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Guide · Agent skill

How to use the Ponytail Debt Ledger agent skill

Updated · written with AI from the project's own documentation and checked against our catalogue data

Ponytail Debt Ledger is an agent skill, a packaged set of instructions that a coding agent such as Claude loads when you ask for a matching task. This one scans your project for comments that mark deliberate shortcuts and turns them into a single ledger, so deferred work stays visible. This guide explains what the skill does, how to install it, how to trigger it, and what it needs, so you can run a useful audit of deferred work before a release.

Ponytail Debt LedgerDietrichGebert/ponytail · MIT

Quick start

  1. 1Download the ZIP. Get the ponytail-debt ZIP from this page.
  2. 2Unzip into a skills folder. Place the skill in ~/.claude/skills/ for all projects, or in the project's .claude/skills/ folder for one project.
  3. 3Or upload in the Claude apps. Go to Settings → Capabilities → Skills and upload the skill there.
  4. 4Mark shortcuts in code. Write shortcut: comments that name the ceiling and the upgrade path.
  5. 5Ask for the audit. Request a shortcut or debt audit in plain language, or use /ponytail-debt, optionally with a marker word.
  6. 6Review flagged rows. Fix or assign rows tagged no-trigger, and skip hits that are not real deferrals.
  7. 7Save if needed. Ask the agent to write the ledger to a file such as PONYTAIL-DEBT.md.

What the ponytail-debt skill makes the agent do

When you ask, the agent searches your project's source files for special comments that mark deliberate shortcuts. A shortcut comment names its ceiling (the limit being accepted) and the upgrade path (the trigger for revisiting it), following the convention shortcut: <ceiling>, <upgrade path>.

The agent then produces one list with one row per marker, grouped by file. Any marker that names no upgrade path or trigger is tagged no-trigger, because those are the ones that quietly become permanent.

  • Reads and reports only; it changes nothing by default.
  • Skips .git and anything ignored by .gitignore files, such as dependencies, build output and caches.
  • Ends with a count of total markers and markers with no trigger.

Install the ponytail-debt skill

Download the ZIP from this page and unzip it into one of these locations:

Option A, for all your projects: unzip into ~/.claude/skills/ so the skill folder sits there.

Option B, for one project: unzip into the project's .claude/skills/ folder.

Option C, in the Claude apps: upload the skill under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.

Trigger the skill with natural requests

You do not need a special command. Ask the agent for a debt or shortcut audit in plain language, for example asking it to list the shortcut comments in this repo before a release. The skill's own usage form is /ponytail-debt.

If your project uses a different marker word, name it in the request, such as /ponytail-debt TODO. The agent will grep for that word instead of shortcut: or ponytail:.

/ponytail-debt TODO

Examples of a ledger row

Each row follows the output format from the skill. The ceiling and trigger are copied straight from the comment, so write them in the code when you add the shortcut.

The scan can also be run by hand. The skill uses this git grep command, which you can adapt for other comment prefixes:

  • Format: <file>:<line>, <what was simplified>. ceiling: <the limit named>. upgrade: <the trigger to revisit>.
  • A row with no trigger carries the no-trigger tag so it stands out.
git grep --no-index --exclude-standard -nE '(#|//|/[*]) ?(shortcut|ponytail):'

What the skill needs and safety notes

The skill requires git, because the scan uses git grep and optionally git blame. Per the listing, it runs no scripts and uses no network.

It is read-only. To keep a copy, ask the agent to write the ledger to a file such as PONYTAIL-DEBT.md. Hits that are not deferrals, such as a note about a keyboard shortcut, should be skipped by the agent during review.

  • Requires git.
  • Runs scripts: no.
  • Uses network: no.
  • Licence: MIT.

Tips for a useful ledger

Write every deliberate shortcut with both a ceiling and an upgrade trigger, so the scan has something to report.

Run the audit before a release or during periodic cleanup, since it is a one-shot report, not a monitor.

If you want an owner for each row, ask the agent to add git blame for that line.

  • The skill is built around the shortcut: and ponytail: comment prefixes; other stacks may need a different marker word.
  • Non-code projects will not benefit, because the scan depends on source-code comment syntax.

What people use it for

  • Auditing deferred work before a release.
  • Periodic technical debt cleanup across a codebase that uses shortcut: comments.
  • Finding shortcuts that have no upgrade trigger and so may never be revisited.
  • Producing a saved PONYTAIL-DEBT.md list to share with a team.

Frequently asked questions

How do I install the ponytail-debt agent skill?

Download the ZIP from this page and unzip it into ~/.claude/skills/ for all projects, or into a project's .claude/skills/ folder for one project. You can also upload it in the Claude apps under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.

Is the ponytail-debt skill free?

The skill is released under the MIT licence, as stated in its listing. Check the licence file in the source repository for the full terms.

What does ponytail-debt require?

It requires git, since the scan uses git grep and optionally git blame. The listing says it runs no scripts and uses no network.

Why does my scan return nothing?

The scan looks for shortcut: or ponytail: comments by default. If your project uses another marker word, name it in the request, such as /ponytail-debt TODO. Non-code projects will also return little, since the scan depends on source-code comment syntax.

Does the skill change my code?

No. It reads and reports only, and changes nothing unless you ask it to save the ledger to a file such as PONYTAIL-DEBT.md.

How is this different from searching for TODO comments myself?

The skill targets deliberate shortcut comments that name a ceiling and an upgrade trigger, and it flags those with no trigger as no-trigger. A plain TODO search does not check for that structure, though you can point the skill at TODO by naming it in your request.

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Our verdict

Use ponytail-debt if your codebase already marks deliberate shortcuts with shortcut: or ponytail: comments and you want a read-only, one-shot ledger before a release. Pick something else if your project does not use these comment conventions, is not source code, or you need continuous monitoring rather than a single report.

Download the skill