agent-loop

Agent Loop

Plan → Act → Observe → Verify → Stop

A stateful control cycle for autonomous engineering work. Read docs/agents/loops.md if it exists; if missing, use conservative defaults (iteration cap 5, no push/deploy/CI changes) and suggest /setup-agent-loops.

When exploring the codebase, read CONTEXT.md (if it exists) so changes use the project's domain vocabulary.

When you encounter a knowledge gap (unknown terminology, missing concepts, need to ground a decision), reach for research-from-vault (or run external research first then synthesize into the vault). Goals of the form "research X using the vault until a synthesis note and learning record exist" are valid and encouraged when the vault is configured.

1. Plan

Before the first change:

• State the goal and done signal (what verifier output means success).
• Read docs/agents/loops.md for verification commands, stop rules, and editable scope.
• If building features test-first, reach for the /tdd skill.
• Track iteration count from 1.

2. Act

One bounded change per iteration — a vertical slice, not a bulk rewrite.

• Stay within editable paths from docs/agents/loops.md.
• Prefer the smallest change that could move verification toward green.

3. Observe

Run the after-each-change verifier(s) from docs/agents/loops.md.

Paste or summarize the relevant output — pass/fail must be unambiguous from exit code and output.

4. Verify

• Pass → if the task touched multiple areas, run the before-stopping gate (full suite). If that passes, stop with success brief.
• Fail → proceed to step 5.

5. Stop or continue

Apply stop rules from STOP-RULES.md:

• Iteration cap hit → stop with brief.
• Same failure N times with no meaningful diff → stop with brief.
• Next step needs forbidden action → stop with brief.
• Fix path unclear after one failed attempt → reach for /diagnosing-bugs before blind retries.

If continuing: increment iteration count, return to Act with a changed strategy — don't repeat the same fix.

Completion criterion

The loop is done when verification passes and a success brief is presented, or any stop rule fires with an explicit brief to the user.