Score
8.5
/ 10
Installs
43K
Repo Stars
179.4K
Last Updated
0d ago
Quality Ratio
87%
Description
Verified
Language
JavaScript
First Published
Jun 2026
Summary
The Ponytail Gain agent skill provides a compact, data-driven scoreboard visualizing the potential reductions in code, cost, and increased speed associated with the "ponytail" optimization approach. This agent skill is particularly useful for developers and architects seeking to quantify the benefits of lean coding practices within AI agent environments, especially when using models like Haiku, Sonnet, or Opus. This is a skill with 12K installs. Invoked by commands such as `/ponytail-gain` or "show ponytail impact", it presents a one-shot ASCII scoreboard detailing benchmark median improvements, for example, showing a typical 80-94% reduction in lines of code, 47-77% reduction in cost, and 3-6x faster execution. The agent is strictly instructed to display these general benchmark figures, derived from specific everyday tasks and models, and to never compute or present per-repository savings. Instead, it directs users to `/ponytail-debt` for any repo-specific metrics.
Skill Definition
Display this scoreboard when invoked. One-shot: do NOT change mode, write flag files, or persist anything.
The figures are the published agentic benchmark of Ponytail 5: headless Claude
Code (Opus 5.5, default effort) on 39 tasks (feature tickets in a real FastAPI +
React repo, bug fixes, security and privacy cases, small apps), 5 runs each,
against the same agent without the skill. 18 of the tasks have hidden checks
for correctness and safety. Each figure is the geometric mean of the per-task
medians. They are measured, not computed from the current repo.
Source: benchmarks/results/2026-10-07-agentic.md and the README.
Scoreboard
Render plain ASCII bars. The bar length shows ponytail as a share of the no-skill baseline; the label carries the exact figure:
ponytail gain benchmark · 39 tasks × 5 runs · Opus 5.5
no-skill ████████████████████ 100%
Lines of code █████████··········· 47% ▼ 53%
Output tokens ███████████········· 55% ▼ 45%
Cost ███████████████····· 74% ▼ 26%
Time ████████████········ 59% ▼ 41%
Hidden checks passed 97% (no-skill 96%)
Tests where the logic needs one 98% (no-skill 68%)
This repo: /ponytail-debt (shortcuts you deferred)
/ponytail-audit (what's still cuttable)
Honesty boundary
These are benchmark averages, not this repo. NEVER print a per-repo savings
number ("you saved X lines/tokens here"): the unbuilt version was never
written, so there is no real baseline to subtract from in a live repo. The
only real per-repo figures come from /ponytail-debt (a counted ledger), and
this card points there instead of inventing one.
Boundaries
One-shot display. Edits nothing, changes no mode.