Agent skill · software engineering · dietrichgebert
ponytail-debt
Harvest every ponytail: shortcut comment into one debt ledger, so deferrals get tracked instead of forgotten. One-shot report.
Why this skill is useful
Adds a specific command for tracking ponytail shortcuts in code, which the AI wouldn't reliably generate on its own.
What it needs
Requires grep installed locally. About 1k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-07-15. 97,533 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
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. Scan Grep the repo for comment markers, skipping nodemodules, .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 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" or "normal mode" to revert.
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills dietrichgebert/ponytail-debt