Ponytail help skill

Quick reference for ponytail's modes, skills, and commands.

by DietrichGebert·MIT license·★ 153,538 Stars on the repo·GitHub ↗

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Ponytail Help

Display this reference card when invoked. One-shot, do NOT change mode, write flag files, or persist anything.

Levels

Level	Trigger	What change
Lite	`/ponytail lite`	Build what's asked, name the lazier alternative in one line.
Full	`/ponytail`	The ladder enforced: YAGNI → stdlib → native → one line → minimum. Default.
Ultra	`/ponytail ultra`	YAGNI extremist. Deletion before addition. Challenges requirements before building.

Level sticks until changed or session end.

Skills

Skill	Trigger	What it does
ponytail	`/ponytail`	Lazy mode itself. Simplest solution that works.
ponytail-review	`/ponytail-review`	Over-engineering review: `L42: yagni: factory, one product. Inline.`
ponytail-audit	`/ponytail-audit`	Whole-repo over-engineering audit: ranked list of what to delete.
ponytail-debt	`/ponytail-debt`	Harvest `ponytail:` shortcut comments into a tracked ledger.
ponytail-gain	`/ponytail-gain`	Measured-impact scoreboard: less code, less cost, more speed.
ponytail-help	`/ponytail-help`	This card.

In Codex CLI and the IDE extension, invoke skills with $ponytail, $ponytail-review, or $ponytail-help. Claude Code and OpenCode use the slash-command forms above (OpenCode ships all six as slash commands).

Deactivate

Say "stop ponytail" or "normal mode". Resume anytime with /ponytail. /ponytail off also works.

Configure Default Mode

Default mode = full, auto-active every session. Change it:

Environment variable (highest priority):

export PONYTAIL_DEFAULT_MODE=ultra

Config file (~/.config/ponytail/config.json, Windows: %APPDATA%\ponytail\config.json):

{ "defaultMode": "lite" }

Set "off" to disable auto-activation on session start, activate manually with /ponytail when wanted.

Resolution: env var > config file > full.

Update

Enable auto-update once: open /plugin, go to Marketplaces, pick ponytail, Enable auto-update. Claude Code then pulls new versions at startup (run /reload-plugins when it prompts). Manual refresh: /plugin marketplace update ponytail then /reload-plugins.

If /plugin is not recognized, your Claude Code is out of date. Update it (npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code@latest, or brew upgrade claude-code) and restart. Other hosts use their own update flow.

Full docs + examples: https://github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail

1	---
2	name: ponytail-help
3	description: "Quick reference for ponytail's modes, skills, and commands. One-shot display."
4	homepage: https://github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail
5	license: MIT
6	---
7
8	# Ponytail Help
9
10	Display this reference card when invoked. One-shot, do NOT change mode,
11	write flag files, or persist anything.
12
13	## Levels
14
15	\| Level \| Trigger \| What change \|
16	\|-------\|---------\|-------------\|
17	\| Lite \| `/ponytail lite` \| Build what's asked, name the lazier alternative in one line. \|
18	\| Full \| `/ponytail` \| The ladder enforced: YAGNI → stdlib → native → one line → minimum. Default. \|
19	\| Ultra \| `/ponytail ultra` \| YAGNI extremist. Deletion before addition. Challenges requirements before building. \|
20
21	Level sticks until changed or session end.
22
23	## Skills
24
25	\| Skill \| Trigger \| What it does \|
26	\|-------\|---------\|--------------\|
27	\| ponytail \| `/ponytail` \| Lazy mode itself. Simplest solution that works. \|
28	\| ponytail-review \| `/ponytail-review` \| Over-engineering review: `L42: yagni: factory, one product. Inline.` \|
29	\| ponytail-audit \| `/ponytail-audit` \| Whole-repo over-engineering audit: ranked list of what to delete. \|
30	\| ponytail-debt \| `/ponytail-debt` \| Harvest `ponytail:` shortcut comments into a tracked ledger. \|
31	\| ponytail-gain \| `/ponytail-gain` \| Measured-impact scoreboard: less code, less cost, more speed. \|
32	\| ponytail-help \| `/ponytail-help` \| This card. \|
33
34	In Codex CLI and the IDE extension, invoke skills with `$ponytail`,
35	`$ponytail-review`, or `$ponytail-help`. Claude Code and OpenCode use the
36	slash-command forms above (OpenCode ships all six as slash commands).
37
38	## Deactivate
39
40	Say "stop ponytail" or "normal mode". Resume anytime with `/ponytail`.
41	`/ponytail off` also works.
42
43	## Configure Default Mode
44
45	Default mode = `full`, auto-active every session. Change it:
46
47	Environment variable (highest priority):
48	```bash
49	export PONYTAIL_DEFAULT_MODE=ultra
50	```
51
52	Config file (`~/.config/ponytail/config.json`, Windows: `%APPDATA%\ponytail\config.json`):
53	```json
54	{ "defaultMode": "lite" }
55	```
56
57	Set `"off"` to disable auto-activation on session start, activate manually
58	with `/ponytail` when wanted.
59
60	Resolution: env var > config file > `full`.
61
62	## Update
63
64	Enable auto-update once: open `/plugin`, go to Marketplaces, pick ponytail, Enable auto-update. Claude Code then pulls new versions at startup (run `/reload-plugins` when it prompts). Manual refresh: `/plugin marketplace update ponytail` then `/reload-plugins`.
65
66	If `/plugin` is not recognized, your Claude Code is out of date. Update it (`npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code@latest`, or `brew upgrade claude-code`) and restart. Other hosts use their own update flow.
67
68	## More
69
70	Full docs + examples: https://github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail
71

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