[caveman] Optimize instruction verbosity — token-optimization.md (2026-05-15)

[github-actions]

Caveman Optimization Run — 2026-05-15

Applies the caveman optimization principle to instruction files:

"Why use many token when few do trick."

Files Optimized

File	Before	After	Removed
.github/aw/token-optimization.md	452 lines / 16,925 chars	407 lines / 15,179 chars	Motivational bold subtitles, redundant "Why this saves tokens" bullet lists, and intro prose that restated adjacent code blocks (10.3% chars / 10.0% lines)

What Was Changed

Removed motivational subtitles like **The single biggest optimization.**, **Eliminates Docker startup overhead...**, **Delegate narrow, repetitive tasks...**, and **The cheapest run is the one you do not execute.** that added no schema signal for agents generating AW source. Compressed three-bullet "Why this saves tokens" lists into single sentences. Cut intro prose that just announced what an adjacent YAML/bash block already showed (e.g., "Run the baseline and the optimized variant, then diff them:" before a gh aw audit command).

What Was Preserved

All YAML frontmatter examples, field names (steps:, tools.github.mode, cli-proxy: true, model: small, cache-memory, repo-memory, experiments:, metric: "effective_tokens", observability.otlp, ${{ github.event.issue.number }}), do-this-not-that patterns, schema constraints, tables, and the Quick-Reference Checklist were kept intact.

Files Not Changed This Run

The following files in this batch were already concise and required no edits:

• .github/aw/triggers.md (165 lines — mostly YAML examples)
• .github/aw/visual-regression.md (58 lines — already small)
• .github/agents/adr-writer.agent.md (280 lines — procedural agent guidance, tight)
• .github/agents/contribution-checker.agent.md (136 lines — tight procedural steps)

Round-Robin Progress

Processed files 25–1 (with wrap) of 28 eligible files in the queue (first run — random start at index 25).

Generated by ⚡ Daily Caveman Optimizer · ● 21.3M · ◷

• expires on May 18, 2026, 9:10 PM UTC