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CLI reference

caveman and cave invoke the same command-line program. The short alias is useful in terminals; scripts should prefer caveman because its meaning is clearer to readers.

Run caveman help <command> for installed-version help. This page explains the command groups and important behavior; command help remains the exact source for accepted flags.

Main commands

Command Purpose Account needed
caveman <agent> Run a supported agent through the local layer No
caveman run -- <command> Run an arbitrary command through the local layer No
caveman learn Rank locally observed improvements No
caveman status Show local runtime, mode, and connection state No
caveman login Connect the installation to Caveman Cloud Yes
caveman tools Open the local tool namespace No
caveman cloud Open the connected-service namespace Yes

Supported agent shortcuts are aider, claude, codex, gemini, hermes, openclaw, and opencode.

caveman claude
caveman codex --full-auto
caveman run -- my-agent --project .

Arguments after an agent name are passed to that agent. Arguments after -- in caveman run are passed to the selected command.

Local tool namespace

caveman tools groups less frequent local commands by job.

Group Commands
Think compress, shrink, toon, convert
Remember mem, retrieve
Execute mcp, hooks, browse, skills, sdk
Inspect stats, trial, evals, config

compress

Compress text from standard input or a file. Compression is local. Lossy output contains a recovery handle when a recovery store is available.

caveman tools compress < long-context.txt
caveman tools retrieve ccr_0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef

Use caveman start when an application needs an HTTP proxy instead of a one-shot command.

shrink

Reduce large command or tool output while preserving selected structure and a recovery reference. Input larger than the command limit is rejected rather than partially processed.

toon

Encode or decode structured data using TOON. Encoding only wins on suitable data, commonly uniform arrays of objects. It is not a byte-preserving transformation.

convert

Pack supported installed skills into pixel form for selected agent or project; flags include --agent, --project, --skill, --dir, --density, --dry-run, --revert, and --force. Run a dry run before changing a large skill tree.

mem

Manage local durable memory. Available operations include remember, recall, supersede, history, and forget. See Local tools.

mcp

Install or remove local Model Context Protocol registrations for detected agents. Server choices include recovery, browser, connected read-only evidence, and opt-in delegation tools.

caveman tools mcp install claude --server caveman
caveman tools mcp uninstall claude --server caveman

caveman-mcp binary itself serves compression, recovery, statistics, and TOON tools over standard input and output.

hooks

Install or inspect supported agent hooks. Hooks add local context and compact output behavior to agent-native event systems. See Skills, hooks, and plugins.

browse

Control a Chrome session through the local browser bridge.

caveman tools browse https://example.com "main article"
caveman tools browse act '<element-reference>' click
caveman tools browse eval 'document.title'
caveman tools browse recover '<recovery-handle>'
caveman tools browse close

Browser evaluation executes JavaScript in the attached page. Treat expressions as code, and use them only on pages you trust.

skills

List, preview, install, add, or import skills. Preview an external skill before installation.

caveman tools skills list
caveman tools skills preview owner/repository
caveman tools skills install owner/repository

sdk

Print or apply integration recipes for supported SDKs and agent frameworks. Recipes cover Anthropic, OpenAI, Google Gen AI, Vercel AI SDK, LangChain, LiteLLM, CrewAI, Pydantic AI, OpenAI Agents SDK, and direct curl use.

stats, trial, and evals

  • stats reports local compression and usage records.
  • trial exercises local features against fixtures or configured providers.
  • evals runs evaluation-related commands available in the installed build.

Local observations are not verified savings. See Accounting and evidence.

config

Read or change local feature configuration.

caveman tools config path
caveman tools config get think.mode
caveman tools config set think.mode compress

See Configuration for keys, values and precedence.

Runtime commands

start

Start the loopback HTTP proxy. Default address is 127.0.0.1:8787.

caveman start

The proxy uses ~/.caveman/caveman.yaml unless CAVEMAN_CONFIG names another file. It stores local operational data in ~/.caveman/caveman.db.

setup

Inspect or install local runtime components.

caveman setup
caveman setup --install
caveman setup --json
caveman setup --agent-native claude
caveman setup --agent-native codex

Add --remove to an --agent-native command to remove that integration.

wrap

wrap is the explicit form used by agent shortcuts.

caveman wrap claude
caveman wrap --off codex
caveman wrap --pixel gemini
caveman wrap --workflow review opencode
  • Default mode enables supported local compression, structured-data encoding, recovery, and output shrinking.
  • --off runs byte-safe pass-through recording.
  • --pixel enables lossy text-to-image context transport for models listed in configuration.
  • --workflow selects a named workflow when the installed profile supports it.

Record mode never changes model-visible request bytes.

Learning commands

caveman learn reads local observations and ranks possible improvements.

caveman learn
caveman learn --since 7d --sources proxy,agent
caveman learn --json
caveman learn implement <finding-id>
caveman learn apply <report-path>

Output formats include plain text, JSON and Markdown. A recommendation remains an inferred opportunity until stronger evidence exists.

Connected namespace

caveman cloud is the account and network namespace. Its command groups cover:

  • account: whoami, projects, keys, providers, billing;
  • evidence: score, costs, plan, traces, experiments, receipts;
  • governance: audit, sync, agent.

These commands require a connected installation and may depend on plan or organization policy. This repository documents client behavior and public contracts, not hosted implementation details.

Exit and failure behavior

Commands use nonzero exit status for invalid arguments, rejected configuration, missing dependencies, and failed operations. Destructive or ambiguous local transformations should use --dry-run where offered. Compression paths prefer original input over unsafe or incomplete output.