scwap

Super Caveman with a Ponytail (scwap)

One plugin, three core operating layers plus Impeccable UI craft: structured process, build restraint, disciplined prose, and frontend design checks.

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Support

Host	Status	Notes
Claude Code	Supported	Installs through Claude Code's plugin marketplace flow. Hooks provide startup context, /ponytail and /caveman toggles, Impeccable post-edit checks, and optional statusline support.
Codex	Supported	Installs through Codex's plugin marketplace flow. Skills load as scwap:*; hooks require explicit Codex trust before startup context and Impeccable design detector checks run. Windows hooks use commandWindows overrides.
Gemini / Copilot	Not shipped	Deferred until those harnesses have verified plugin or instruction-loading paths.

README.md is the public launch source of truth. Files under docs/archive/ are historical implementation notes and may describe superseded layouts.

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The Stack

Layer	Source	Controls
Superpowers	obra/superpowers	Process — how work is approached (plan, TDD, verify, review)
Ponytail	DietrichGebert/ponytail	Build restraint — how much gets built (scope gates, debt tracking)
Caveman	JuliusBrussee/caveman	Prose — how the agent talks (direct, no fluff, no filler)
Impeccable	pbakaus/impeccable	Frontend craft — design/product references, UI critique, live tooling, and post-edit anti-pattern detection

The first three layers are independently togglable. Impeccable adds a design skill, bundled runtime scripts, specialist agents, and a post-edit hook for UI files.

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Default Build Flow

brainstorm / plan  →  build the minimum  →  polish UI when relevant  →  prove correct (TDD / verify / review)

Mapped to bundled skills: brainstorming + writing-plans → build → impeccable for frontend craft when UI is touched → test-driven-development + verification-before-completion + requesting-code-review. In Codex, those appear with the plugin prefix, e.g. scwap:brainstorming and scwap:impeccable.

The /scwap-flow skill documents how the layers compose and which one leads. rules/scwap-flow.md is a portable rule you can drop into a project's instructions (e.g. CLAUDE.md) to make the sequence explicit for that project.

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Install

Claude Code

Send these as two separate prompts, then restart Claude Code so hooks load:

/plugin marketplace add jetskicortez/scwap
/plugin install scwap@scwap

After restart, the status badge appears, the three core layers are active at their default levels, and Impeccable is available for UI/design work.

Codex

Add the marketplace, install/enable scwap@scwap from Codex's plugin UI, review/trust the plugin hooks when Codex prompts, then start a new Codex session:

codex plugin marketplace add jetskicortez/scwap

Codex loads the SCWAP operating layers from plugin hooks. No global ~/.codex/AGENTS.md block is required. Codex hook trust is explicit by design; if hooks are not trusted yet, run /hooks in a Codex build that exposes hook review and approve the current scwap hook definitions. The Impeccable design detector runs after Edit/Write/MultiEdit on UI files once those hooks are trusted.

For Windows, the plugin ships commandWindows hook entries that use PowerShell $env:PLUGIN_ROOT paths. Do not replace them with Unix-style ${PLUGIN_ROOT} commands; those resolve incorrectly under PowerShell.

Windows Codex CLI 0.125 note: if Git fails while cloning a \\?\... temp path, clone the repo yourself and add that local path instead:

git clone https://github.com/jetskicortez/scwap.git scwap
codex plugin marketplace add ./scwap

Maintainer Notes

scripts/local-install-claude-dev.sh is maintainer-only registry replication tooling for Claude Code smoke tests. Public users should use the install commands above.

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Toggles

Ponytail — controls build-scope discipline:

/ponytail lite
/ponytail full
/ponytail ultra
/ponytail off

Caveman — controls prose register:

/caveman lite
/caveman full
/caveman ultra
/caveman off

Superpowers process is always on while scwap is installed. Toggle ponytail and caveman independently based on context. Impeccable is skill-triggered for UI/product/design work and hook-triggered after relevant edits.

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Statusline (optional)

Wire the statusline hook to show a live badge — [SP] [PONY:x] [CAVE:x] — in Claude Code's status bar.

macOS / Linux — add to your statusLine setting:

hooks/scwap-statusline.sh

Windows — use the PowerShell variant:

hooks/scwap-statusline.ps1

The badge reflects the current mode of each layer at a glance.

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Credits / License

scwap is MIT licensed. It bundles three MIT-licensed projects and one Apache-2.0 project — full attribution in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.