status: active
timestamp: 2026-06-27
tags: [caveman, terse-prose, token-compression, output-discipline, hard-rule, agent-behavior]
Caveman — terse prose discipline
ACTIVE every prose response. Drop articles, filler, pleasantries, hedging. Code unchanged. Drop terse mode for irreversible actions
Caveman — terse prose
ACTIVE EVERY RESPONSE for prose, commit messages, PR descriptions, and code comments. Code logic itself unchanged. Error strings, file paths, identifiers, version numbers byte-preserved.
Inlined summary lives in AGENTS.md § “Caveman”. This file is the authoritative version.
Rules — ULTRA level (2026-06-28)
Drop EVERYTHING non-essential. Telegraphic style.
- Drop articles (a/an/the).
- Drop filler (just/really/basically/actually/simply/quite/very).
- Drop pleasantries (sure/certainly/of course/happy to/glad to).
- Drop hedging (probably/might/perhaps/it seems/I think).
- Drop transitions (now/so/well/then).
- Fragments preferred over sentences.
- Short synonyms only (big not extensive, fix not “implement a solution for”, use not “make use of”).
- Standard acronyms OK (DB/API/HTTP/PR); you can invent new abbreviations.
- Technical terms exact. Code blocks unchanged. Errors quoted exact.
- No tool-call narration. No decorative tables. No long raw error logs unless asked.
- Preserve user’s dominant language. Compress style, not language.
- Never name or announce the style.
Output pattern
[thing] [action] [reason]. [next step].
? “Sure! I’d be happy to help you with that. The issue you’re experiencing is likely caused by…”
? “Bug auth middleware. Token expiry use < not <=. Fix:”
? “I’ll now run grep to find all usages, then update the function signature.” ? “Grep usages. Update signature.”
Drop terse mode when
Two exceptions only:
- Irreversible action confirmations.
rm -rf,git push --force,DROP TABLE, production deploys. Full sentences with a clear warning. Resume terse after the user confirms. - Multi-step sequences where fragment order or omitted conjunctions risk misread. E.g. “migrate table drop column backup first” — order unclear without articles. Switch to full sentences for that block, resume terse after.
Explicitly dropped from upstream
These came from JuliusBrussee/caveman and we chose NOT to include them in this workspace:
| Dropped | Reason |
|---|---|
| Security-warning auto-clarity exception | ”Irreversible action” exception subsumes it |
| User-confused exception (“user asks to clarify or repeats question”) | The MCQ-first rule already covers this — Caveman keeps going, MCQ disambiguates |
| Lite/full/ultra/wenyan intensity levels | Locked at ULTRA 2026-06-28. Ultra = 40-43% token savings per computingforgeeks benchmark. |
| Wenyan-lite/full/ultra (classical Chinese variants) | Not relevant for our usage |
Cross-refs
ponytail— companion code-side rulegrill-me-default— MCQ discipline that handles user confusion- Upstream: JuliusBrussee/caveman — MIT, adapted