> Harvest every `ponytail:` comment in the codebase into a debt ledger, so the deliberate shortcuts and deferrals ponytail leaves behind get tracked instead of rotting into \"later means never\". Use when the user says \"ponytail debt\", \"/ponytail-debt\", \"what did ponytail defer\", \"list the shortcuts\", \"ponytail ledger\", or \"what did we mark to do later\". One-shot report, changes nothing.
Installs into .claude/skills of the current project.
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---
name: ponytail-debt
description: "> Harvest every `ponytail:` comment in the codebase into a debt ledger, so the deliberate shortcuts and deferrals ponytail leaves behind get tracked instead of rotting into \"later means never\". Use when the user says \"ponytail debt\", \"/ponytail-debt\", \"what did ponytail defer\", \"list the shortcuts\", \"ponytail ledger\", or \"what did we mark to do later\". One-shot report, changes nothing."
category: engineering-core
source_repo: DietrichGebert/ponytail
source_path: "skills/ponytail-debt/SKILL.md"
source_url: https://github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail/blob/HEAD/skills/ponytail-debt/SKILL.md
---
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.
---
**Source:** [`DietrichGebert/ponytail`](https://github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail) → `skills/ponytail-debt/SKILL.md`
**Also appears in:** `DietrichGebert/ponytail/.openclaw/skills/ponytail-debt/SKILL.md`
