Harvest every `ponytail:` comment in the codebase into a debt ledger, so the deliberate shortcuts and deferrals ponytail leaves behind get tracked instead of rotting into "later means never". Use when the user says "ponytail debt", "/ponytail-debt", "what did ponytail defer", "list the shortcuts", "

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 . Flag the rot risk: any marker 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 shortcut 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.