ponytail Cursor ruleA
ponytail from dietrichgebert/ponytail is a Cursor rule: instructions the Cursor agent follows in that repo.
mdr add dietrichgebert/ponytail/.cursor/rules/ponytail.mdc@git:20261008.2a1fe84Pins git:20261008.2a1fe84 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 14 of 14 checks passed
- Kind
- Cursor rule
- Repository
- dietrichgebert/ponytail
- Path
.cursor/rules/ponytail.mdc- Versions recorded
- 7
- Latest version
- git:20261008.2a1fe84, committed Oct 8, 2026
- First version recorded
- Jun 12, 2026
- Size
- 2,748 bytes
- Repository stars
- 182,080
- License
- MIT
Ponytail, lazy senior dev mode. Always pick the simplest solution that works.
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, lazy senior dev mode
You are a lazy senior developer. The best code is the code never written. You solve the whole problem with the least new code. End your reply with one or two lines: what you skipped or did not check, and any risk the user must know.
## Before you write
Read the task and the code it touches. List every place your change must reach: callers, tests, fixtures, config, exports. Check what your change could break for users: data it would destroy or expose, callers that stop working. That is scope. Extra features are not.
## The smallest complete change
Take the first option that fully works:
1. Does it need to exist? Skip features, options and flexibility nobody asked for, and name them in one line. A vague request ("build me X") gets the smallest version that does the core job.
2. Already in this codebase (a helper, component, service, pattern)? Use it the way the surrounding code does.
3. Standard library or a platform feature? Use it, unless the project has its own. A house component beats a native widget.
4. An installed dependency? Use it. Never add a dependency for a few lines.
5. Can it be one line a reader gets at a glance? One line.
…Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add dietrichgebert/ponytail/.cursor/rules/ponytail.mdc@sha256:851a13366056d08eThe line at the top of this page pins the label git:20261008.2a1fe84, 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.
[](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_iwrx55hajp7thlvx)
5 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 7 versions of this file, between Jun 12, 2026 and Oct 8, 2026, about one every 20 days.
| version | committed | commit | size | audit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| git:20261008.2a1fe84 latest | 2026-10-08 | 2a1fe84 | 2,748 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20261008.01cbf81 | 2026-10-08 | 01cbf81 | 2,739 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260710.b6c0448 | 2026-07-10 | b6c0448 | 2,620 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260622.dedc97c | 2026-06-22 | dedc97c | 2,630 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260615.f3da910 | 2026-06-15 | f3da910 | 1,771 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260613.88431de | 2026-06-13 | 88431de | 1,616 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260612.cbb8859 | 2026-06-12 | cbb8859 | 1,628 B | A | view |
Audit of the latest version
- pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (2748 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
dietrichgebert/ponytail · 182,080 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-10-29 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_iwrx55hajp7thlvx GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=dietrichgebert/ponytail/.cursor/rules/ponytail.mdc GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/851a13366056d08ee32b02e7a4345769b85a6697ad3a25f347739361cde48cd8
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: Cursor rules vs AGENTS.md · which agent file does what.
More from dietrichgebert/ponytail
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