About caveman-help
caveman-help is a reference card for the Caveman skill set, showing modes, skills and default-mode configuration when invoked. It is one-shot and does not change the active mode or write any state.
Key features
- 01Lists caveman, ultracave and megacave modes
- 02Summarizes caveman-commit and caveman-review skills
- 03Explains how to deactivate and resume caveman
- 04Documents default mode via environment variable or config file
Use cases
- 01Looking up trigger commands for each Caveman mode
- 02Checking the priority order for default mode settings
- 03Reviewing how output language is kept during caveman use
Install
Copy the command and run it in a terminal.
npx skills add https:/After installing, type/caveman-helpin Claude Code to confirm it loaded.
Bundled filesREADME.md
Details
From the project READMECaveman Help
Display this reference card when invoked. One-shot — do NOT change mode, write flag files, or persist anything. Output in caveman style.
Modes
| Mode | Trigger | What change |
|---|---|---|
| caveman | /caveman | The voice. Answer first, no fluff, every fact kept. Default. |
| ultracave | /ultracave (alias /caveman ultra) | Grammar stripped. Fragments, one word when enough, each fact once. |
| megacave | /megacave (alias /caveman wenyan) | Classical Chinese 文言文. Far fewer characters, technical terms verbatim. |
Mode stick until changed or session end.
/caveman status reports current mode without changing it. Claude Code and the standalone OpenCode plugin read stored state; other hosts answer from the conversation and mark it (not tracked by this host).
Skills
| Skill | Trigger | What it do |
|---|---|---|
| caveman-commit | /caveman-commit | Terse commit messages. Conventional Commits. ≤50 char subject. |
| caveman-review | /caveman-review | One-line PR comments: L42: bug: user null. Add guard. |
| caveman-compress | /caveman-compress <file> | Compress .md files to caveman prose. 33.2% fewer tokens on the repo's five test files. |
| caveman-help | /caveman-help | This card. |
Deactivate
Say "stop caveman" or "normal mode". Resume anytime with /caveman.
Language
Keep user's language by default — reply in the language user writes, never switch regardless of example text or multilingual context elsewhere. Compress the style, not the language. Technical terms, code, commands, commit types, and exact error strings stay verbatim unless user ask for translation.
Configure Default Mode
Default mode = caveman. Change it:
Environment variable (highest priority):
export CAVEMAN_DEFAULT_MODE=ultracave
Config file (~/.config/caveman/config.json):
{ "defaultMode": "ultracave" }
For opt-in activation in Claude Code, set defaultMode to manual. Sessions start off; /caveman or talk like caveman activates caveman. off also disables bare-command activation. manual is a startup policy, not a mode. OpenCode still starts in caveman mode because its installer also supplies static activation rules.
Set "off" to suppress automatic and bare-command activation. Use "manual" when bare /caveman should activate.
Resolution: env var > repo config > user config > caveman. Legacy values lite, full, ultra, wenyan* still resolve.
More
Full docs: https://github.com/JuliusBrussee/caveman