| name | ponytail-help |
| description | Quick-reference card for all ponytail modes, skills, and commands. One-shot display, not a persistent mode. Trigger: /ponytail-help, "ponytail help", "what ponytail commands", "how do I use ponytail".
|
| license | MIT |
| metadata | {"vendored-from":"https://github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail","vendored-commit":"40e50d9e03242aa5dd53ac771950f9127362b25f","vendored-commit-short":"40e50d9","vendored-source-path":"skills/ponytail-help/SKILL.md","vendored-license":"MIT"} |
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. |
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
OMK Vendoring Notice
This skill is vendored from the upstream Ponytail
project (npm: @dietrichgebert/ponytail) as a pure markdown OMK skill, copied unmodified in
substance from skills/ponytail-help/SKILL.md at pinned commit
40e50d9
(full SHA 40e50d9e03242aa5dd53ac771950f9127362b25f).
- License: MIT. Copyright (c) 2026 DietrichGebert. Full text:
../ponytail/LICENSE
(this repo's vendored copy, kept alongside the primary ponytail skill) and the upstream
LICENSE file at the pinned commit.
- Scope: only the six
skills/*/SKILL.md files were vendored. Upstream's Node/Python
extension code (pi-extension/, hooks/*.js, ponytail-mcp/), the Hermes Agent plugin
(__init__.py, plugin.yaml), command/hook manifests, and marketplace/CI tooling are
not included in OMK. Nothing in this skill executes code; it is inert markdown loaded
into the system prompt.
- Invocation in OMK: use
/skill:ponytail-help or !skill:ponytail-help (shorthand
!ponytail-help also works when unambiguous), per packages/coding-agent/docs/skills.md.
The bare /ponytail-help slash form and the @ponytail forms referenced above describe the
upstream multi-host package's own command surface (Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, etc.) and
are not OMK commands.
- On the "Update" section above: it documents the upstream project's own Claude Code
plugin-marketplace auto-update flow (
/plugin, Enable auto-update, /reload-plugins,
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code@latest). That flow does not apply to this
vendored static copy: there is no /plugin command, marketplace, or auto-update mechanism
in OMK. To pick up upstream changes here, re-vendor against a newer pinned commit.
