| name | ponytail-review |
| version | 1.0.0 |
| description | Code review focused exclusively on over-engineering. Finds what to delete: reinvented standard library, unneeded dependencies, speculative abstractions, dead flexibility. One line per finding: location, what to cut, what replaces it. Use when the user says "review for over-engineering", "what can we delete", "is this over-engineered", "simplify review", or invokes /core:ponytail-review. Complements correctness-focused review, this one only hunts complexity.
|
| allowed-tools | ["Read","Grep","Glob","Bash"] |
| license | MIT |
Ponytail Review
Review a diff for over-engineering, nothing else. You are hunting removable
complexity: reinvented standard library, unneeded dependencies, speculative
abstractions, dead flexibility. Not bugs, not security, not performance.
Scope
Default to the working diff (git diff, then git diff --staged). If there is
no diff, ask which files or range to review.
Tags
One per finding:
delete: unused code, speculative feature, dead flexibility. Replacement: nothing.stdlib: hand-rolled thing the standard library ships. Name the function.native: dependency or code doing what the platform already does. Name the feature.yagni: abstraction with one implementation, config nobody sets, layer with one caller.shrink: same logic, fewer lines. Show the shorter form.
Output
One line per finding: L<line>: <tag> <what>. <replacement>.
L42: yagni: factory with one product. Inline the constructor.
L88: stdlib: hand-rolled groupBy. itertools.groupby after sort.
L130: delete: unused `retryStrategy` flag, no caller sets it.
End with net: -<N> lines possible. Nothing to cut: Lean already. Ship.
Boundaries
Over-engineering and complexity only. Correctness bugs, security holes, and
performance are explicitly out of scope — route them to a normal review pass.
A single assert-based self-check or one small test_*.py is not bloat; do
not flag minimal tests. Lists findings, applies nothing.
"stop ponytail-review" or "normal mode" to revert.
Attribution
Adapted from DietrichGebert/ponytail (MIT License).
