autonomous-loop

Keep iterating until success without human intervention per attempt. Composes existing skills and respects Jidoka escalation.

When to Use

• User requests hands-off iteration
• Explicitly triggered with keywords

Trigger Phrases

• "ralph mode"
• "keep going"
• "iterate until done"
• "autonomous"
• "don't stop"

Parameters

| Param | Default | Description | |-------|---------|-------------| | max_iterations | 5 | Max attempts before pause | | success_criteria | typecheck + lint + ReadLints clean | What defines success |

Phase 1: Initialize

1. Acknowledge activation
2. Invoke session-status skill for current state
3. Initialize counters:
   • iteration = 0
   • error_history = [] (shared with debug skill)

Output:

Entering autonomous loop. Max 5 iterations.
Current: [session-status header]

Phase 2: Execute Loop

FOR iteration IN 1..max_iterations:
    
    2.1: Execute current task action
         - Implement changes per commit plan
         - Run npm run typecheck
         - Run npm run lint
    
    2.2: Invoke pr-review skill
         - If BLOCK: proceed to 2.4
         - If PASS: proceed to 2.3
    
    2.3: Invoke qa-commit skill
         - If GREEN: proceed to 2.5
         - If RED: proceed to 2.4
    
    2.4: Invoke debug skill
         - Debug skill checks Jidoka tier internally
         - If Tier 2/3 escalation: EXIT loop, return JIDOKA
         - If Tier 1 fix attempted: CONTINUE loop
    
    2.5: Success checkpoint
         - Log iteration as SUCCESS
         - Proceed to next commit or EXIT if done

Phase 3: Iteration Report

After each iteration, output:

## Iteration [N]/[max]

| Step | Skill | Result |
|------|-------|--------|
| Execute | (implementation) | [files changed] |
| Review | pr-review | PASS/BLOCK |
| Verify | qa-commit | GREEN/RED |
| Debug | debug | [if invoked] |

**Outcome:** [SUCCESS / CONTINUE / JIDOKA / MAX]

Phase 4: Exit and Report

On loop exit, invoke session-status skill and output:

## Autonomous Loop Complete

**Exit reason:** [SUCCESS / JIDOKA / MAX / INTERRUPT]
**Iterations:** [N] of [max]

| Iter | Action | Result |
|------|--------|--------|
| 1 | [description] | [outcome] |
| 2 | [description] | [outcome] |

[session-status footer with next steps]

Exit Conditions

| Condition | Trigger | Result | |-----------|---------|--------| | SUCCESS | All checks pass, commit complete | Normal exit, proceed to next commit | | JIDOKA | Tier 2/3 escalation triggered | Exit loop, present options to human | | MAX | iteration >= max_iterations | Exit loop, report and wait for guidance | | INTERRUPT | User sends message | Exit loop, respond to user |

Safety Guardrails

• NEVER auto-commit without GREEN from qa-commit
• NEVER auto-push to remote
• NEVER delete files without explicit approval
• PAUSE on any destructive operation
• EXIT on user message (treat as INTERRUPT)

Integration with Jidoka

Ralph Wiggum respects Jidoka escalation tiers:

| Tier | Ralph Behavior | |------|----------------| | Tier 1 (error_count < 3) | Continue autonomously, debug skill handles | | Tier 2 (same error 3x) | EXIT loop, Jidoka presents options | | Tier 3 (any error 5x) | EXIT loop, Jidoka requires human triage |

Integration

This skill composes:

• session-status - Progress tracking
• pr-review - Technical validation
• qa-commit - QA contract verification
• debug - Error fixing with Jidoka

This skill is invoked by:

• User trigger phrases
• agent.mdc when user requests autonomous mode

Invocation

Trigger with: "ralph mode", "keep going", "iterate until done"

Tools Used

| Tool | Purpose | |------|---------| | Shell | npm run typecheck, npm run lint | | ReadLints | IDE diagnostic errors | | Grep | Pattern search in code | | SemanticSearch | Find implementations | | Read | Read file contents | | StrReplace | Make code changes | | Browser MCP | Visual verification (via qa-commit) |