autonomous-loop

Autonomous Loop Skill (Ralph Wiggum)

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)