What problem does it solve? Codebases accumulate over-engineered abstractions, unnecessary dependencies, and boilerplate that create maintenance burden. This Skill forces the simplest working solution for any coding task by applying a strict decision ladder: question whether the work is needed at all (YAGNI), reuse existing code, prefer the standard library and native platform features, and only write new code as a last resort. ## Core Features & Use Cases - Solution ladder: A seven-step decision hierarchy that stops at the first sufficient option, from deleting the requirement down to writing minimal new code. - Intensity levels: Three modes (lite, full, ultra) control how aggressively simplification is enforced, switchable at any time with "/ponytail lite|full|ultra". - Root-cause bug fixing: Traces all callers of a function before editing so one guard in shared code replaces patches in every caller. - Use Case: When asked to add a response cache, instead of building a custom cache class, the Skill applies @lru_cache(maxsize=1000) and notes in one line what was skipped and when to revisit it. ## Quick Start Ask the assistant to use ponytail mode to implement your next coding task with the simplest solution that works.
