Caveman
Token-saving add-on for Claude Code, Codex and 30+ agents. Shorter answers, compressed tool output and cheaper model routing, with code left exact.
Caveman makes coding agents say less and read less: terse answers, logs and JSON shrunk before the model reads them, compressed web pages, reusable scripts in code mode, and optional Auto model routing. The README reports 33.2% fewer input tokens across 54 Claude Code runs. One npx install (Node.js 22.13+) on Mac, Linux or Windows. Apache-2.0. The CLI sends usage stats by default (no prompts or code); Auto needs a free account and sends your asks to Caveman Cloud.
The facts
| Question | Answer | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Runs on my machine? | Yes. Yes, the skill and CLI run on your machine with your own model keys or login | github.com | Checked 11 days ago |
| Code licence | Open source. Apache-2.0, whole repo | github.com | Checked 11 days ago |
| Commercial use | Yes. Yes, Apache-2.0; "Caveman" and the logo are trademarks of the author | github.com | Checked 11 days ago |
| Paid services needed? | Optional. Needs a coding agent and its model (a paid plan or API key); Auto routing needs a free Caveman account | github.com | Checked 11 days ago |
| Hardware | No hardware needs of its own; needs Node.js 22.13+ for the CLI | github.com | Checked 11 days ago |
| Operating systems | macOS, Linux and Windows | github.com | Checked 11 days ago |
| Setup effort | Easy, one command (npx @caveman-ai/cli@latest) that finds your agents and asks before changing them | github.com | Checked 11 days ago |
Each fact has its own date. Unknown means nobody has published it. We read their documentation; we didn’t install it. Running it yourself costs your hardware, electricity and setup time. Report a correction.
No licence changes since we started watching. Licence changes: follow Caveman and we email you if its terms change.
Stars over time
Building history +1,634 this week; not enough baseline history. Stars show attention, not quality. Where these numbers come from.