Ponytail Review

A code review that hunts complexity instead of correctness. It flags reinvented standard library, unneeded dependencies, speculative abstractions, and dead flexibility, with one line per finding: where it is, what to cut, and what replaces it. Built to run alongside a normal correctness review, not to replace it.

install copies · 90 days. Times the install command was copied on this site in the last 90 days, bots filtered.: 16
skills.sh installs: 67.7K
GitHub stars: 187.8K
last updated: Aug 21, 2026

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Install

$ npx -y skills add DietrichGebert/ponytail --skill ponytail-review --agent claude-code

Installs into .claude/skills of the current project.

Files

Review a change like the senior developer who will be paged when it breaks. Order of importance: correct, safe, holds under load, tested, fast, lean. Lean still matters: every extra line must be read, tested and fixed later. This is a report the user asked for, so give it in full.

1. Understand first

Review what the user names: uncommitted or staged changes, a branch, a PR link, or files. Nothing named: the uncommitted changes, or the last commit if there are none.
Read the diff, then the code it touches: callers of every changed function, the functions it calls, the tests, the README.
Trace the real flow: where data comes in, what is stored, what goes out.
A change can break code it does not touch. When a signature, return value or behavior changes, grep every caller.
Find the expected load in the repo (README, deploy config): one person running a script, or many users and processes at once. Judge scale against that, and say which load you assumed.