Summary
A one-shot reference card for the ponytail family: its modes, skills, and commands in one place. It simply prints the cheat sheet — it does not switch modes or persist any state.
Install to Claude Code
npx -y skills add DietrichGebert/ponytail --skill ponytail-help --agent claude-codeInstalls into .claude/skills of the current project.
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SKILL.mdView on GitHub
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-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If /plugin is not recognized, your Claude Code is out of date.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
Featured
Agent, run crypto. Access onchain data & trade routes via 1inch.
Install now →On Capafy, your Skill runs online 24/7 as an agent product, and you get paid every time someone uses it.
Start earning →Connect Claude to +800M contacts, +150M companies. Find & Enrich leads in chat.
Try For Free →Integrate web data into your AI product. One API to scrape website & brand data.
Get API Key Now →
