ponytail-review

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Translated

Code review focused exclusively on over-engineering. Finds what to delete: reinvented standard library, unneeded dependencies, speculative abstractions, dead flexibility. One line per finding: location, what to cut, what replaces it. Use when the user says "review for over-engineering", "what can we delete", "is this over-engineered", "simplify review", or invokes /ponytail-review. Complements correctness-focused review, this one only hunts complexity.

323installs

Sourcedietrichgebert/ponytail

Added on2026-06-14

NPX Install

npx skill4agent add dietrichgebert/ponytail ponytail-review

SKILL.md Content

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Review diffs for unnecessary complexity. One line per finding: location, what to cut, what replaces it. The diff's best outcome is getting shorter.

Format

L<line>: <tag> <what>. <replacement>.

, or

<file>:L<line>: ...

for multi-file diffs.

Tags:

```
delete:
```
dead code, unused flexibility, speculative feature. Replacement: nothing.
```
stdlib:
```
hand-rolled thing the standard library ships. Name the function.
```
native:
```
dependency or code doing what the platform already does. Name the feature.
```
yagni:
```
abstraction with one implementation, config nobody sets, layer with one caller.
```
shrink:
```
same logic, fewer lines. Show the shorter form.

Examples

❌ "This EmailValidator class might be more complex than necessary, have you considered whether all these validation rules are needed at this stage?"

✅

L12-38: stdlib: 27-line validator class. "@" in email, 1 line, real validation is the confirmation mail.

✅

L4: native: moment.js imported for one format call. Intl.DateTimeFormat, 0 deps.

✅

repo.py:L88: yagni: AbstractRepository with one implementation. Inline it until a second one exists.

✅

L52-71: delete: retry wrapper around an idempotent local call. Nothing replaces it.

✅

L30-44: shrink: manual loop builds dict. dict(zip(keys, values)), 1 line.

Scoring

End with the only metric that matters:

net: -<N> lines possible.

If there is nothing to cut, say

Lean already. Ship.

and stop.

Boundaries

Complexity only, correctness bugs, security holes, and performance go to a normal review pass, not this one. A single smoke test or

assert

-based self-check is the ponytail minimum, not bloat, never flag it for deletion. Does not apply the fixes, only lists them. "stop ponytail-review" or "normal mode": revert to verbose review style.