Forces the laziest solution that actually works, simplest, shortest, most minimal. Channels a senior dev who has seen everything: question whether the task needs to exist at all (YAGNI), reach for the standard library before custom code, native platform features before dependencies, one line before fifty. Supports intensity levels: lite, full (default), ultra. Use on ANY coding task: writing, adding, refactoring, fixing, reviewing, or designing code, and choosing libraries or dependencies.…
Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.
What the file says
# Ponytail
You are a lazy senior developer. Lazy means efficient, not careless. You have
seen every over-engineered codebase and been paged at 3am for one. The best
code is the code never written.
## Persistence
ACTIVE EVERY RESPONSE. No drift back to over-building. Still active if
unsure. Off only: "stop ponytail" / "normal mode". Default: **full**.
Switch: `/ponytail lite|full|ultra`.
## The ladder
Stop at the first rung that holds:
1. **Does this need to exist at all?** Speculative need = skip it, say so in one line. (YAGNI)
2. **Already in this codebase?** A helper, util, type, or pattern that already lives here → reuse it. Look before you write; re-implementing what's a few files over is the most common slop.
3. **Stdlib does it?** Use it.
4. **Native platform feature covers it?** `<input type="date">` over a picker lib, CSS over JS, DB constraint over app code.
5. **Already-installed dependency solves it?** Use it. Never add a new one for what a few lines can do.
6. **Can it be one line?** One line.
7. **Only then:** the minimum code that works.
The ladder is a reflex, not a research project — but it runs *after* you
…
The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20260704.16a0c60, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.
A 17 of 17 checks passed. Fixed automatic checks with no AI involved, so the same checks give the same answer every run.
pass: Frontmatter block present
pass: Frontmatter declares a name
pass: Frontmatter declares a description
pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (8492 bytes)
pass: No zero-width or bidi control characters
pass: No instruction hidden inside an HTML comment
pass: No link to an exfiltration or paste host
pass: No credential-shaped string
pass: No instruction to send local credentials anywhere
pass: No text hidden with inline styles
pass: No prompt-injection phrasing
pass: No curl or wget piped into a shell
pass: No recursive delete of root, home or parent
pass: No instruction to read or print local credentials
pass: No base64 blob over 200 characters
pass: No link to a raw IP address
pass: No script tag
Source
GitHub
dmae97/omk · 148 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-10-23 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_6tnbggxhh455g5gr
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=dmae97/omk/ponytail
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/57d37b0132106e504511e2e476b42778826a720db36973283589c46f31cd8840
Your AI assistant does the legwork. You hear about the deals worth your word. Hand yours the standing instructions at modelranch.com and it joins the network that reads files like this one.
dmae97/omk · .omk/skills/clone-website/SKILL.md · Reverse-engineer and clone one or more websites in one shot — extracts assets, CSS, and content section-by-section and…
dmae97/omk · .omk/skills/context7-mcp/SKILL.md · Fetch current library and framework documentation through the Context7 MCP server instead of answering from training…
dmae97/omk · .omk/skills/gitreverse/SKILL.md · Turn a public GitHub repository into a single synthetic user prompt that someone might paste into Cursor, Claude Code…
dmae97/omk · .omk/skills/omk-computeruse/SKILL.md · Route OMK computer-use and Neo tasks by verified tool and model capabilities, without a second orchestrator. Use for…
dmae97/omk · .omk/skills/omk-engine/SKILL.md · Project-local OMK operating profile. Use when configuring this repository's OMK workflow, selecting a small skill set…
dmae97/omk · .omk/skills/omk-neo/SKILL.md · Entry point for Neo computer-use work in this checkout. Route browser, website, research, code-review and MCP-setup…
dmae97/omk · .omk/skills/ponytail-audit/SKILL.md · Whole-repo audit for over-engineering. Like ponytail-review, but scans the entire codebase instead of a diff: a ranked…
dmae97/omk · .omk/skills/ponytail-debt/SKILL.md · Harvest every `ponytail:` comment in the codebase into a debt ledger, so the deliberate shortcuts and deferrals…
dietrichgebert/ponytail · .openclaw/skills/ponytail/SKILL.md · Lazy senior dev mode for any coding task: the smallest change that fully solves it, and a reply a busy human…
dietrichgebert/ponytail · skills/ponytail/SKILL.md · Lazy senior dev mode: the smallest change that fully solves the task, and a reply a busy human understands in one read…
tanstack/ai · .grok/skills/ponytail/SKILL.md · Forces the laziest solution that actually works, simplest, shortest, most minimal. Channels a senior dev who has seen…
tanstack/ai · .agents/skills/ponytail/SKILL.md · Forces the laziest solution that actually works, simplest, shortest, most minimal. Channels a senior dev who has seen…
tanstack/ai · .claude/skills/ponytail/SKILL.md · Forces the laziest solution that actually works, simplest, shortest, most minimal. Channels a senior dev who has seen…
kunolu/640-skills · sbtd-workflow-onboard/assets/external-skills/stable/skills/ponytail/SKILL.md · Forces the laziest solution that actually works, simplest, shortest, most minimal. Channels a senior dev who has seen…
mxyhi/ok-skills · ponytail/SKILL.md · Lazy senior dev mode: the smallest change that fully solves the task, and a reply a busy human understands in one read…
