ponytail/examples/date-picker.md

Date Picker

Task: "Add a date picker to this form."

Without Ponytail

npm install flatpickr

import flatpickr from "flatpickr";
import "flatpickr/dist/flatpickr.min.css";
import { useEffect, useRef } from "react";

export default function DatePicker({ value, onChange, minDate, maxDate }) {
  const inputRef = useRef(null);
  const instanceRef = useRef(null);

  useEffect(() => {
    instanceRef.current = flatpickr(inputRef.current, {
      defaultDate: value,
      minDate,
      maxDate,
      dateFormat: "Y-m-d",
      onChange: ([date]) => onChange(date),
    });
    return () => instanceRef.current?.destroy();
  }, []);

  useEffect(() => {
    instanceRef.current?.setDate(value, false);
  }, [value]);

  return <input ref={inputRef} className="date-picker" />;
}

One dependency, one wrapper component, two useEffect hooks, a cleanup function, and a CSS import — to pick a date.

With Ponytail

<!-- ponytail: browser has one -->
<input type="date">

1 dependency + 30 lines → 0 dependencies + 1 line. Native, accessible, localized, keyboard-navigable, mobile-friendly. The browser team already did the work.