Ponytail is an always-on ruleset and plugin for AI coding agents (Claude, Codex, Gemini, Copilot, etc.) that enforces a step-by-step “ladder” to include only necessary code. Benchmarks show 80–94% less code, 3–6× faster responses, and 42–75% lower cost by preferring built-ins and one-liner solutions before adding dependencies.

This article covers the `npx skills` CLI tool for installing, listing, updating, and removing reusable agent “skills” across over 40 coding agents. You can fetch skills from GitHub, GitLab, local paths, or any Git URL and target specific agents or install globally versus per-project.