Essentials for Claude Code
Loops, swarms, and teams powered by Claude Code's built-in Task System.
Loop, swarm, and team are three execution modes. Loop runs sequentially. Swarm runs parallel subagents. Team spawns full Claude Code instances with shared contracts via Agent Teams. All use Claude's native task dependencies, ctrl+t progress, and automatic persistence.
Plans define exit criteria. Loops run until tests pass. Done means actually done.
The Problem
You: "Add authentication"
AI: *writes code* "Done!"
You: *runs tests* — 3 failing
You: "Fix these"
AI: "Fixed!"
You: *runs tests* — still failing
[repeat until you give up]
The Solution
# Option A: Discuss in chat, then execute from context
You: "I need to fix this auth bug..." [back and forth discussion]
You: /implement-loop fix the auth bug we discussed
AI: *implements, tests fail, fixes, tests fail, fixes...*
AI: "Exit criteria passed" ✓
# Option B: Create plan first, then execute
You: /plan-creator Add authentication
You: /plan-loop .claude/plans/auth-plan.md # Sequential
You: /plan-swarm .claude/plans/auth-plan.md # Parallel subagents
You: /plan-team .claude/plans/auth-plan.md # Agent Teams with contracts
AI: "Exit criteria passed" ✓
Quick Start
# Install
/plugin marketplace add GantisStorm/essentials-claude-code
/plugin install essentials@essentials-claude-code
mkdir -p .claude/plans .claude/prompts .claude/prd
# Option A: From conversation (after discussing a bug/feature)
/implement-loop fix the auth bug we discussed # Sequential
/implement-swarm refactor the API handlers # Parallel subagents
/implement-team build the full-stack feature # Agent Teams with contracts
# Option B: With plan file
/plan-creator Add user authentication with JWT
/plan-loop .claude/plans/user-auth-3k7f2-plan.md # Sequential
/plan-swarm .claude/plans/user-auth-3k7f2-plan.md # Parallel subagents
/plan-team .claude/plans/user-auth-3k7f2-plan.md # Agent Teams with contracts
# Visual progress
ctrl+t # Toggle task tree view
Zero external dependencies. All three modes enforce exit criteria. Swarm defaults to 3 concurrent workers. Team requires tmux and CLAUDE_CODE_EXPERIMENTAL_AGENT_TEAMS=1.
Powered by Claude Code's Task System
Our loop, swarm, and team commands use Claude Code's built-in Task Management System (v2.1.19+).
Ralph TUI and Beads integrate seamlessly. Use Ralph TUI for dashboard visualization. Use Beads for persistent task tracking across sessions.
What We Used Before
The community built Ralph Wiggum loops with workarounds:
- Stop hooks: Shell scripts (
.shfiles) that ran after each Claude response, grepping output for keywords like "complete" or "done" to decide whether to continue the loop - External plan files: Markdown files tracking task state since Claude had no built-in persistence
- TodoWrite: Flat task lists with no dependency ordering — tasks could run out of order
- Fresh sessions: Starting new conversations to fight context rot, manually re-establishing state each time
What We Use Now
Claude Code v2.1.19+ provides native tools that replace all of this:
| Old Workaround | Native Replacement | Why It's Better |
|---|---|---|
| Stop hooks (shell scripts) | TaskUpdate({ status: "completed" }) | No external scripts, status is structured data |
| External plan.md for state | ~/.claude/tasks/ storage | Survives context compaction automatically |
| TodoWrite flat lists | TaskUpdate({ addBlockedBy: [...] }) | Dependencies enforced — tasks can't run out of order |
| Manual session coordination | CLAUDE_CODE_TASK_LIST_ID env var | Same task list across sessions |
| Single agent | TaskList + parallel workers | Multiple agents coordinate via shared state |
The core loop is unchanged: Plan → Implement → Verify → Loop if fail → Done when pass.
What Tasks Do Well
- Dependency management: Task #3 blocked by #1 and #2 literally cannot start until both complete
- Visual progress: Press
ctrl+tto see live task tree with status - Parallel coordination: Multiple workers share one task list, no conflicts
- Persistence: Survives context compaction, stored in
~/.claude/tasks/