ponytail▋
He says nothing. He writes one line. It works.
// A ruleset that makes your AI coding agent write the least code that works — like a senior dev who's been paged at 3am one too many times.
Something's coming. Be the first to know.→the_whole_idea
Your agent reaches for fifty lines. The job needs one.
- class CacheManager:- def __init__(self, ttl, maxsize):- self._store, self._lock = {}, Lock()- # ...44 more lines you maintain forever+ @lru_cache(maxsize=1000)+ def fetch(...): ...
// same behavior. 48 fewer lines. zero bugs in code that no longer exists.
the_ladder
Stop at the first rung that holds.
- Does this need to exist? Speculative need = skip it. (YAGNI)
- Already in this codebase? Reuse the helper, util, or pattern that already lives here.
- Does the standard library do it? Use it.
- Native platform feature covers it?
<input type="date">over a picker lib. - Already-installed dependency solves it? Use it. Don't add a new one.
- Can it be one line? One line.
- Only then: the minimum code that works.
benchmarks
Less code. Fewer tokens. Same safety.
// medians across 12 feature tasks on a FastAPI + React repo.
// validation, error handling, security and accessibility are never simplified away.
install
Two lines for Claude Code.
/plugin marketplace add DietrichGebert/ponytail
/plugin install ponytail@ponytail
codex
codex plugin marketplace add DietrichGebert/ponytailcopilot cli
copilot plugin install ponytail@ponytailgemini cli
gemini extensions install github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytailpi harness
pi install git:github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail// also OpenCode, Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, Kiro, Zed and more — 14+ agents.
// full list in the README.
commands
Drive it from chat.
intensity
Pick how lazy.
"lite"
Builds what you asked, names the lazier alternative in one line. You pick.
"full"
The ladder, enforced. Stdlib and native first. Shortest diff, shortest explanation.
"ultra"
YAGNI extremist. Ships the one-liner and challenges the rest of the requirement in the same breath.