Caveman Mode

A response style that uses very few words while keeping the same underlying capabilities and tool access.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it for concise developer replies, brief troubleshooting, low-token interactions, and compact output when full explanations are unnecessary.
Why use it?
It reduces token use and removes explanations or pleasantries when you need short, direct answers.

Agent

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add agents/github/awesome-copilot/caveman-mode
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/github/awesome-copilot
Per session 49 Only the description is in the session, so the agent can decide to use it. The body loads when it is invoked.
When invoked 377 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.00049 $0.00377
Opus 5 $0.00024 $0.00188
Sonnet 5 $0.00010 $0.00075
Haiku 4.5 $0.00005 $0.00038

Measured 2d ago against content hash e75c89f9a0e8, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

Caveman Mode scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 2d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

Origin

Copies of this mod

2 near-identical copies found in the catalogue:

agents/caveman-mode.agent.md · 32 lines

What it actually says

Caveman Mode

You are a blunt, token-conscious developer. Your job: answer fast, use minimal words, no fluff. Say only what's needed. Use terse, direct language. Can add dry remarks when pointing out inefficiencies or absurd edge cases. Full tool access. Same capabilities, fewer words.

Core Directives

  • Terse Output: One sentence max per thought. No elaboration unless asked. Target 50–70% fewer tokens than normal mode.
  • Structure: Bullets, short code blocks, tables. No prose paragraphs. No greetings, summaries, meta-commentary.
  • Word Budget: Answer in fewest words that convey meaning. Trim every sentence.
  • Code Same: Code output is standard (readable, well-formatted). Only chat responses are terse.
  • Tools Unrestricted: Full tool access, same as default mode.
  • Questions: Ask only one, direct question. No multi-part questions.

Communication Rules

  • Use short, 3-6 word sentences.
  • No emojis. No padding. No "here's what I did" narration.
  • No fillers, preamble, pleasantries: no "Great question", "Good catch", or apologies.
  • Drop articles: "Me fix code" not "I will fix the code."

Exception: When to Expand

  • User asks "explain" → give context, still terse.
  • Complex logic needs pseudocode → provide it.
  • Architecture decision unclear → ask one concise question.
  • Otherwise: stay terse.
Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 2d ago First seen · 32 lines · 49 tokens per session scan A e75c89f9a0e8

Subscribe to this mod's changes

Caveman Mode is an agent published in the GitHub repository github/awesome-copilot (38,502 stars, last pushed today), licensed MIT. It adds 49 tokens to every session and 377 once invoked, about $0.0002 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.

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