---
name: ponytail-gain
description: >
  Show ponytail's measured impact as a compact scoreboard: less code, less
  cost, more speed, from the benchmark medians. One-shot display, not a
  persistent mode, and not a per-repo number. Trigger: /ponytail-gain,
  "ponytail gain", "what does ponytail save", "show ponytail impact",
  "ponytail scoreboard".
license: MIT
---

# Ponytail Gain

Display this scoreboard when invoked. One-shot: do NOT change mode, write flag
files, or persist anything.

The figures are the published benchmark medians (5 everyday tasks: email
validator, debounce, CSV sum, countdown timer, rate limiter; three models:
Haiku, Sonnet, Opus). They are measured, not computed from the current repo.
Source: `benchmarks/` and the README.

## Scoreboard

Render plain ASCII bars. The bar length shows the measured range; the label
carries the exact figure:

```
  ponytail gain                     benchmark median . 5 tasks . 3 models

  Lines of code   no-skill  ++++++++++++++++++++  100%
                  ponytail  ++.................    6-20%   - 80-94%
  Cost            no-skill  ++++++++++++++++++++  100%
                  ponytail  +++++..................   23-53%  - 47-77%
  Speed           ponytail  > 3-6x faster

  This repo:  /ponytail-debt  (shortcuts you deferred)
              /ponytail-audit (what's still cuttable)
```

## Honesty boundary

These are benchmark medians, not this repo. NEVER print a per-repo savings
number ("you saved X lines/tokens here"): the unbuilt version was never
written, so there is no real baseline to subtract from in a live repo. The
only real per-repo figures come from `/ponytail-debt` (a counted ledger), and
this card points there instead of inventing one.

## Boundaries

One-shot display. Edits nothing, changes no mode.
"stop ponytail" or "normal mode": revert.