How do I install the Gate Ponytail skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add pramoddutta/gate-ponytail in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Gate Ponytail safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Gate Ponytail?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Gate Ponytail free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Gate Ponytail?

PramodDutta (@pramoddutta) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Gate Ponytail by pramoddutta — Agent Skill

Name: Gate Ponytail
Author: PramodDutta

Gate Ponytail

Quality gate asking "does anything else in the run already record this?" Finds machinery that duplicates what the tooling already provides - test.step wrappers and attachments duplicated by trace:'on', log lines restating their own step names, and describe blocks around a single test. Reports findings in ponytail format with a net line count. Use before raising a PR.

PramodDutta aec1fda 3.1 KB Updated Sep 17, 2026

File contents

Gate 2: ponytail

Does anything else in the run already record this?

Named for the ponytail review style: find what to delete. Most of what a spec accumulates is machinery reporting something the tooling already reports. This gate is scoped to over-engineering and duplication only. Correctness, security and performance belong to a different pass.

The repo facts this gate leans on

Check playwright.config.ts before citing these, but at time of writing:

trace: 'on' and video: 'on' for every test. The trace already records every request, its timing, and its body. So an attachment or a test.step that exists only to surface that information is duplicate.
CustomReporter already prints per-test status, step timings, the flaky diff, and the AI tabs. A console.log restating any of it is noise.
createAgent already validates its output against a schema. Re-validating downstream is belt-and-braces on a belt.

Findings format

One line each: <file>:L<line>: <tag> <what>. <replacement>.

Tag	Means
`delete:`	Dead code, unused flexibility, speculative feature. Replacement: nothing.
`stdlib:`	Hand-rolled thing the standard library ships. Name the function.
`native:`	Code doing what the platform or framework 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.

End with net: -<N> lines possible. If there is nothing to cut, say Lean already. Ship.

Worked example from this repo

L1-18:  delete: 17-line header explaining the rewrite. The commit message holds it.
L23-31: delete: testInfo.attach of the response. trace:'on' already records it.
L26,36: native: test.step wrappers around single calls. The trace shows each request with timings.
L33-57: yagni: try/finally cleaning one row from a public demo API.
net: -38 lines possible.

What this gate must never cut

Any assertion. A runnable check is the minimum, not bloat.
Knowledge that cannot be re-derived from the code. A comment recording that restful-booker answers a bad token with 403 and bad credentials with 200 took work to obtain. Keep it.
Test granularity. How many tests a flow is split into is a decision about how failures report, not machinery. describe.serial giving each stage its own pass or fail is a choice. Flagging it as duplication is this gate exceeding its scope.
File header comments, which are the convention on every util in src/utils/.

Verdict

FAIL when the diff adds machinery that duplicates the trace, the reporter or the factory. Report the net line count either way.

---name: gate-ponytaildescription: Quality gate asking "does anything else in the run already record this?" Finds machinery that duplicates what the tooling already provides - test.step wrappers and attachments duplicated by trace:'on', log lines restating their own step names, and describe blocks around a single test. Reports findings in ponytail format with a net line count. Use before raising a PR.---# Gate 2: ponytail> **Does anything else in the run already record this?**Named for the [ponytail](https://github.com/DietrichGebert/ponytail) review style: find what todelete. Most of what a spec accumulates is machinery reporting something the tooling alreadyreports. This gate is scoped to over-engineering and duplication only. Correctness, security andperformance belong to a different pass.## The repo facts this gate leans onCheck `playwright.config.ts` before citing these, but at time of writing:- **`trace: 'on'` and `video: 'on'` for every test.** The trace already records every request, its timing, and its body. So an attachment or a `test.step` that exists only to surface that information is duplicate.- **`CustomReporter` already prints** per-test status, step timings, the flaky diff, and the AI tabs. A `console.log` restating any of it is noise.- **`createAgent` already validates** its output against a schema. Re-validating downstream is belt-and-braces on a belt.## Findings formatOne line each: `<file>:L<line>: <tag> <what>. <replacement>.`| Tag | Means ||:----|:------|| `delete:` | Dead code, unused flexibility, speculative feature. Replacement: nothing. || `stdlib:` | Hand-rolled thing the standard library ships. Name the function. || `native:` | Code doing what the platform or framework 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. |End with `net: -<N> lines possible.` If there is nothing to cut, say `Lean already. Ship.`## Worked example from this repo```L1-18: delete: 17-line header explaining the rewrite. The commit message holds it.L23-31: delete: testInfo.attach of the response. trace:'on' already records it.L26,36: native: test.step wrappers around single calls. The trace shows each request with timings.L33-57: yagni: try/finally cleaning one row from a public demo API.net: -38 lines possible.```## What this gate must never cut- **Any assertion.** A runnable check is the minimum, not bloat.- **Knowledge that cannot be re-derived from the code.** A comment recording that restful-booker answers a bad token with 403 and bad credentials with 200 took work to obtain. Keep it.- **Test granularity.** How many tests a flow is split into is a decision about how failures report, not machinery. `describe.serial` giving each stage its own pass or fail is a choice. Flagging it as duplication is this gate exceeding its scope.- **File header comments**, which are the convention on every util in `src/utils/`.## Verdict`FAIL` when the diff adds machinery that duplicates the trace, the reporter or the factory.Report the net line count either way.

Frequently asked questions