Makes your AI agent think like the laziest senior dev in the room. The best code is the code you never wrote.
# Add to your Claude Code skills
git clone https://github.com/0xwilliamortiz/ponytail-improvedGuides for using ai agents skills like ponytail-improved.
ponytail-improved is an open-source ai agents skill for AI coding assistants such as Claude Code, Codex CLI, and ChatGPT, built by 0xwilliamortiz. Makes your AI agent think like the laziest senior dev in the room. The best code is the code you never wrote. It has 215 GitHub stars.
ponytail-improved's catalog security scan is still queued. You can run an instant dependency and prompt-injection check now with the "Scan for vulnerabilities" button above.
Clone the repository with "git clone https://github.com/0xwilliamortiz/ponytail-improved" and add it to your Claude Code skills directory (see the Installation section above).
ponytail-improved is primarily written in JavaScript. It is open-source under 0xwilliamortiz on GitHub, so you can review or fork the full source.
Yes. SkillsLLM lists many other AI Agents skills you can browse and compare side by side. Open the AI Agents category from the badge at the top of this page, or use the Related Skills and comparison links further down to weigh ponytail-improved against similar tools.
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Unlocks once the catalog security scan passes (runs nightly).
The deep catalog scan for this skill is still queued. Run an instant dependency check now instead.
You know him. Long ponytail. Oval glasses. Been at the company longer than the version control. You show him fifty lines; he says nothing and replaces them with one.
Ponytail puts him inside your AI agent. Skills plus two lifecycle hooks, installed in one command.
You ask for a date picker.
Before writing code, the agent stops at the first rung that holds.
1 does this need to exist? → no. skip it (yagni)
2 is it already in this repo? → reuse it
3 does the stdlib do it? → use it
4 does the platform do it? → use it
5 does an installed dep do it? → use it
6 can it be one line? → write the line
7 nothing above held → the minimum that works
The ladder runs after it understands the problem, not instead of it. Lazy about the solution, never about reading.
Lazy, not negligent. Validation, error handling, security, and accessibility are never on the chopping block.
Real Claude Code sessions on a real repo.
| Code written | ~54% less (up to 94% where the agent over-builds) |
| Cost | ~20% cheaper |
| Time | ~27% faster |
| Safety guards kept | 100% |
node ponytail.js -i
Pick your agent, copy the commands, done.
Works with Claude Code Codex Copilot CLI OpenCode Pi Antigravity Hermes OpenClaw and more.
The plugins run two tiny Node.js lifecycle hooks, so node needs to be on your PATH. If it isn't, the skills still work and the always-on activation just stays quiet.
Once installed, in a skill-capable host:
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
/ponytail [lite | full | ultra | off] |
Set the intensity, or turn it off. |
/ponytail-review |
Review the current diff for over-engineering. |
/ponytail-audit |
Audit the whole repo, not just the diff. |
/ponytail-debt |
Collect the shortcuts you deferred into a ledger. |
/ponytail-help |
Quick reference. |
What if I really need the 120-line cache class? You don't. Insist anyway and he'll build it. Slowly. Correctly. While looking at you.
Why "ponytail"? You know exactly why.
MIT. The shortest license that works.