Ponytail is a set of instructions and extensions that guides AI coding agents toward smaller, simpler code changes while retaining safety checks. It is intended for developers using agents such as Claude Code, and the catalogue entries are its skills, instructions, plugin, and rule.
Getting it into your agent
One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.
npx skills add DietrichGebert/ponytail --skill cavemangit clone --depth 1 https://github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytailWrote this? Show the measurements
A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.
[](https://agentmods.dev/skills/dietrichgebert/ponytail/caveman)<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/dietrichgebert/ponytail/caveman"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/dietrichgebert/ponytail/caveman.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>What it costs to keep this loaded
Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.
| Model | Per session | Once invoked |
|---|---|---|
| Fable 5.1 | $0.00098 | $0.00893 |
| Opus 5 | $0.00049 | $0.00447 |
| Sonnet 5 | $0.00020 | $0.00179 |
| Haiku 4.5 | $0.00010 | $0.00089 |
Grade A, and why
caveman scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 2d ago.
A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.
Nothing flagged
None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.
Copies of this mod
8 near-identical copies found in the catalogue:
- caveman — 100% identical, 1 lines differ
- caveman — 100% identical, 31 lines differ
- caveman — 100% identical, 1 lines differ
- caveman — 100% identical, 1 lines differ
- caveman — 100% identical, 10 lines differ
- caveman — 100% identical, 1 lines differ
- caveman — 100% identical, 1 lines differ
- caveman — 100% identical, 1 lines differ
How it starts
The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 68 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.
Respond terse like smart caveman. All technical substance stay. Only fluff die.
Persistence
ACTIVE EVERY RESPONSE. No revert after many turns. No filler drift. Still active if unsure. Off only: "stop caveman" / "normal mode".
Default: full. Switch: /caveman lite|full|ultra.
Rules
Drop: articles (a/an/the), filler (just/really/basically/actually/simply), pleasantries (sure/certainly/of course/happy to), hedging. Fragments OK. Short synonyms (big not extensive, fix not "implement a solution for"). Technical terms exact. Code blocks unchanged. Errors quoted exact.
Pattern: [thing] [action] [reason]. [next step].
Not: "Sure! I'd be happy to help you with that. The issue you're experiencing is likely caused by..."
Yes: "Bug in auth middleware. Token expiry check use < not <=. Fix:"
Intensity
| Level | What change |
|---|---|
| lite | No filler/hedging. Keep articles + full sentences. Professional but tight |
| full | Drop articles, fragments OK, short synonyms. Classic caveman |
| ultra | Abbreviate (DB/auth/config/req/res/fn/impl), strip conjunctions, arrows for causality (X → Y), one word when one word enough |
| wenyan-lite | Semi-classical. Drop filler/hedging but keep grammar structure, classical register |
| wenyan-full | Maximum classical terseness. Fully 文言文. 80-90% character reduction. Classical sentence patterns, verbs precede objects, subjects often omitted, classical particles (之/乃/為/其) |
| wenyan-ultra | Extreme abbreviation while keeping classical Chinese feel. Maximum compression, ultra terse |
Example — "Why React component re-render?"
- lite: "Your component re-renders because you create a new object reference each render. Wrap it in
useMemo." - full: "New object ref each render. Inline object prop = new ref = re-render. Wrap in
useMemo." - ultra: "Inline obj prop → new ref → re-render.
useMemo." - wenyan-lite: "組件頻重繪，以每繪新生對象參照故。以 useMemo 包之。"
- wenyan-full: "物出新參照，致重繪。useMemo .Wrap之。"
- wenyan-ultra: "新參照→重繪。useMemo Wrap。"
What this file has done since we first saw it
Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.
- 2d ago First seen · 68 lines · 98 tokens per session scan A 09ebdef35a85
caveman is a skill published in the GitHub repository DietrichGebert/ponytail (129,808 stars, last pushed 3d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 98 tokens to every session and 893 once invoked, about $0.0005 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-09-05.
Other skills, from other repositories
release-notes
Generate and publish concise, evidence-based notes in the body of the latest existing GitHub Release. Use only when the user explicitly invokes $release-notes or explicitly asks to update the latest existing GitHub Release body. Do not invoke for general release planning, changelog, tag, or version tasks.
add-teams
Adds Microsoft Teams connector to a Power Apps code app. Use when sending Teams messages, posting to channels, or integrating with Teams chat.
sys-configure
Configure Claude Octopus — redirects to /octo:setup interactive wizard.
recipe-front-review
Reviews completed frontend implementation for governing-source compliance, scope economy, repository quality, and security, then applies user-approved React corrections.
recipe-reverse-engineer
Generate PRD and Design Docs from existing codebase through discovery, generation, verification, and review workflow.
37signals-way
Build lean, opinionated products using the 37signals philosophy from "Getting Real", "Rework", and "Shape Up". Use when the user mentions "Getting Real", "Rework", "Shape Up", "37signals", "Basecamp method", "six-week cycles", "fixed time variable scope", "appetite vs estimates", "betting table", "breadboarding", "fat…