Ponytail build-laziness doctrine (bundled with Fable, 0.19.0) (#313)

* feat(agents): vendor trimmed ponytail doctrine (full + ethos)

* feat(agents): compose ponytail doctrine layer, bundled with fable

* docs: document ponytail doctrine bundled with fable-mode

* style: add trailing newline to ponytail doctrine files test

* docs: changelog + map/rag for ponytail doctrine (0.19.0)

user-facing docs skipped: Fable precedent absent from README/deployment/usage; ponytail is default-off internal.

---------

Co-authored-by: Renn F <rennf93@users.noreply.github.com>

CLAUDE.md

@@ -393,6 +393,8 @@ Agent backends are pluggable. `roboco/llm/providers/` defines an `AgentProvider`
 
 **Fable-mode (default-off).** Full opus-fable-playbook adoption: makes the fleet behave more like Fable 5 on the existing model tiers (the tiers stay — Fable 5 the model is not an option). Two levers, both gated by `ROBOCO_FABLE_MODE_ENABLED`: ① **doctrine** — `fable_doctrine_layer()` (`roboco/agents/factories/_base.py`) composes the vendored behavioral doctrine (`agents/prompts/doctrine/fable.md`, from `github.com/rennf93/opus-fable-playbook` MIT `output-styles/fable.md`, YAML frontmatter stripped) into `compose_prompt`'s layer tuple immediately after `base.md` — universal cross-role doctrine, the same tier as the base rules, ahead of role/team/identity layers so those keep their specificity precedence. ② **hooks** — 5 vendored scripts under `docker/scripts/fable-*.sh` (stop-gate, bash-discipline, honesty-nudge, prompt-nudge, precompact; `session-start.sh` deliberately SKIPPED — its doctrine card is redundant with ① and its output-style check is inapplicable here) are installed alongside RoboCo's own hooks, never replacing them: `AgentOrchestrator._fable_hook_groups()` appends them AFTER RoboCo's own per-event entries in the Claude-path settings.json (isolated into its own helper to protect `_generate_agent_settings`'s xenon budget); the grok path installs only `honesty-nudge` (`write_grok_fable_hooks`, `roboco/llm/providers/grok_cli_config.py`) — a deliberately conservative V1 scope, since a grok `PreToolUse`/`Stop` hook deny cancels the entire run (verified live) while `PostToolUse` never denies. Off by default: the spawn path (composed prompt, settings.json, grok hooks) is byte-for-byte unchanged when the flag is off. No new eval harness — measurement rides the existing rework/spawn-waste/`revision_count` dashboard (see "Delivery observability" below). Armed on the NAS deploy like the rest; left OFF in `docker-compose.registry.yml`.
 
+**Ponytail (bundled with Fable-mode).** Rides `ROBOCO_FABLE_MODE_ENABLED` — no separate flag. Vendors the ponytail "lazy senior dev" build-laziness doctrine (`agents/prompts/doctrine/ponytail.md` + ethos sibling, MIT, Copyright (c) 2026 DietrichGebert — trimmed, YAML frontmatter stripped) into every composed system prompt via `ponytail_doctrine_layer` (`roboco/agents/factories/_base.py`), slotted immediately after the Fable doctrine layer and gated on the same flag. Role-scoped: developers (`AgentRole.DEVELOPER`) get the full ladder (YAGNI → reuse-in-this-codebase → stdlib → native-platform → installed-dep → one-line → minimal); every other role gets the ethos-only cut (`ponytail-ethos.md`) — the code-mechanics rungs are dropped so they can't leak into prose artifacts (task plans, review notes, docs). Both files carry a 5-point RoboCo preamble that makes the ladder yield to the Architectural Conventions Standard (placement), the 80% coverage gate + QA review + self-verification, the per-team design bar, task hygiene (everything-is-a-task / commits-linked / state-is-sacred), and reviewer feedback (`needs_revision` / `pr_fail` / `request_changes`) — the overlap mitigation is scoping, not deletion, and it rides ponytail's own "when NOT to be lazy" clause. Developer intensity is tunable via `ROBOCO_PONYTAIL_INTENSITY` (`lite` / `full` / `ultra`, default `full`; `roboco/config.py` `ponytail_intensity`, a string value — not a feature flag): `full` enforces the ladder, `lite` builds what's asked and names the lazier alternative, `ultra` is YAGNI-extremist (deletion before addition, challenge the requirement). Non-developers get no dial — `ultra` is wrong for prose artifacts, so the ethos runs a fixed restrained stance. Prompt-only: no hooks, no grok-path changes — ponytail adds no hook surface, so bundling it under the Fable flag changes only the composed prompt, not the spawn hooks. The Fable flag's description in `roboco/config.py` names both doctrines.
+
 **Feature flags / company-in-a-box.** Env-gated, default-off subsystems toggle from the panel's Settings → Feature Flags card (`panel/src/components/settings/feature-flags-card.tsx`) instead of hand-editing env: web research (`ROBOCO_RESEARCH_ENABLED`), the strategy engine (`ROBOCO_STRATEGY_ENGINE_ENABLED`), pitch provisioning (`ROBOCO_PROVISIONING_*`), external / internal PR review, the agent-runtime toolchain match (`ROBOCO_TOOLCHAIN_MATCH_ENABLED`), the architectural-conventions standard (`ROBOCO_CONVENTIONS_ENABLED`), gateway-health recovery (`ROBOCO_GATEWAY_HEALTH_ENABLED`), multi-repo CI-watch (`ROBOCO_CI_WATCH_ENABLED`), the dependency-update bot (`ROBOCO_DEP_UPDATE_ENABLED`), the gated release manager (`ROBOCO_RELEASE_MANAGER_ENABLED`), the organizational memory loop (`ROBOCO_ORG_MEMORY_ENABLED`), the sandboxed dev DB/Redis (`ROBOCO_SANDBOX_DB_ENABLED`), the RoboCo X account (`ROBOCO_X_ENGINE_ENABLED`), the RoboCo video engine (`ROBOCO_VIDEO_ENGINE_ENABLED`), the board roadmap engine (`ROBOCO_ROADMAP_ENGINE_ENABLED`), Fable-mode (`ROBOCO_FABLE_MODE_ENABLED`), and the self-heal flags above. Cloud auth (`ROBOCO_CLOUD_AUTH_ENABLED`) is deliberately NOT on this card — like `ROBOCO_DB_NETWORK_ISOLATED`, it's a compose/env-coupled flag a runtime toggle can't safely flip mid-session. A toggle persists in the settings store and takes effect on the next backend restart; an unset flag falls back to its environment / config default.
 
 ## Architectural Conventions Standard
@@ -472,6 +474,9 @@ ROBOCO_DEFAULT_EMBEDDING_MODEL=qwen3-embedding:0.6b
 ROBOCO_LOCAL_LLM_MODEL=glm-5.2:cloud
 ROBOCO_LOCAL_LLM_BASE_URL=http://roboco-ollama:11434/v1
 ROBOCO_OLLAMA_BASE_URL=http://roboco-ollama:11434
+
+# Doctrine (bundled with fable-mode)
+ROBOCO_PONYTAIL_INTENSITY=full      # lite/full/ultra — developer ladder intensity (bundled with fable-mode)
 ```
 
 ## Docker Deployment