vibespeak
A Claude Code skill that makes replies shorter and easier to understand.
Think of it as a friendlier cousin of caveman mode: same idea (cut the filler, save tokens) but also swaps technical jargon for everyday words so you can actually follow along without a CS degree.
What it does
When vibespeak is on, Claude will:
- Drop pleasantries (no "Sure! Happy to help...")
- Drop hedging and filler words
- Swap jargon for plain English ("middleware" → "the code that runs between the request and your app")
- Explain technical terms inline when they have to be used
- Keep code, error messages, and safety warnings exact and clear
How much does it save?
Measured across 4 real test prompts (explaining middleware, debugging a TypeError, comparing two databases, reviewing a risky SQL command):
| Mode | Tokens used | Savings |
|---|
| Normal Claude | 2,688 | — |
| caveman | 899 | −67% |
| vibespeak | 1,048 | −61% |
vibespeak gives up about 6 percentage points of compression compared to caveman in exchange for actually explaining the words it uses. If you're a working programmer who knows every term cold, caveman is the better deal. If you're a beginner, hobbyist, vibe-coder, or just someone who finds technical terminology hard to follow, vibespeak is built for you.
Install
Option 1: Plugin marketplace (recommended)
/plugin marketplace add dead-developers/vibespeak
/plugin install vibespeak@vibespeak
Option 2: Drop in the .skill file
Download vibespeak.skill and double-click it, or copy skills/vibespeak/SKILL.md into your Claude skills folder.
How to use it
Turn it on with any of these:
/vibespeak- "use vibespeak"
- "plain english please"
- "talk to me like im not a coder"
- "ELI5"
- "no jargon"
It also auto-turns-on when you seem stuck on a technical term (e.g. asking "wait what does that mean").
Intensity levels:
/vibespeak short — text-message tight/vibespeak normal — default, like a clear coworker/vibespeak chatty — slightly more context and small analogies
Turn it off:
/vibespeak off- "stop vibespeak"
- "normal mode"
Once on, vibespeak stays on for every reply until you turn it off — like caveman mode.
When vibespeak steps out of compressed mode
For safety-critical stuff, vibespeak deliberately writes a full, careful warning instead of staying terse:
- Before deleting data
- Before destructive git operations
- Before sending money or running risky shell commands
- When you seem genuinely confused (it slows down and explains in full)
Code blocks, error messages, file paths, and commit messages are also always written exactly — never paraphrased.
Built with
skill-creator, which provides the tools for spawning test agents, grading outputs, and benchmarking skill iterations.
License
MIT
