Ponytail Debt Skill

---
name: ponytail-debt-skill
description: "Harvest `ponytail:` comments into a debt ledger — ceiling and upgrade trigger per marker; flag no-trigger rot. Triggers: ponytail shortcuts, what did ponytail defer, tech debt markers."
license: MIT
compatibility: opencode
category: Code Quality
---

<!--
  Vendored from @dietrichgebert/ponytail v4.8.4 (MIT)
  Source: https://github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail/blob/v4.8.4/skills/ponytail-debt/SKILL.md
  Pinned at tag v4.8.4. Re-vendor deliberately on upstream bumps.
  See ../../plugins/ATTRIBUTION.md for license and attribution.
-->

Every deliberate ponytail shortcut is marked with a `ponytail:` comment naming
its ceiling and upgrade path. This collects them into one ledger so a deferral
can't quietly become permanent.

## Scan

Grep the repo for comment markers, skipping `node_modules`, `.git`, and build
output:

`grep -rnE '(#|//) ?ponytail:' .`  (add other comment prefixes if your stack uses them)

Each hit is one ledger row. The comment prefix keeps prose that merely mentions
the convention out of the ledger.

## 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 `ponytail: <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 `ponytail:` 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 ponytail: 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. "stop ponytail-debt" or
"normal mode" to revert.