Ponytail Debt

When you deliberately cut corners in code, you usually leave a comment saying "we'll fix this later," and later never comes. This skill hunts down every comment prefixed with `ponytail:` in your codebase and compiles them into a single debt ledger. The convention expects each marker to name a ceiling (the limit of the shortcut) and an upgrade path (what triggers revisiting it). Run it when you need to see what got deferred, especially before releases or planning cycles. It's read-only and flags the dangerous ones that have no trigger condition, since those are the shortcuts that silently rot into permanent technical debt. Simple grep-based reporting that surfaces deliberate trade-offs you actually documented instead of letting them fade into folklore.

skills.sh installs: 52.5K
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last updated: Aug 21, 2026

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Install

$ npx -y skills add dietrichgebert/ponytail --skill ponytail-debt --agent claude-code

Installs into .claude/skills of the current project.

Files

Every deliberate ponytail shortcut is marked with a shortcut: comment naming its ceiling and upgrade path (older code may say ponytail:). This collects them into one ledger so a deferral can't quietly become permanent.

Scan

Grep the repo for comment markers, skipping .git and everything the .gitignore files ignore (dependencies, build output, caches, in any stack):

git grep --no-index --exclude-standard -nE '(#|//|/[*]) ?(shortcut|ponytail):' (add other comment prefixes if your stack uses them)

If the user names their own marker word (/ponytail-debt TODO), grep for that word instead.

Each hit is one ledger row. The comment prefix keeps prose that merely mentions the convention out of the ledger. Skip hits that are not a deferral, like a note about a keyboard shortcut.

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 shortcut: <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>.

SKILL.md on GitHub