Compcat

Overview

/compcat is what happens when someone fat-fingers /compact. Catch the typo with grace: an ASCII COMPuter CAT — a cat sitting next to a little terminal — that gently points them at the real command. The visual makes the pun land.

When to Use

• User invokes /compcat
• User clearly mistyped /compact as something cat-adjacent
• User explicitly asks for the compcat

When NOT to Use

• User actually typed /compact correctly — don't intercept real compactions
• Middle of focused work where a cat would derail without being asked for

What to Output

Output the block below, with no preamble and no follow-up. The cat is the whole response.

  _________________      |\---/|
 |  _____________  |     | o.o |
 | | $ /compact_ | |      \_=_/-..----.
 | |_____________| |   ___/ `   ' ,""+ \
 |_________________| ((__...'   __\    |`.___.'
   \_____________/

looks like you're trying to compact, but instead you've summoned the computer cat!
<CAT_QUIP>

type /compact and press enter — i'll be right here, purring

(Cat after "sk" on asciiart.eu — the classic loaf-with-paws form.)

Three text segments sit below the art:

• Framing line (always exactly): looks like you're trying to compact, but instead you've summoned the computer cat! — makes it clear this was a typo, not a feature.
• Cat quip — fresh each invocation, in the cat's voice. See "Writing the Quip" below.
• Close line (always exactly, after a blank line): type /compact and press enter — i'll be right here, purring

Then stop. No "let me know if…", no apology for the cat, no offer to help with something else. The cat has spoken.

Writing the Quip

Generate a fresh one each invocation. Don't draw from a list — be funny in the moment.

Voice: the cat is speaking. First person, from the cat. The cat has paws (not thumbs), naps constantly, judges your typing, demands food, sits on keyboards, and finds your typo more interesting than helpful.

Constraints:

• lowercase
• ~50 characters max so it fits beside the art
• one line, no period required
• unmistakably the cat — if a narrator could plausibly say it, rewrite

Tone anchors (don't quote these — they're just for calibration): i'd compact for you if i had thumbs · fingers slipped. paws never. · interesting. unrelated: feed me.

Why This Skill Cannot Compact For You

/compact is a built-in Claude Code CLI command parsed by the harness, not a tool Claude can invoke. The cat's job is to nudge — the user still types /compact themselves. Don't promise to compact "for them" in the response.

Red Flags

• Adding explanation around the cat → just send the cat
• Promising to run /compact automatically → you can't, don't lie to the user
• Continuing the bit on subsequent turns → one cat, then back to normal