ponytail
An agent skill for AI coding assistants that aims to keep responses terse and edits small.
Recommended as a skill for Claude Code and other agent harnesses123 that keeps output terse and code edits small,45 often used alongside Superpowers.678 The main caveat is that its benefit is modest and hard to isolate, with users saying it helps "somewhat" or "may have contributed" to good results.910
Why people recommend it
Works with others · 3
Commenters run it together with other skills like Superpowers, Caveman and PAAD.
“I also use a skill called ponytail, its goal is to keep things terse and edits small.”
“I use superpowers and ponytail a lot.”
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“my personal setup is Claude Code with Superpowers, Ponytail, PAAD”
Terse, small edits · 2
It keeps agent output terse and edits small, which suits users with that specific problem.
“I also use a skill called ponytail, its goal is to keep things terse and edits small.”
“You might be interested in Ponytail, which seems to address this specific problem”
Usage improvements · 2
Users noticed improvements, including with heavy usage and long-running agents.
“I noticed improvements after installing the pony tail skill”
“Ponytail and Caveman seem to help somewhat.”
Popular, easy to try · 2
It is gaining popularity on GitHub trending, and skills like it are easy to try.
“no affiliation, just like it”
“I also use a skill called ponytail, its goal is to keep things terse and edits small.”
Caveats and dissent
Modest effect · 2
Users describe the benefit as partial and hard to separate from other tools in their setup.
“Ponytail and Caveman seem to help somewhat.”
“I also use a skill called ponytail, its goal is to keep things terse and edits small.”
Personal workflow · 1
A commenter warns that skills reflect one person's way of working, which may not suit everyone.
“no affiliation, just like it”
Often compared with
Who recommends it in their own words
Threads where it came up
- Ask HN: What shenanigans is Anthropic pulling with Claude subs this time? 1 mention
- RTK reports token savings, but our cost benchmarks disagree 1 mention
- Ask HN: What's the best place to learn about skills and AI for coding in general 1 mention
- A week of using Codex more than Claude 1 mention
- GPT-5.6 Sol Pricing Cut by 50% 1 mention
- How to write production-quality code with AI 1 mention
Also written as Ponytail. Data: ponytail.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 7
“I noticed improvements after installing the pony tail skill”
“Ponytail and Caveman seem to help somewhat.”
“no affiliation, just like it”
“I use superpowers and ponytail a lot.”
“I also use a skill called ponytail, its goal is to keep things terse and edits small.”
“my personal setup is Claude Code with Superpowers, Ponytail, PAAD”
“You might be interested in Ponytail, which seems to address this specific problem”