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Quick reference for ponytail's modes, skills, and commands. One-shot display.
Install with Codex or Claude Copy this prompt, paste it into Codex, Claude, or another assistant, and let it review the skill page and install it for you.
Based on SOC occupation classification
Lazy senior dev mode for any coding task (write, refactor, fix, review): YAGNI, stdlib first, no unrequested abstractions. Not for non-coding requests.
Use this skill whenever the user wants to create or improve a presentation for an academic context — conference papers, seminar talks, thesis defenses, grant briefings, lab meetings, invited lectures, or any presentation where the audience will evaluate reasoning and evidence. Triggers include: 'conference talk', 'seminar slides', 'thesis defense', 'research presentation', 'academic deck', 'academic presentation'. Also triggers when the user asks to 'make slides' in combination with academic content (e.g., 'make slides for my paper on X', 'create a presentation for my dissertation defense', 'build a deck for my grant proposal'). This skill governs CONTENT and STRUCTURE decisions. For the technical work of creating or editing the .pptx file itself, also read the pptx SKILL.md.
| name | ponytail-help |
| description | Quick reference for ponytail's modes, skills, and commands. One-shot display. |
| homepage | https://github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail |
| license | MIT |
Display this reference card when invoked. One-shot, do NOT change mode, write flag files, or persist anything.
| 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.
| 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).
Say "stop ponytail" or "normal mode". Resume anytime with /ponytail.
/ponytail off also works.
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.
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