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Get Caveman running in two minutes. You can install the full proxy for input compression, or just the skill for shorter answers. This guide covers both paths, then shows the built-in commands to learn, trial, shrink, and browse.

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Install the full proxy

The proxy is the big rock. It shrinks what your agent reads (logs, CSV, JSON, web pages) and runs on your machine with your keys.
1

Install the CLI

setup --install downloads the release checksum manifest and signature, verifies the pinned public key, checks each artifact SHA-256, and installs by atomic rename under ~/.caveman/bin.
2

Launch your agent through Caveman

This persistently enables Claude’s native Caveman integration, then runs Claude. After the first run, plain claude stays caveman’d. You can also use codex, gemini, aider, kilo, qwen, opencode, hermes, openclaw, or pi.
3

Try a command

This ranks where your tokens go from agent history already on disk.

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Install just the skill

Only want shorter answers? This is output compression alone. No proxy, no Node.js 22 requirement.
Works in Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, Copilot, and 30+ more. Type /caveman ($caveman in Codex) if it does not start on its own. Say stop caveman to go back.

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What to try next

After install, run these commands to explore what Caveman can do:

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Building your own agent?

Same shrinking, as one wrapper around the Vercel AI SDK, LangChain, OpenAI, or Anthropic call you already make:
See Middleware and SDKs and packages for framework guides.