| name | ponytail-debt |
| description | Use when the user wants to harvest every `ponytail:` comment in the codebase into a tracked debt ledger — says "ponytail debt", "/ponytail-debt", "what did ponytail defer", "list the shortcuts", "ponytail ledger", or "what did we mark to do later". One-shot report, changes nothing. Gated by the ponytail debt_ponytail component. |
| license | MIT |
| metadata | {"author":"ai-playbook (ported from DietrichGebert/ponytail, MIT)","version":"1.0"} |
ponytail-debt — harvest ponytail: shortcuts into a ledger
Every deliberate ponytail shortcut is marked with a ponytail: comment naming
its ceiling and upgrade path. This collects them into one ledger so a deferral
can't quietly become permanent ("later means never").
When to fire
- "ponytail debt", "what did ponytail defer", "list the shortcuts", "ponytail
ledger", "what did we mark to do later", or
/ponytail-debt.
Scan
Grep the repo for comment markers, skipping node_modules, .git, and build
output:
grep -rnE '(#|//) ?ponytail:' . (add other comment prefixes if your stack uses them)
Each hit is one ledger row. The comment prefix keeps prose that merely mentions
the convention out of the ledger.
Output contract
One row per marker, grouped by file:
<file>:<line> — <what was simplified>. ceiling: <the limit named>. upgrade: <the trigger to revisit>.
The convention is ponytail: <ceiling>, <upgrade path>, so pull the ceiling and
the trigger straight from the comment. Want an owner per row too? add
git blame -L<line>,<line>.
Flag the rot risk: any ponytail: comment that names no upgrade path or trigger
gets a no-trigger tag — those are the ones that silently rot.
End with <N> markers, <M> with no trigger. Nothing found: No ponytail: debt. Clean ledger.
Boundaries
Reads and reports only; changes nothing. To persist it, ask and it writes the
ledger to a file (e.g. PONYTAIL-DEBT.md). One-shot. "stop ponytail-debt" /
"normal mode" reverts.
See also
