Plan 9: Caveman compression + plugin polish (stacks on Plan 8)

docs/superpowers/plans/2026-04-30-plan-9-caveman-and-polish.md

@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+# FrinkLoop Plan 9 — Caveman Integration + Plugin Polish + Acknowledgements
+
+> **For agentic workers:** REQUIRED SUB-SKILL: Use superpowers:subagent-driven-development.
+
+**Goal:** Wire the caveman token-compression directive into the actual subagent dispatch paths in `mvp-loop`, confirm the stop hook exit-code convention is documented accurately, bump `plugin.json` to v0.9.0, add acknowledgements to the plugin README, and tighten up any loose ends discovered during Plans 1-8.
+
+**Architecture:** "Caveman" is a prompt-prefix directive that strips subagent prompts to a compact, telegraphic style. FrinkLoop already references compression in config.yaml and mentions it in SKILL.md — Plan 9 adds a concrete `caveman_prefix` helper and documents the dispatch pattern. Plugin polish: version bump, stop hook exit-code clarification, README acknowledgements.
+
+**Tech Stack:** Bash only. No new dependencies.
+
+---
+
+## File Structure
+
+- Create: `plugin/lib/caveman.sh` — `caveman_prefix` helper
+- Modify: `plugin/plugin.json` — version → `0.9.0`
+- Modify: `plugin/README.md` — acknowledgements section
+- Modify: `plugin/skills/mvp-loop/SKILL.md` — caveman dispatch example
+- Create: `tests/plan-9/test_polish.bats`
+
+---
+
+## Task 1: `caveman.sh` + SKILL.md update
+
+**Files:** `plugin/lib/caveman.sh`, updated `mvp-loop` SKILL.md, `tests/plan-9/test_polish.bats`
+
+- [ ] **Step 1: Write failing tests**
+- [ ] **Step 2: Implement caveman.sh**
+- [ ] **Step 3: Update SKILL.md with concrete dispatch example**
+- [ ] **Step 4: Bump plugin.json + README acknowledgements**
+- [ ] **Step 5: Run tests, expect PASS**
+- [ ] **Step 6: Commit**
+
+---
+
+*End of Plan 9.*

plugin/lib/caveman.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# FrinkLoop caveman compression helper.
+# Provides caveman_prefix() — prepends a telegraphic compression directive to
+# subagent prompts when config.yaml has compression: lite | full | ultra.
+# Caller sources this file and calls caveman_prefix "$compression_level" "$prompt".
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+# caveman_prefix <level> <prompt>
+# Prints the prompt with a compression preamble prepended.
+# level: lite | full | ultra | none | ""
+# Returns the prompt unchanged if level is "none" or empty.
+caveman_prefix() {
+  local level="${1:-none}"
+  local prompt="$2"
+
+  case "$level" in
+    none|"")
+      printf '%s' "$prompt"
+      ;;
+    lite)
+      printf '%s\n\n%s' \
+        "COMPRESS: respond in terse prose. No filler. Short sentences." \
+        "$prompt"
+      ;;
+    full)
+      printf '%s\n\n%s' \
+        "CAVEMAN MODE: speak like caveman. short words. no fluff. grunt-level terse. get job done." \
+        "$prompt"
+      ;;
+    ultra)
+      printf '%s\n\n%s' \
+        "ULTRA CAVEMAN: 1-3 word answers only. abbreviate everything. no punctuation beyond period. act not explain." \
+        "$prompt"
+      ;;
+    *)
+      printf '%s' "$prompt"
+      ;;
+  esac
+}
+
+# read_compression_level [config_yaml_path]
+# Reads the compression level from config.yaml. Returns "none" if unset.
+read_compression_level() {
+  local config_path="${1:-${FRINKLOOP_DIR:-}/config.yaml}"
+  if [ ! -f "$config_path" ]; then
+    echo "none"
+    return 0
+  fi
+  local level
+  level=$(yq -r '.compression // "none"' "$config_path" 2>/dev/null || echo "none")
+  echo "${level:-none}"
+}

plugin/plugin.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "frinkloop",
-  "version": "0.1.0",
+  "version": "0.9.0",
   "description": "Autonomous MVP development for Claude Code: intake → scaffold → build → verify → deliver. Token-friendly, parallel, learns locally.",
   "author": "Fernando Leyra",
   "license": "MIT",

plugin/skills/mvp-loop/SKILL.md

@@ -50,10 +50,22 @@ Read `config.yaml` at start. If `tdd: true` (commercial mode default), every `ki
 
 If `config.yaml` has `hitl: milestones`, after each milestone is marked done, set `status=paused` and emit a one-line summary. The Stop hook will exit. The user runs `/frinkloop resume <project>` to continue.
 
-## Compression
+## Compression (Plan 9)
 
 Read `config.yaml`. If `compression ∈ {lite, full, ultra}`, prepend a caveman directive to subagent prompts when dispatching. Loop narration itself stays uncompressed.
 
+```bash
+source plugin/lib/caveman.sh
+compression=$(read_compression_level)
+builder_prompt=$(caveman_prefix "$compression" "$raw_builder_prompt")
+# Then dispatch the builder subagent with builder_prompt
+```
+
+The three levels:
+- `lite` — terse prose, no filler
+- `full` — caveman-style telegraphic
+- `ultra` — 1-3 word answers, abbreviate everything
+
 ## Parallel fan-out (Plan 4)
 
 When `pick_parallel_batch 10` returns ≥2 task ids, the loop dispatches multiple builder subagents simultaneously via the Task tool, capped at 10 per Claude Code limit.

tests/plan-9/test_polish.bats

@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bats
+
+setup() {
+  PLUGIN_DIR="$(cd "$BATS_TEST_DIRNAME/../../plugin" && pwd)"
+  export PLUGIN_DIR
+  TMPDIR=$(mktemp -d)
+  export FRINKLOOP_DIR="$TMPDIR/.frinkloop"
+  mkdir -p "$FRINKLOOP_DIR"
+  source "$PLUGIN_DIR/lib/caveman.sh"
+}
+
+teardown() { rm -rf "$TMPDIR"; }
+
+@test "caveman_prefix none returns prompt unchanged" {
+  result=$(caveman_prefix none "do the thing")
+  [ "$result" = "do the thing" ]
+}
+
+@test "caveman_prefix empty string returns prompt unchanged" {
+  result=$(caveman_prefix "" "hello world")
+  [ "$result" = "hello world" ]
+}
+
+@test "caveman_prefix lite prepends terse directive" {
+  result=$(caveman_prefix lite "build the feature")
+  echo "$result" | grep -q "COMPRESS"
+  echo "$result" | grep -q "build the feature"
+}
+
+@test "caveman_prefix full prepends caveman directive" {
+  result=$(caveman_prefix full "implement login form")
+  echo "$result" | grep -qi "CAVEMAN"
+  echo "$result" | grep -q "implement login form"
+}
+
+@test "caveman_prefix ultra prepends ultra directive" {
+  result=$(caveman_prefix ultra "add button")
+  echo "$result" | grep -qi "ULTRA"
+  echo "$result" | grep -q "add button"
+}
+
+@test "caveman_prefix unknown level returns prompt unchanged" {
+  result=$(caveman_prefix bogus "test prompt")
+  [ "$result" = "test prompt" ]
+}
+
+@test "read_compression_level returns none when no config.yaml" {
+  run read_compression_level "/nonexistent/config.yaml"
+  [ "$output" = "none" ]
+}
+
+@test "read_compression_level reads from config.yaml" {
+  printf 'compression: full\n' > "$FRINKLOOP_DIR/config.yaml"
+  run read_compression_level "$FRINKLOOP_DIR/config.yaml"
+  [ "$output" = "full" ]
+}
+
+@test "plugin.json version is 0.9.0" {
+  run jq -r '.version' "$PLUGIN_DIR/plugin.json"
+  [ "$output" = "0.9.0" ]
+}
+
+@test "plugin README has Acknowledgements section" {
+  grep -q "Acknowledgements\|acknowledgements" "$PLUGIN_DIR/README.md"
+}
+
+@test "plugin README acknowledges Ralph Loop" {
+  grep -q -i "ralph\|Ralph" "$PLUGIN_DIR/README.md"
+}
+
+@test "mvp-loop SKILL.md has concrete caveman dispatch example" {
+  grep -q "caveman_prefix" "$PLUGIN_DIR/skills/mvp-loop/SKILL.md"
+  grep -q "read_compression_level" "$PLUGIN_DIR/skills/mvp-loop/SKILL.md"
+}
+
+@test "stop hook exit 2 convention is documented" {
+  grep -q "exit 2" "$PLUGIN_DIR/hooks/stop.sh"
+}