ponytail-debt SKILL.md skillA

ponytail-debt from dietrichgebert/ponytail is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.

Install it, pinned
mdr add dietrichgebert/ponytail/ponytail-debt@git:20261015.84740e3

Pins git:20261015.84740e3 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.

Audit grade
A, 17 of 17 checks passed
Kind
SKILL.md skill
Repository
dietrichgebert/ponytail
Path
.openclaw/skills/ponytail-debt/SKILL.md
Versions recorded
6
Latest version
git:20261015.84740e3, committed Oct 15, 2026
First version recorded
Jun 16, 2026
Size
1,745 bytes
Repository stars
182,080
License
MIT

Harvest every shortcut: comment into one debt ledger, so deferrals get tracked instead of forgotten. One-shot report.

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

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

## Scan

Grep the repo for comment markers, skipping `.git` and everything the
`.gitignore` files ignore (dependencies, build output, caches, in any stack):

`git grep --no-index --exclude-standard -nE '(#|//|/[*]) ?(shortcut|ponytail):'`  (add other comment prefixes if your stack uses them)

If the user names their own marker word (`/ponytail-debt TODO`), grep for that word instead.

Each hit is one ledger row. The comment prefix keeps prose that merely mentions
the convention out of the ledger. Skip hits that are not a deferral, like a note
about a keyboard shortcut.

## 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 `shortcut: <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>`.
…

Read the whole file at its exact version.

How to install

The exact contents, by fingerprint
mdr add dietrichgebert/ponytail/ponytail-debt@sha256:d55354743bf34461

The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20261015.84740e3, 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.

Badge

mdr badge

[![mdr](https://markdownregistry.com/badge/art_fawvkmzosqoe4nfc.svg)](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_fawvkmzosqoe4nfc)

4 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.

Versions

The registry has recorded 6 versions of this file, between Jun 16, 2026 and Oct 15, 2026, about one every 24 days.

versioncommittedcommitsizeaudit
git:20261015.84740e3 latest2026-10-15 84740e3 1,745 BA view · diff
git:20261012.57635bd2026-10-12 57635bd 1,794 BA view · diff
git:20261008.2a1fe842026-10-08 2a1fe84 1,786 BA view · diff
git:20261003.b52dd9b2026-10-03 b52dd9b 1,589 BA view · diff
git:20260619.ff5d0932026-06-19 ff5d093 1,499 BA view · diff
git:20260616.41d6c2f2026-06-16 41d6c2f 1,502 BA view

Audit of the latest version

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 (1745 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

dietrichgebert/ponytail · 182,080 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-10-29 · branch main

API

GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_fawvkmzosqoe4nfc
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=dietrichgebert/ponytail/ponytail-debt
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/d55354743bf344611907bbcda8da105abe4d3eec4696b80099eb9b6c02029c40

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.

Guides: the SKILL.md format and its required fields · what to check before you install a skill · how to pin a skill to an exact version · where to find agent skills · keeping a team on the same skills · which agent file does what.

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Every file in dietrichgebert/ponytail

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ponytail-debt SKILL.md skill
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