ponytail-help

SKILL.md

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-gain
/ponytail-gain
Measured-impact scoreboard: less code, less cost, more speed.

ponytail-help
/ponytail-help
This card.

Codex uses @ponytail, @ponytail-review, and @ponytail-help; Claude Code
and OpenCode use the slash-command forms above (OpenCode ships /ponytail and
/ponytail-review).

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If /plugin is not recognized, your Claude Code is out of date.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.

More

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