ponytail-debt
bydietrichgebert· 6 skills
Harvest every ponytail: shortcut comment into one debt ledger, so deferrals get tracked instead of forgotten. One-shot report.
How to install ponytail-debt?
dietrichgebert/ponytail/ponytail-debt
$npx -y skills add dietrichgebert/ponytail --skill ponytail-debtInstalls into the current project.
›Prefer a prompt? Paste this to your agent
Run `npx skills use "https://github.com/dietrichgebert/ponytail" --skill "dietrichgebert/ponytail/ponytail-debt"` and follow the generated skill instructions now. Read its complete output, redirecting it to a temporary file first if necessary. Resolve relative paths from the supporting-files directory it provides.
Use the skills in "https://github.com/dietrichgebert/ponytail" that are relevant to the current task. Run `npx skills add "https://github.com/dietrichgebert/ponytail"` and select the relevant skills, then follow their instructions.
SKILL.md
| 1 | Every deliberate ponytail shortcut is marked with a `ponytail:` comment naming |
| 2 | its ceiling and upgrade path. This collects them into one ledger so a deferral |
| 3 | can't quietly become permanent. |
| 4 | |
| 5 | ## Scan |
| 6 | |
| 7 | Grep the repo for comment markers, skipping `node_modules`, `.git`, and build |
| 8 | output: |
| 9 | |
| 10 | `grep -rnE '(#|//) ?ponytail:' .` (add other comment prefixes if your stack uses them) |
| 11 | |
| 12 | Each hit is one ledger row. The comment prefix keeps prose that merely mentions |
| 13 | the convention out of the ledger. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | ## Output |
| 16 | |
| 17 | One row per marker, grouped by file: |
| 18 | |
| 19 | `<file>:<line>, <what was simplified>. ceiling: <the limit named>. upgrade: <the trigger to revisit>.` |
| 20 | |
| 21 | The convention is `ponytail: <ceiling>, <upgrade path>`, so pull the ceiling |
| 22 | and the trigger straight from the comment. Want an owner per row too? add |
| 23 | `git blame -L<line>,<line>`. |
| 24 | |
| 25 | Flag the rot risk: any `ponytail:` comment that names no upgrade path or |
| 26 | trigger gets a `no-trigger` tag, those are the ones that silently rot. |
| 27 | |
| 28 | End with `<N> markers, <M> with no trigger.` Nothing found: `No ponytail: debt. Clean ledger.` |
| 29 | |
| 30 | ## Boundaries |
| 31 | |
| 32 | Reads and reports only, changes nothing. To persist it, ask and it writes the |
| 33 | ledger to a file (e.g. `PONYTAIL-DEBT.md`). One-shot. "stop ponytail-debt" or |
| 34 | "normal mode" to revert. |
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