Ralph

Ralph is an autonomous AI agent loop that runs AI coding tools (Amp or Claude Code) repeatedly until all PRD items are complete. Each iteration is a fresh instance with clean context. Memory persists via git history, progress.txt, and prd.json.

Based on Geoffrey Huntley's Ralph pattern.

Read my in-depth article on how I use Ralph

Prerequisites

• One of the following AI coding tools installed and authenticated:
  • Amp CLI (default)
  • Claude Code (npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code)
• jq installed (brew install jq on macOS)
• A git repository for your project

Setup

Option 1: Copy to your project

Copy the ralph files into your project:

# From your project root
mkdir -p scripts/ralph
cp /path/to/ralph/ralph.sh scripts/ralph/

# Copy the prompt template for your AI tool of choice:
cp /path/to/ralph/prompt.md scripts/ralph/prompt.md    # For Amp
# OR
cp /path/to/ralph/CLAUDE.md scripts/ralph/CLAUDE.md    # For Claude Code

chmod +x scripts/ralph/ralph.sh

Option 2: Install skills globally (Amp)

Copy the skills to your Amp or Claude config for use across all projects:

For AMP

cp -r skills/prd ~/.config/amp/skills/
cp -r skills/ralph ~/.config/amp/skills/

For Claude Code (manual)

cp -r skills/prd ~/.claude/skills/
cp -r skills/ralph ~/.claude/skills/

Option 3: Use as Claude Code Marketplace

Add the Ralph marketplace to Claude Code:

/plugin marketplace add snarktank/ralph

Then install the skills:

/plugin install ralph-skills@ralph-marketplace

Available skills after installation:

• /prd - Generate Product Requirements Documents
• /ralph - Convert PRDs to prd.json format

Skills are automatically invoked when you ask Claude to:

• "create a prd", "write prd for", "plan this feature"
• "convert this prd", "turn into ralph format", "create prd.json"

Configure Amp auto-handoff (recommended)

Add to ~/.config/amp/settings.json:

{
  "amp.experimental.autoHandoff": { "context": 90 }
}

This enables automatic handoff when context fills up, allowing Ralph to handle large stories that exceed a single context window.

Workflow

1. Create a PRD

Use the PRD skill to generate a detailed requirements document:

Load the prd skill and create a PRD for [your feature description]

Answer the clarifying questions. The skill saves output to tasks/prd-[feature-name].md.

2. Convert PRD to Ralph format

Use the Ralph skill to convert the markdown PRD to JSON:

Load the ralph skill and convert tasks/prd-[feature-name].md to prd.json

This creates prd.json with user stories structured for autonomous execution.

3. Run Ralph

# Using Amp (default)
./scripts/ralph/ralph.sh [max_iterations]

# Using Claude Code
./scripts/ralph/ralph.sh --tool claude [max_iterations]

Default is 10 iterations. Use --tool amp or --tool claude to select your AI coding tool.

Ralph will:

1. Create a feature branch (from PRD branchName)
2. Pick the highest priority story where passes: false
3. Implement that single story
4. Run quality checks (typecheck, tests)
5. Commit if checks pass
6. Update prd.json to mark story as passes: true
7. Append learnings to progress.txt
8. Repeat until all stories pass or max iterations reached

Key Files

File	Purpose
ralph.sh	The bash loop that spawns fresh AI instances (supports --tool amp or --tool claude)
prompt.md	Prompt template for Amp
CLAUDE.md	Prompt template for Claude Code
prd.json	User stories with passes status (the task list)
prd.json.example	Example PRD format for reference
progress.txt	Append-only learnings for future iterations
skills/prd/	Skill for generating PRDs (works with Amp and Claude Code)
skills/ralph/	Skill for converting PRDs to JSON (works with Amp and Claude Code)
.claude-plugin/	Plugin manifest for Claude Code marketplace discovery
flowchart/	Interactive visualization of how Ralph works

Flowchart

View Interactive Flowchart - Click through to see each step with animations.

The flowchart/ directory contains the source code. To run locally:

cd flowchart
npm install
npm run dev

Critical Concepts

Each Iteration = Fresh Context

Each iteration spawns a new AI instance (Amp or Claude Code) with clean context. The only memory between iterations is:

• Git history (commits from previous iterations)
• progress.txt (learnings and context)
• prd.json (which stories are done)

Small Tasks