Add intensity levels (lite, full, ultra) to caveman mode

[vraj00222]

Summary

Adds configurable intensity levels to caveman mode, addressing JuliusBrussee/caveman#10.

• Lite — drops filler and pleasantries, keeps normal grammar intact
• Full — existing default behavior, unchanged
• Ultra — maximum telegraphic compression with abbreviations and arrow notation

Triggered via /caveman lite, /caveman full, /caveman ultra (Codex: $caveman lite|full|ultra). Level persists until changed or session ends.

Before / After

Before: Single mode only — full caveman or nothing.

After: Three levels users can switch between:

Prompt: "How do I handle rate limiting in an API?"

Lite: "Rate limiting controls how many requests a client can make in a given time window. Use a token bucket or sliding window algorithm. Store counters in Redis for distributed systems. Return 429 Too Many Requests with a Retry-After header when the limit is hit."

Full: "Rate limiting = cap requests per time window. Use token bucket or sliding window. Store counters in Redis for distributed setup. Return 429 with Retry-After header when limit hit."

Ultra: "Rate limit: token bucket / sliding window. Counters → Redis. Over limit → 429 + Retry-After."

Changes

• skills/caveman/SKILL.md — added intensity levels section, level-specific examples, updated description and triggers, documented Codex syntax
• plugins/caveman/skills/caveman/SKILL.md — synced copy
• caveman.skill — rebuilt archive
• README.md — added "Intensity Levels" subsection under Usage with a trigger table for all three levels (Claude Code and Codex syntax)

Test plan

• Verify /caveman lite produces professional tone without filler but with full grammar
• Verify /caveman full matches existing default behavior
• Verify /caveman ultra produces maximum compression with abbreviations
• Verify level persists across messages until changed
• Verify "stop caveman" still reverts to normal mode
• Verify README intensity levels table accurately reflects all triggers including Codex variants

[vraj00222]

@copilot review pr

[Copilot]

@copilot review pr

Here's a review of this PR:

What the PR does
Adds lite, full, and ultra intensity levels to caveman mode. Users can switch with /caveman lite|full|ultra. full stays the default, so existing behavior is unchanged.

Strengths

• ✅ Clear, graduated definitions — each level has a distinct set of rules with no ambiguity
• ✅ Concrete side-by-side examples (React re-render + DB pooling) make the differences immediately understandable
• ✅ Backward compatible — full is the default, nothing breaks for existing users
• ✅ caveman.skill (the ZIP artifact) is kept in sync with SKILL.md
• ✅ Both copies of SKILL.md (skills/ and plugins/) are identical

Issues / suggestions

1. README not updated — The Usage section lists trigger phrases and the stop command but says nothing about intensity levels or the /caveman lite|full|ultra syntax. A user discovering the skill via README will miss the feature entirely.

2. Codex syntax for intensity levels not defined — The README shows /caveman for Claude Code and $caveman for Codex, but the SKILL.md only specifies /caveman lite|full|ultra. The Codex equivalent (presumably $caveman lite?) is never mentioned.

3. Ultra section uses caveman grammar, others don't — "Every word earn its place or die" is written in caveman style while the Lite and Full descriptions use normal English. This is a fun stylistic choice but is it intentional?

Minor nit

• "Intensity level persist until changed or session end" (in Boundaries) is written in caveman speak — consistent with the rest of the file, but worth double-checking it's intentional.

Overall the core change is solid. The main actionable gap is updating the README so the new intensity-level feature is discoverable.

[vraj00222]

Thanks for the review — addressed in fb8f10a:

1. README not updated — Fixed. Added an "Intensity Levels" subsection under Usage with a table showing all three levels and their triggers.
2. Codex syntax missing — Fixed. Added $caveman lite|full|ultra to both SKILL.md and the README table.
3. Ultra section uses caveman grammar — Intentional. Each level's description mirrors its own voice (lite = clean prose, full = caveman fragments, ultra = telegraphic). Serves as a built-in example.
4. Boundaries nit — Consistent with the rest of that section, which is already in caveman speak.

[vraj00222]

@copilot review pr

[Copilot]

Thanks for the review — addressed in fb8f10a:

1. README not updated — Fixed. Added an "Intensity Levels" subsection under Usage with a table showing all three levels and their triggers....

All four points are cleanly addressed in fb8f10a. The Codex syntax and README section are consistent with each other, all three SKILL.md copies (skills/, plugins/, caveman.skill) are in sync, and the intentional voice-matching in the Ultra description is a nice touch.

@copilot review pr

Full review of both commits (96204c3 + fb8f10a):

✅ All previous feedback addressed

• README now has an "Intensity Levels" subsection with a trigger table for all three levels
• Codex syntax ($caveman lite|full|ultra) is documented in both SKILL.md and the README table
• Both SKILL.md copies (skills/ and plugins/) are identical
• caveman.skill ZIP is in sync with the source SKILL.md

One minor nit
In SKILL.md line:

(Codex: `$caveman lite|full |ultra`)

There's a stray space before |ultra (full |ultra). The actual file content is correct (full|ultra — no space), so this is only visible in the raw diff. Not a functional issue, but worth noting.

Overall
The PR is in good shape. The three-level intensity system is well-specified, backward-compatible, consistently documented across all artifacts, and the graduated examples make the differences between levels immediately clear. Ready to merge.