Quick-reference card for all ponytail modes, skills, and commands. One-shot display, not a persistent mode. Trigger: /ponytail-help, "ponytail help", "what ponytail commands", "how do I use ponytail".

Ponytail Help Display this reference card when invoked. One shot, do NOT change mode, write flag files, or persist anything. Levels Level Trigger What change Lite /ponytail lite Build what's asked, name the lazier alternative in one line. Full /ponytail The ladder enforced: YAGNI → stdlib → native → one line → minimum. Default. Ultra /ponytail ultra YAGNI extremist. Deletion before addition. Challenges requirements before building. Level sticks until changed or session end. Skills Skill Trigger What it does ponytail /ponytail Lazy mode itself. Simplest solution that works. ponytail review /ponytail review Over engineering review: L42: yagni: factory, one product. Inline. ponytail audit /ponytail audit Whole repo over engineering audit: ranked list of what to delete. ponytail debt /ponytail debt Harvest ponytail: shortcut comments into a tracked ledger. ponytail gain /ponytail gain Measured impact scoreboard: less code, less cost, more speed. ponytail help /ponytail help This card. Codex uses @ponytail , @ponytail review , and @ponytail help ; Claude Code and OpenCode use the slash command forms above (OpenCode ships all six as slash commands). Deactivate Say "stop ponytail" or "normal mode". Resume anytime with /ponytail . /ponytail off also works. Configure Default Mode Default mode = full , auto active every session. Change it: Environment variable (highest priority): Config file ( ~/.config/ponytail/config.json , Windows: %APPDATA%\ponytail\config.json ): Set "off" to disable auto activation on session start, activate manually with /ponytail when wanted. Resolution: env var config file full . Update Enable auto update once: open /plugin , go to Marketplaces, pick ponytail, Enable auto update. Claude Code then pulls new versions at startup (run /reload plugins when it prompts). Manual refresh: /plugin marketplace update ponytail then /reload plugins . If /plugin is not recognized, your Claude Code is out of date. Update it ( npm install g @anthropic ai/claude code@latest , or brew upgrade claude code ) and restart. Other hosts use their own update flow. More Full docs + examples: https://github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail