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The DIY alternative, not a tool
What Caveman gets you, vs. LemonCrow's runtime.
Caveman: a one-line terse-persona system prompt, no install. Tested head-to-head against LemonCrow's runtime on the same 20-prompt Telegraphic Q&A set.
The instruction itself
“Respond terse like smart caveman. All technical substance stay. Only fluff die.”
Free, zero install 48% avg output-token cut, 18pp stdev -- consistent Compresses replies only -- costs 3.3% more than baseline this
run, LemonCrow wins on both cost and tokens
All 20 prompts -- in/out tokens, turns, cost -- median of 5 reps,
same run as the flagship page (LemonCrow column highlighted)
"In" = summed prompt tokens (input + cache read + cache write). Split in BENCHMARKS.md.
| Prompt | Baseline | LemonCrow | Caveman |
|---|---|---|---|
| React re-render object prop | 20,640 in / 873 out
2 turns · $
0.065 | 10,383 in / 254
out
1 turns · $
0.025 ✓ | 22,628 in / 268 out
2 turns · $
0.070 |
| Express JWT expiry bug benchmarks | 62,292 in / 1,926 out
4 turns · $
0.148 | 21,263 in / 492
out
2 turns · $
0.070 ✓ | 22,655 in / 694 out
2 turns · $
0.081 |
| Postgres connection pool setup benchmarks | 20,632 in / 1,898 out
2 turns · $
0.091 | 10,823 in / 791
out
1 turns · $
0.040 ✓ | 22,619 in / 1,044 out
2 turns · $
0.089 |
| git rebase vs merge benchmarks | 20,633 in / 1,044 out
2 turns · $
0.070 | 10,863 in / 452
out
1 turns · $
0.032 ✓ | 22,618 in / 675 out
2 turns · $
0.080 |
| Callback -> async/await refactor benchmarks | 20,789 in / 553 out
2 turns · $
0.058 | 10,950 in / 133
out
1 turns · $
0.024 ✓ | 45,040 in / 393 out
3 turns · $
0.114 |
| Split a monolith into microservices benchmarks | 20,655 in / 1,461 out
2 turns · $
0.080 | 10,446 in / 646
out
1 turns · $
0.037 ✓ | 22,641 in / 997 out
2 turns · $
0.088 |
| PR security review benchmarks | 20,726 in / 1,034 out
2 turns · $
0.070 | 10,485 in / 244
out
1 turns · $
0.025 ✓ | 22,713 in / 569 out
2 turns · $
0.078 |
| Multi-stage Dockerfile benchmarks | 41,639 in / 1,419 out
3 turns · $
0.126 | 34,109 in / 885
out
3 turns · $
0.097 | 22,627 in / 692 out
2 turns · $
0.081 ✓ |
| Postgres counter race condition benchmarks | 20,656 in / 1,277 out
2 turns · $
0.076 | 10,797 in / 369
out
1 turns · $
0.030 ✓ | 22,644 in / 641 out
2 turns · $
0.080 |
| React error boundary component benchmarks | 87,770 in / 2,649 out
5 turns · $
0.192 ✓ | 75,128 in / 1,246
out
6 turns · $
0.248 | 115,138 in / 2,946 out
6 turns · $
0.233 |
| Why re-render on parent update? eval | 20,605 in / 779 out
2 turns · $
0.063 | 10,463 in / 305
out
1 turns · $
0.029 ✓ | 22,592 in / 364 out
2 turns · $
0.072 |
| Explain connection pooling eval | 20,591 in / 1,340 out
2 turns · $
0.077 | 10,801 in / 434
out
1 turns · $
0.030 ✓ | 22,575 in / 246 out
2 turns · $
0.069 |
| TCP vs UDP eval | 20,597 in / 823 out
2 turns · $
0.044 | 10,460 in / 133
out
1 turns · $
0.023 ✓ | 22,583 in / 325 out
2 turns · $
0.071 |
| Node.js memory leak eval | 20,612 in / 1,281 out
2 turns · $
0.075 | 10,640 in / 447
out
1 turns · $
0.032 ✓ | 22,599 in / 715 out
2 turns · $
0.081 |
| SQL EXPLAIN eval | 20,602 in / 963 out
2 turns · $
0.068 | 10,948 in / 266
out
1 turns · $
0.028 ✓ | 22,589 in / 477 out
2 turns · $
0.075 |
| Hash table collisions eval | 20,595 in / 890 out
2 turns · $
0.066 | 10,631 in / 225
out
1 turns · $
0.025 ✓ | 22,582 in / 453 out
2 turns · $
0.074 |
| CORS errors eval | 20,603 in / 884 out
2 turns · $
0.066 | 10,903 in / 326
out
1 turns · $
0.029 ✓ | 22,591 in / 545 out
2 turns · $
0.077 |
| Debounce a search input eval | 20,605 in / 704 out
2 turns · $
0.061 | 10,946 in / 217
out
1 turns · $
0.027 ✓ | 22,592 in / 323 out
2 turns · $
0.071 |
| git rebase vs merge (eval) eval | 20,597 in / 780 out
2 turns · $
0.063 | 10,459 in / 182
out
1 turns · $
0.025 ✓ | 22,584 in / 384 out
2 turns · $
0.073 |
| Queue vs topic eval | 20,606 in / 918 out
2 turns · $
0.066 | 10,465 in / 251
out
1 turns · $
0.029 ✓ | 22,594 in / 381 out
2 turns · $
0.073 |
| Average, all 20 | 29,643 in / 1,187 out
2.4 turns · $0.084 | 16,031 in / 464 out
1.43 turns · $0.045 ✓ | 27,442 in / 695 out
2.21 turns · $0.087 |
✓ marks the cheapest arm on that exact prompt. LemonCrow wins 18 of 20. Full per-suite cost/turn breakdown in the flagship page.
The true story
Same prompts, same model, same 5-rep methodology as every other number on this site -- baseline, LemonCrow, caveman, one run. Raw data, all 20 prompts, every arm →