Ponytail Help Agent Skill
Quick reference for ponytail's modes, skills, and commands. One-shot display.
Install
one command, takes just this skill from the repositorynpx skills add https://github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail --skill ponytail-helpThe instruction itself
7 sections, as written by the authorPonytail 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. |
Codex uses @ponytail, @ponytail-review, and @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If /plugin is not recognized, your Claude Code is out of date.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.
More
Full docs + examples: https://github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail
Other skills for the same job
different authors, same section of the catalogue
Create new skills, modify and improve existing skills, and measure skill performance. Use when users want to create a skill from scratch, edit, or optimize an existing skill, run evals to test a skill, benchmark skill performance with variance analysis, or optimize a skill's description for better triggering accuracy.
Guide for creating effective skills. This skill should be used when users want to create a new skill (or update an existing skill) that extends Claude's capabilities with specialized knowledge, workflows, or tool integrations.
Guide for creating effective skills. This skill should be used when users want to create a new skill (or update an existing skill) that extends Claude's capabilities with specialized knowledge, workflows, or tool integrations.
Use when facing 2+ independent tasks that can be worked on without shared state or sequential dependencies
Replace with description of the skill and when Claude should use it.
Use when creating new skills, editing existing skills, or verifying skills work before deployment
This skill should be used when the user wants to "create a skill", "add a skill to plugin", "write a new skill", "improve skill description", "organize skill content", or needs guidance on skill structure, progressive disclosure, or skill development best practices for Claude Code plugins.
Use when executing implementation plans with independent tasks in the current session
How to use it
Take dietrichgebert/ponytail-help from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal
use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.
The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the
same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.
The instructions reference npm.
Without those the skill loads but fails at the first command.