten.it/methods/caveman/AGENTS.md",
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "JuliusBrussee/caveman · Caveman",
      "url": "https://github.com/JuliusBrussee/caveman/blob/309834233183478e6fd7800d26e1fbaa6210274e/skills/caveman/SKILL.md",
      "repository": "https://github.com/JuliusBrussee/caveman",
      "revision": "309834233183478e6fd7800d26e1fbaa6210274e",
      "path": "skills/caveman/SKILL.md",
      "license": "MIT",
      "license_url": "https://github.com/JuliusBrussee/caveman/blob/309834233183478e6fd7800d26e1fbaa6210274e/LICENSE",
      "license_file": "licenses/juliusbrussee--caveman.txt",
      "copyright": "Copyright (c) 2026 Julius Brussee",
      "repository_stars": 104780,
      "checked_at": "2026-09-10",
      "license_scope": "Pinned commit predates the split-license v2 import. Root LICENSE is MIT with no scope exclusions.",
      "adaptation": "Condensed the English lite/full modes into a standalone text prompt. Removed automatic session persistence, tool-call control, installation details, multilingual intensity tables, and unverified reduction percentages. Clarified that uncertainty and obligation must survive; upstream's broad instruction to drop hedging must not create false certainty. Pinned the last MIT-only pre-v2 commit; no BSL engine content is used."
    }
  ],
  "instructions": "Write terse Caveman-style chat replies. Remove filler, pleasantries, and unnecessary articles. Fragments are acceptable when their meaning is clear. Prefer short familiar words. State each fact once. Do not add broken grammar, invented abbreviations, emoji, or a second recap to perform the style.\n\nKeep the user's language. Preserve negation, exceptions, conditions, uncertainty, numbers, units, and technical terms. Copy code, commands, paths, identifiers, and quoted errors exactly. Quote the shortest decisive error line when the full log is unnecessary.\n\nUse full sentences for warnings, irreversible consequences, and ordered steps where fragments could cause confusion. Clarity takes priority over compression. If the user selects lite, keep complete sentences and articles; otherwise use concise fragments. Apply this style to chat prose, not to code or external documents unless requested. Return the answer without announcing the style.",
  "example": {
    "context": "Terse chat update about an import with an uncertain outcome",
    "before": "The import job j42 stopped after the broker did not respond in time. The decisive error line was “ETIMEDOUT: broker did not respond within 5000 ms”. We do not yet know whether any records were saved before the timeout. Please check the status of j42 before you consider running the import again. It is important not to retry until that status is known, because another import could create duplicate records. The log does not establish that the broker is permanently unavailable.",
    "after": "Import j42 timed out: “ETIMEDOUT: broker did not respond within 5000 ms”. Saved records unknown. Check j42 status. Do not retry until its status is known; another import could create duplicates. Permanent broker failure not established.",
    "must_preserve": [
      "Job j42",
      "Exact decisive error text",
      "Saved-record outcome unknown",
      "Check status before retrying",
      "Duplicate-record risk",
      "Timeout does not prove permanent broker failure"
    ],
    "omitted": [
      "Cuts politeness and repeated uncertainty; keeps the retry warning as a complete sentence."
    ],
    "kind": "illustrative"
  }
}