docs(benchmarks): add Independent benchmarks section (#460)

Curated, plugin-installed third-party runs (KuldeepB19, RicardoCostaGit) with
method, headline, and date, clearly framed as independent corroboration not
official figures. Gives the recurring 'did anyone independent check this?' ask
a canonical home.

Closes #121
Closes #236

.claude-plugin/plugin.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "ponytail",
-  "version": "4.8.3",
+  "version": "4.8.4",
   "description": "Lazy senior dev mode. Forces the simplest, shortest solution that actually works: YAGNI, stdlib first, no unrequested abstractions.",
   "author": {
     "name": "Dietrich Gebert",

.codex-plugin/plugin.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "ponytail",
-  "version": "4.8.3",
+  "version": "4.8.4",
   "description": "Lazy senior dev mode. Forces the simplest, shortest solution that actually works: YAGNI, stdlib first, no unrequested abstractions.",
   "author": {
     "name": "Dietrich Gebert",

.devin-plugin/plugin.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "ponytail",
-  "version": "4.8.3",
+  "version": "4.8.4",
   "description": "Lazy senior dev mode. Forces the simplest, shortest solution that actually works: YAGNI, stdlib first, no unrequested abstractions.",
   "author": {
     "name": "Dietrich Gebert",

.github/plugin/plugin.json

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "name": "ponytail",
   "description": "Lazy senior dev mode. Forces the simplest, shortest solution that actually works: YAGNI, stdlib first, no unrequested abstractions.",
-  "version": "4.8.3",
+  "version": "4.8.4",
   "author": {
     "name": "Dietrich Gebert",
     "url": "https://github.com/DietrichGebert"

benchmarks/README.md

@@ -70,6 +70,22 @@ Versus baseline, ponytail writes **80-94% less code**, costs **42-75% less**, an
 > while the bare "one-liner" prompt drops a guard. That is the honest, defensible number. See
 > [results/2026-06-18-agentic.md](results/2026-06-18-agentic.md).
 
+## Independent benchmarks
+
+Run by other people, not by us, on their own harnesses and machines. Linked for
+transparency: the numbers are theirs, may shift between runs, and are corroboration
+rather than official figures. Only plugin-installed runs are listed, since pasting
+`SKILL.md` into a prompt is a rough approximation of `full` and skews the result.
+
+| Source | Method | Headline | Date |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| [KuldeepB19](https://kuldeepb19.github.io/ponytail-benchmark/) | Installed plugin, 24 tasks, no-skill vs Lite/Full/Ultra, 5 runs each (480 builds), Opus 4.8, graded by executing the code | ~44% less code (53% fewer statements), no correctness or security regression; trims everyday bad-input handling on 5/24 tasks | 2026-06-24 |
+| [RicardoCostaGit](https://github.com/RicardoCostaGit/ponytail-benchmark-from-cursor) | Multi-turn agentic runs via the Cursor SDK, isolated git worktrees, rule file toggled per run | Leaner output but higher process cost (more tool calls/tokens) on large completion-forced tasks; savings land on blocked/snowball-prone tasks | 2026-06-16 |
+
+Both land on the same split as the honesty note above: ponytail reliably writes less
+code, and whether that *saves money* depends on the workload (big win on
+over-build and blocked tasks, can cost more on large completion-forced agentic runs).
+
 ## Metrics
 
 | File | Metric | Behavior |

gemini-extension.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "ponytail",
-  "version": "4.8.3",
+  "version": "4.8.4",
   "description": "Lazy senior dev mode. Forces the simplest, shortest solution that actually works: YAGNI, stdlib first, no unrequested abstractions.",
   "contextFileName": "AGENTS.md"
 }

package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@dietrichgebert/ponytail",
-  "version": "4.8.3",
+  "version": "4.8.4",
   "description": "Lazy senior dev mode for AI agents. The best code is the code you never wrote.",
   "keywords": ["opencode-plugin", "opencode", "ponytail", "pi-package", "pi", "skills"],
   "license": "MIT",

plugin.yaml

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name: ponytail
-version: 4.8.3
+version: 4.8.4
 description: Lazy senior dev mode for Hermes Agent, always-on context, bundled skills, and slash commands.
 author: Salaamdev
 provides_hooks:

ponytail-mcp/package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "ponytail-mcp",
-  "version": "4.8.3",
+  "version": "4.8.4",
   "description": "MCP server that serves Ponytail's lazy-senior-dev instructions as a prompt and a tool.",
   "private": true,
   "type": "module",

tests/copilot-plugin.test.js

@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ const REQUIRED_COMMAND_FILES = [
   'ponytail-review.toml',
   'ponytail-audit.toml',
   'ponytail-debt.toml',
+  'ponytail-gain.toml',
+  'ponytail-help.toml',
 ];
 
 function readJSON(relPath) {