JuliusBrussee/cavekit

What it solves

Cavekit provides a streamlined, token-efficient approach to spec-driven development (SDD) for Claude Code. It eliminates the overhead of complex agent swarms and dashboards, replacing them with a single, durable SPEC.md file that acts as the agent's long-term memory to prevent context loss and hallucinations during the build process.

How it works

The system uses a "loop" of three primary commands (/ck:spec, /ck:build, /ck:check) to manage the development cycle. It employs "caveman encoding"—a compressed symbol-based notation that uses significantly fewer tokens than standard prose—to describe skills and requirements. The workflow is grounded in a single Markdown file containing specific sections for goals, constraints, interfaces, research, invariants, tasks, and bugs.

Who it’s for

Developers using Claude Code who want a rigorous, spec-driven build loop without the token cost or complexity of multi-agent orchestration frameworks.

Highlights

• Durable Spec: Uses a SPEC.md file at the repo root to maintain state across context resets.
• Caveman Encoding: Reduces token usage by up to 75% compared to prose.
• Backprop Reflex: Automatically converts test failures into bug entries and invariants within the spec.
• Zero Sub-agents: Relies on the main Claude instance rather than a swarm of specialized agents.
• Right-sized Ceremony: Offers a tiered set of commands, separating the essential build loop from optional, high-effort tasks like adversarial review or deep design passes.