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Get Started Free →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".
| Test case | Without → With | Effect | Δ tokens | Δ turns |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| case-17 | ✗→✓ | ▲ Improved | -22% | 0% |
| case-01 | ✗→✓ | ▲ Improved | 73% | 0% |
| case-02 | ✗→✓ | ▲ Improved | -25% | 0% |
| case-03 | ✗→✓ | ▲ Improved | -46% | 0% |
| case-04 | ✗→✓ | ▲ Improved | 0% | 0% |
Display this reference card when invoked. One-shot, do NOT change mode, write flag files, or persist anything.
| 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.
| 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).
Say "stop ponytail" or "normal mode". Resume anytime with /ponytail. /ponytail off also works.
Default mode = full, auto-active every session. Change it:
Environment variable (highest priority):
bashexport 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.
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.
Full docs + examples: https://github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail
Other measured skills in the registry, with their headline benchmark lift.