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ponytail-debt

The ponytail-debt skill scans a repository for `ponytail:` comment markers that document technical shortcuts and their upgrade conditions, generating a ledger grouped by file that tracks deferred work and flags entries lacking upgrade triggers. Use this when you need visibility into deliberate simplifications that risk becoming permanent and want to prevent technical debt from accumulating silently across a codebase.

View source Repository: ponytail

Install in Claude Code

Copy

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail /tmp/ponytail-debt && cp -r /tmp/ponytail-debt/skills/ponytail-debt ~/.claude/skills/ponytail-debt

Then start a new Claude Code session; the skill loads automatically.

Definition

SKILL.md

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 `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

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.