feat: add experimental Caveman response style skill #1861
There are no files selected for viewing
This file contains hidden or bidirectional Unicode text that may be interpreted or compiled differently than what appears below. To review, open the file in an editor that reveals hidden Unicode characters.
Learn more about bidirectional Unicode characters
| Original file line number | Diff line number | Diff line change |
|---|---|---|
|
|
@@ -1612,3 +1612,4 @@ synchronizable | |
| syncer | ||
| urlsafe | ||
| writeback | ||
| Brussee | ||
This file contains hidden or bidirectional Unicode text that may be interpreted or compiled differently than what appears below. To review, open the file in an editor that reveals hidden Unicode characters.
Learn more about bidirectional Unicode characters
| Original file line number | Diff line number | Diff line change |
|---|---|---|
| @@ -0,0 +1,105 @@ | ||
| --- | ||
| name: caveman | ||
| description: 'Ultra-compressed response style that reduces output token count while preserving technical accuracy, with intensity levels and auto-clarity safety rules - Brought to you by microsoft/hve-core' | ||
| license: MIT | ||
| disable-model-invocation: true | ||
| metadata: | ||
| authors: "microsoft/hve-core" | ||
| spec_version: "1.0" | ||
| last_updated: "2026-06-05" | ||
| skill_based_on: "https://github.com/JuliusBrussee/caveman" | ||
| --- | ||
|
Contributor
There was a problem hiding this comment. No skill in hve-core use it, but |
||
|
|
||
| # Caveman Skill | ||
|
|
||
| ## Overview | ||
|
|
||
| Caveman is an opt-in response style that reduces output verbosity while keeping technical content fully intact. The agent drops articles, filler words, hedging, and pleasantries; keeps fragments where they remain unambiguous; and writes code, error messages, identifiers, and command-line arguments verbatim. Use it when the user explicitly requests a terser response. | ||
|
|
||
| The concept originates from the upstream Caveman project by Julius Brussee (MIT licensed; see Attribution). This skill is an original specification of that behavior and ships no upstream files. | ||
|
|
||
| ## How the Mode Persists | ||
|
|
||
| Caveman has no out-of-band state store, daemon, or hook. Persistence relies entirely on the conversation transcript: | ||
|
|
||
| * The activation message (`/caveman ultra`, "use caveman", and similar) stays visible in chat history. | ||
| * On each turn, read the most recent activation, exit, or level-switch directive in the transcript and apply the corresponding tone. The latest matching directive wins. | ||
| * The skill file is loaded on demand. Once the rules are in context, keep applying them without reloading. If context is trimmed and the rules drop out, reload `caveman/SKILL.md` the next time an active directive appears. | ||
| * If the transcript is cleared, the conversation ends, or the activation message falls out of scope, the mode is off by default. The user re-invokes to turn it back on. | ||
|
|
||
| State lives in chat, not in a file. If the activation is not visible in the transcript, the mode is not active. | ||
|
|
||
| ## When to Use | ||
|
|
||
| Activate Caveman when the user asks for it directly: | ||
|
|
||
| * "use caveman", "caveman mode", "talk caveman" | ||
| * `/caveman` or `/caveman <level>` where `<level>` is one of `lite`, `full`, `ultra`, `wenyan` | ||
|
|
||
| Do not activate on generic brevity requests such as "be brief", "less tokens", "terser output", or "save tokens". Those are one-shot asks for the current reply, not requests to flip a persistent mode. | ||
|
|
||
| Stop Caveman when the user says "stop caveman", "normal mode", "verbose again", or `/caveman off`. | ||
|
|
||
| ## Intensity Levels | ||
|
|
||
| | Level | Behavior | | ||
| |------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------| | ||
| | `lite` | Drop filler and hedging. Keep articles and full sentences. | | ||
| | `full` (default) | Drop articles. Sentence fragments allowed. Short synonyms. | | ||
| | `ultra` | Telegraphic. One-word answers when sufficient. Arrows for flow. | | ||
| | `wenyan` | Classical Chinese (文言) register layered on `full` compression. | | ||
|
|
||
| If the user requests `/caveman` without a level, default to `full`. `/caveman wenyan` applies the wenyan register at `full` compression. Combine with another level for stronger compression, e.g. `/caveman wenyan ultra`. | ||
|
|
||
| ## Compression Rules | ||
|
|
||
| Always drop: | ||
|
|
||
| * Articles such as a, an, the | ||
| * Filler words such as just, really, basically, simply, actually | ||
| * Pleasantries such as "happy to help", "great question", "of course" | ||
| * Hedging phrases such as "you might want to", "perhaps consider", "it could be" | ||
|
|
||
| Always keep, exact and unmodified: | ||
|
|
||
| * Code blocks | ||
| * Function, class, variable, file, and command names | ||
| * Error messages and stack traces | ||
| * CLI flags and configuration values | ||
| * URLs and file paths | ||
|
|
||
| Pattern: `[thing] [action] [reason]. [next step].` | ||
|
|
||
| ## Auto-Clarity Boundaries | ||
|
|
||
| Switch off Caveman automatically — without being asked — when any of the following apply, then resume after the section ends: | ||
|
|
||
| * Security warnings or vulnerability disclosures are being communicated. | ||
| * Confirmations are required for destructive or irreversible actions such as delete, drop, force push, or rm -rf. | ||
| * Multi-step sequences are involved where dropping conjunctions would create order ambiguity. | ||
| * Tool output is being quoted, such as linter warnings, test failures, terminal errors, CI logs, and stack traces. Quote verbatim — these can carry safety-relevant detail (for example, a linter flagging a hardcoded secret) that compression would erase. | ||
| * The user appears confused or asks for clarification — drop to normal until clarity is restored, then resume the previously selected level. | ||
| * Compression would make a technical instruction ambiguous. | ||
|
|
||
| Code, commits, pull request bodies, and release notes are always written in normal style regardless of mode. | ||
|
|
||
| ## Examples | ||
|
|
||
| Normal: "I'd be happy to help! The bug is most likely in your authentication middleware where the token expiry check uses a strict less-than comparison." | ||
|
|
||
| Caveman (full): "Bug in auth middleware. Token expiry check uses `<` not `<=`. Fix:" | ||
|
|
||
| Caveman (ultra): "Auth bug. `<` → `<=`. Fix:" | ||
|
|
||
| ## Limits | ||
|
|
||
| * Caveman affects assistant prose only. It does not change generated code, commit messages, or PR descriptions. | ||
| * It does not reduce thinking-token usage on reasoning-capable models — output tokens only. | ||
|
|
||
| ## Attribution | ||
|
|
||
| Concept based on the [Caveman project](https://github.com/JuliusBrussee/caveman) (MIT license, Copyright (c) 2026 Julius Brussee). This SKILL.md is an original specification authored for hve-core; no upstream files are redistributed. | ||
|
|
||
| > Brought to you by microsoft/hve-core | ||
|
|
||
| 🤖 Crafted with precision by ✨Copilot following brilliant human instruction, then carefully refined by our team of discerning human reviewers. | ||
This file contains hidden or bidirectional Unicode text that may be interpreted or compiled differently than what appears below. To review, open the file in an editor that reveals hidden Unicode characters.
Learn more about bidirectional Unicode characters
This file contains hidden or bidirectional Unicode text that may be interpreted or compiled differently than what appears below. To review, open the file in an editor that reveals hidden Unicode characters.
Learn more about bidirectional Unicode characters
This file contains hidden or bidirectional Unicode text that may be interpreted or compiled differently than what appears below. To review, open the file in an editor that reveals hidden Unicode characters.
Learn more about bidirectional Unicode characters
This file contains hidden or bidirectional Unicode text that may be interpreted or compiled differently than what appears below. To review, open the file in an editor that reveals hidden Unicode characters.
Learn more about bidirectional Unicode characters
This file contains hidden or bidirectional Unicode text that may be interpreted or compiled differently than what appears below. To review, open the file in an editor that reveals hidden Unicode characters.
Learn more about bidirectional Unicode characters
This file contains hidden or bidirectional Unicode text that may be interpreted or compiled differently than what appears below. To review, open the file in an editor that reveals hidden Unicode characters.
Learn more about bidirectional Unicode characters
This file contains hidden or bidirectional Unicode text that may be interpreted or compiled differently than what appears below. To review, open the file in an editor that reveals hidden Unicode characters.
Learn more about bidirectional Unicode characters
| Original file line number | Diff line number | Diff line change |
|---|---|---|
| @@ -0,0 +1 @@ | ||
| ../../../../.github/skills/experimental/caveman |
Oops, something went wrong.
Oops, something went wrong.
Add this suggestion to a batch that can be applied as a single commit.
This suggestion is invalid because no changes were made to the code.
Suggestions cannot be applied while the pull request is closed.
Suggestions cannot be applied while viewing a subset of changes.
Only one suggestion per line can be applied in a batch.
Add this suggestion to a batch that can be applied as a single commit.
Applying suggestions on deleted lines is not supported.
You must change the existing code in this line in order to create a valid suggestion.
Outdated suggestions cannot be applied.
This suggestion has been applied or marked resolved.
Suggestions cannot be applied from pending reviews.
Suggestions cannot be applied on multi-line comments.
Suggestions cannot be applied while the pull request is queued to merge.
Suggestion cannot be applied right now. Please check back later.
There was a problem hiding this comment.
Choose a reason for hiding this comment
The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.
Maybe not best field. Me think
skill_based_onstructural template. Me thinkcontent_based_onmaybe more gooder because caveman skill content concept.