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AI Primer
💻 Developer Tools

ponytail

DietrichGebertby DietrichGebert1 month ago99.9k

Forces the laziest solution that actually works, simplest, shortest, most minimal. Channels a senior dev who has seen everything: question whether the task needs to exist at all (YAGNI), reach for the standard library before custom code, native platform features before dependencies, one line before fifty. Supports intensity levels: lite, full (default), ultra. Use on ANY coding task: writing, adding, refactoring, fixing, reviewing, or designing code, and choosing libraries or dependencies. Also use whenever the user says "ponytail", "be lazy", "lazy mode", "simplest solution", "minimal solution", "yagni", "do less", or "shortest path", or complains about over-engineering, bloat, boilerplate, or unnecessary dependencies. Do NOT use for non-coding requests (general knowledge, prose, translation, summaries, recipes).

Install

npx skills add https://github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail --skill ponytail
Show step-by-step
  1. 1

    Open your terminal

    • Mac: Press ⌘ Space, type "Terminal", press Enter
    • Windows: Press Win R, type "cmd", press Enter
  2. 2

    Paste the command above and press Enter

    Use the Copy command button, then paste in your terminal (Mac: ⌘V, Windows: Ctrl V).

  3. 3

    Restart Claude Code

    Close and reopen Claude Code, or start a new session, so it picks up the new skill.

Where it lives
~/.claude/skills/dietrichgebert--ponytail--skills--ponytail/
├── SKILL.md
└── ... (skill resource files)
View on GitHub

Comments

X@aibuilderclub_

"June 12, a dev posted a skill called "Ponytail" on Reddit. 1K stars overnight. 47K now. You ask for a date picker. Your agent installs flatpickr, wraps a..."

X@LLMpsycho

"Ponytail is an agent skill that stops AI coding agents from overengineering. Lazy senior dev rules: stdlib first, native features, one-liners. Benchmarked..."

Always review skill code before installing. Third-party skills may contain scripts that run on your machine.

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