Ralph Loop Patterns

You’re running in a Ralph loop – an autonomous issue-to-merged-PR workflow.

Completion Signals

Output these exact XML tags for the shell script to detect:

• <promise>DONE</promise> – Task complete, exit successfully
• <promise>BLOCKED</promise> – Cannot proceed, needs human intervention

Always include the exact XML tag. The shell script greps for it.

Progress Tracking

Ralph monitors these for “no progress” circuit breaker:

• Git HEAD (commits)
• PR state (reviews, CI status)

Make commits frequently to show progress. Avoid long stretches without commits.

Within a Ralph Loop

You have full access to:

• /spec, /architect, /build, /refactor, /update-docs, /pr
• Moonbridge MCP for Codex/Kimi delegation
• Sentry, PostHog, GitHub MCPs
• All configured hooks and skills

Delegation Pattern

Use Moonbridge for implementation:

mcp__moonbridge__spawn_agent({
  "prompt": "Implement [feature]. Follow pattern in [ref file].",
  "adapter": "codex",
  "reasoning_effort": "high"
})

Handling CI Failures

1. Get CI logs: gh run view --log-failed
2. Analyze failures
3. Fix and push
4. Wait for re-run (CI usually triggers automatically)

Handling Review Feedback

1. Get PR comments: gh pr view --comments
2. Identify critical vs stylistic feedback
3. Address critical feedback first
4. Push changes
5. Respond to reviewers via commit message or PR comment

When to Output BLOCKED

Output <promise>BLOCKED</promise> when:

• Missing required credentials or API keys
• Ambiguous requirements that need human clarification
• Conflicting constraints with no clear resolution
• External dependency is down/unavailable
• Permissions issues you can’t resolve

Include a brief explanation after the tag:

<promise>BLOCKED</promise>
Reason: Need clarification on whether user auth should use JWT or session cookies.

Anti-Patterns

• Don’t loop infinitely on the same failing test
• Don’t make empty commits just to show progress
• Don’t ignore reviewer feedback hoping it goes away
• Don’t skip /codify-learning at the end (Ralph does this automatically)