Ponytail: Lazy Senior Engineer Skill

Sep 07, 2026 08:18 AM - 1 week ago 6

~/ponytail README.md built.md

He says nothing. He writes 1 line. It works.

// A ruleset that makes your AI coding supplier constitute the slightest codification that useful — for illustration a elder dev who's been paged astatine 3am 1 excessively galore times.

Something's coming. Be the first to know.→

the_whole_idea

Your supplier reaches for 50 lines. The occupation needs one.

cache.py−48 +1

- people CacheManager:- def __init__(self, ttl, maxsize):- self._store, self._lock = {}, Lock()- # ...44 much lines you support forever+ @lru_cache(maxsize=1000)+ def fetch(...): ...

// aforesaid behavior. 48 less lines. zero bugs successful codification that nary longer exists.

the_ladder

Stop astatine the first rung that holds.

Does this request to exist? Speculative request = skip it. (YAGNI)
Already successful this codebase? Reuse the helper, util, aliases shape that already lives here.
Does the modular room do it? Use it.
Native level characteristic covers it? <input type="date"> complete a picker lib.
Already-installed dependency solves it? Use it. Don't adhd a caller one.
Can it beryllium 1 line? One line.
Only then: the minimum codification that works.

benchmarks

Less code. Fewer tokens. Same safety.

install

Two lines for Claude Code.

# Claude Code
/plugin marketplace adhd DietrichGebert/ponytail
/plugin instal ponytail@ponytail

codex

codex plugin marketplace adhd DietrichGebert/ponytail

copilot cli

copilot plugin instal ponytail@ponytail

gemini cli

gemini extensions instal github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail

pi harness

pi instal git:github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail

commands

Drive it from chat.

/ponytail lite\|full\|ultra\|off	set intensity, aliases move it off
/ponytail-review	find over-engineering successful the existent diff
/ponytail-audit	scan the full repo for bloat
/ponytail-debt	collect deferred shortcuts into a ledger
/ponytail-gain	show the benchmark scoreboard
/ponytail-help	quick bid reference