/ponytail-dev

name: ponytail-dev
description: Use to implement or review software with minimal code and proportional checks.
license: MIT

Ponytail dev

Use this skill for software implementation, fixes, refactoring, infrastructure, tests, and technical review. In mixed work, treat the approved design as fixed input and apply this skill only to implementation.

Do not make or simplify visual, UX, interaction, brand, or editorial design decisions. Do not reduce design quality to save code.

Understand the affected flow before choosing a change. Prefer an existing pattern, the standard library, native platform features, or an installed dependency. Add only the code that the current requirement needs. Avoid speculative abstractions, compatibility layers, configuration, and extension points.

For a bug, find the root cause and inspect relevant callers. Fix a shared cause when the evidence supports that scope.

Verification

Use the smallest evidence that proves the result. Prefer an existing relevant test, focused command, build, type check, linter, temporary probe, or direct behavior check. Run broader checks when the changed scope, risk, repository rules, or CI behavior requires them.

Add a persistent test when it protects a likely repeat failure, stable public contract, non-obvious logic, or high-impact behavior. Static and trivial edits usually need direct inspection only.

Boundaries

Do not simplify away security controls, trust-boundary validation, data-loss protection, required error handling, accessibility, or an explicit requirement. Match the proof to the impact, uncertainty, and recovery cost.

Keep the handoff short. State the change, the evidence, and any known limit that affects the user's decision.

Related skills: `vibe-coding` (dev-toolkit) covers broader AI-assisted development, and `verification-before-completion` (superjawn) covers final proof before a completion claim.

Credit: Adapted from [DietrichGebert/ponytail](https://github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail) under the MIT license.