---
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):
```bash
export PONYTAIL_DEFAULT_MODE=ultra
```

**Config file** (`~/.config/ponytail/config.json`, Windows: `%APPDATA%\ponytail\config.json`):
```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](https://github.com/DietrichGebert/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`](https://github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail/commit/40e50d9e03242aa5dd53ac771950f9127362b25f)
(full SHA `40e50d9e03242aa5dd53ac771950f9127362b25f`).

- **License:** MIT. Copyright (c) 2026 DietrichGebert. Full text: [`../ponytail/LICENSE`](../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.
