ponytail-help Skill for Claude: Quick Reference for Ponytail

Makes Claude print a quick reference card for ponytail: its levels, skills, commands, default-mode settings and update steps.

Installs: 47.8K; on skills.sh
Stars: 182K; on GitHub
Updated: Oct 2026; last repo commit

You type /ponytail-help and the agent shows one card. It lists the three levels (Lite, Full, Ultra), the six ponytail skills with their triggers, how to deactivate ponytail, the Claude Code band commands, how to set a default mode, and how to update.

SKILL.md says it is a one-shot display: it does not change mode, write flag files or persist anything. The commands on the card belong to the other ponytail skills, so this skill is only useful alongside them.

Good for

New ponytail users who forgot a command or level name
Teams rolling ponytail out and needing a one-page cheat sheet

Install ponytail-help

Claude Code

Copy this prompt.

Install the ponytail-help skill in Claude Code. Run this command:

npx skills add https://github.com/dietrichgebert/ponytail --skill ponytail-help

Then check that it loaded and tell me how to use it.

2
Paste it into Claude Code. It shows the change and asks before running it.

Requires Node.js.

Pick one route, not both. The skills CLI and folder routes install only ponytail-help, a folder holding SKILL.md. The plugin route is the README install: it adds ponytail itself and all six skills, and also registers hooks and a task board (see Permissions and safety). Run the two plugin commands as separate prompts. Claude Code names plugin skills plugin-name:skill-name, so after the plugin install the full name may be /ponytail:ponytail-help; the README lists /ponytail-help.

From its listing on skills.sh. Source.

What's in the skill

When it loads

Quick reference for ponytail levels, skills and commands. One-shot display. Use for /ponytail-help, "ponytail help", "how do I use ponytail".

Sections in SKILL.md

Levels
Skills
Deactivate
Band (Claude Code)
Configure Default Mode
Update
More

Key facts

Author: dietrichgebert
Repository: dietrichgebert/ponytail
License: MIT
Installs on skills.sh: 47,780 (Nov 2, 2026)
GitHub stars: 182,027 (Nov 2, 2026)
Last repo commit: Oct 29, 2026
What installs: 1 file including SKILL.md (the folder holds SKILL.md only)
Hosts the README lists: Claude Code, Codex, Devin CLI, OpenCode, Gemini, Antigravity CLI, pi, Hermes Agent, Qoder, Grok Build (for ponytail commands)
Changes: SKILL.md says it does not change mode, write flag files or persist anything

What it includes

Shows the ponytail reference card
Triggers on /ponytail-help, "ponytail help", "how do I use ponytail".
Try: “/ponytail-help”
/ponytail-help
Lite, Full (default) and Ultra, with the trigger for each
/ponytail lite, /ponytail, /ponytail ultra. The level sticks until changed or the session ends.
Levels
Lists the six ponytail skills with their triggers
Each with its trigger and what it does.
Skills table
Shows Codex form $ponytail:ponytail; OpenCode ships all six as slash commands
Codex and OpenCode forms
Say "stop ponytail" or "normal mode"; /ponytail off also works
Deactivate
/ponytail band hides or shows the band; band on, band off and band import are listed
Band commands (Claude Code)
Set it with PONYTAIL_DEFAULT_MODE or ~/.config/ponytail/config.json
The environment variable wins, then the config file, then full. Set "off" to disable auto-activation.
Configure default mode
Turn on auto-update in /plugin, or run /plugin marketplace update ponytail
Then /reload-plugins. The card only shows these steps; it does not run them.
Update

From the official docs

Permissions

Medium risk

The skill itself only displays a card. The full-plugin install route adds hooks, a task board and an optional webhook; the single-skill install does not.

What it can do

Read your data
Create and change things
Delete things
Read-only modeHow to turn it on

Watch out for

Plugin route registers hooks that run Node scripts
The plugin manifest points to hooks that run Node scripts at session start, when a subagent starts and on every prompt. The session-start script writes a flag file under your Claude config folder (default ~/.claude), runs a codebase-map script, and can copy a statusline script into that folder. Installing only this skill adds none of these.
Plugin route writes a task board to disk every turn
By default the band records one row per turn (cost, turns, agent time, tokens, reuse, tests) to ~/.config/ponytail/band/<project>.csv and rebuilds a board.html there. It runs git grep and grep over your repo and session transcript to compute them. /ponytail band import reads your past Claude Code sessions into the board.
Plugin route has an optional webhook
If you set a webhook URL in the plugin options, each task row is posted to it as JSON after every turn, with the task name unless you turn that off. The URL is empty by default and the token is stored in the system keychain, per the manifest.
This skill only prints a card
SKILL.md says it is a one-shot display and does not change mode, write flag files or persist anything.

Technical details

Turning on read-only	SKILL.md says it is a one-shot display.
Talks to	Only if you set the plugin webhook URL: your own endpoint

Questions

What does ponytail-help do?

It prints the ponytail reference card. The card covers the three levels, the six skills, how to turn ponytail off, how to set a default mode and how to update.

How do I install ponytail-help?

Use the install box above. Its Claude Code tab has two routes: the skills CLI, which installs only ponytail-help (a folder holding SKILL.md), and the full ponytail plugin from the README (two /plugin commands). Pick one, not both. There are also Claude app, Codex and skills CLI tabs.

Is ponytail-help useful without ponytail?

Not much. The card describes commands such as /ponytail and /ponytail-review that come from the other ponytail skills. This skill only displays the card.

Should I install the whole ponytail plugin instead?

The README's Claude Code route is the full plugin: two /plugin commands that add ponytail itself and its six skills. Beyond the skills, the plugin manifest registers hooks that run Node scripts at session start, when a subagent starts and on every prompt, plus a band above the prompt. By default its task board writes one row per turn to ~/.config/ponytail/band/<project>.csv, and an optional webhook URL is empty by default. Install the plugin if you want ponytail itself; install only this skill if you want just this command.

Is ponytail-help safe?

It only displays a card. SKILL.md says it is a one-shot display and does not change mode, write flag files or persist anything. The skill bundles no scripts and names no API key.

What is the difference between ponytail levels?

Lite builds what was asked and names the smaller option in one line. Full, the default, makes the smallest complete change and says what it skipped and any risk. Ultra also questions the request and pushes back before building.

Information

updated Nov 2, 2026

Repository: dietrichgebert/ponytail
Folder: skills/ponytail-help

dietrichgebert/ponytail skills.sh

Sources

Docs, issue trackers and discussions this page is built from.

Show all 9

ponytail README · github.com
ponytail Claude plugin manifest · github.com
ponytail-help SKILL.md · github.com
skills CLI commands · github.com
ponytail Codex plugin manifest · github.com
ponytail-help on skills.sh · skills.sh
ponytail hooks config · github.com
ponytail band module · github.com
ponytail session-start hook · github.com