/ouroboros:ralph

Persistent self-referential loop until verification passes. "The boulder never stops."

Usage

ooo ralph "<your request>"
/ouroboros:ralph "<your request>"

Trigger keywords: "ralph", "don't stop", "must complete", "until it works", "keep going"

How It Works

Ralph mode includes parallel execution + automatic verification:

1. Execute (parallel where possible)

   • Independent tasks run concurrently
   • Dependency-aware scheduling

2. Verify (verifier)

   • Check completion
   • Validate tests pass
   • Measure drift

3. Loop (if failed)

   • Analyze failure
   • Fix issues
   • Repeat from step 1

Instructions

When the user invokes this skill:

1. Parse the request: Extract what needs to be done

2. Initialize loop:

   • Generate a session_id (UUID)
   • Track iteration, verification_history in conversation context
   • No file I/O needed — evolve_step stores all execution data in EventStore

3. Enter the loop (non-blocking background execution):

   while iteration < max_iterations:
       # Start evolve_step in background — returns immediately
       job = await start_evolve_step(lineage_id, seed_content, execute=true)
       job_id = job.meta["job_id"]
       cursor = job.meta["cursor"]
   
       # Poll for progress (non-blocking, shows intermediate state)
       # Use timeout_seconds=60 to reduce context consumption
       while not terminal:
           wait_result = await job_wait(job_id, cursor, timeout_seconds=60)
           cursor = wait_result.meta["cursor"]
           status = wait_result.meta["status"]
           # Report progress concisely (one line per poll)
           terminal = status in ("completed", "failed", "cancelled")
   
       # Fetch final result
       result = await job_result(job_id)
   
       # Parse QA from evolve_step response text
       # (EvolveStepHandler runs QA internally and appends verdict)
       verification.passed = (qa_verdict == "pass")
       verification.score = qa_score
   
       # Record in conversation context
       verification_history.append({
           "iteration": iteration,
           "passed": verification.passed,
           "score": verification.score,
           "verdict": qa_verdict
       })
   
       if verification.passed:
           # SUCCESS
           break
   
       # Failed - analyze and continue
       iteration += 1
   
       if iteration >= max_iterations:
           # Max iterations reached
           break
   

   Tool mapping:

   • start_evolve_step = ouroboros_start_evolve_step
   • job_wait = ouroboros_job_wait
   • job_result = ouroboros_job_result

4. On termination, display a next-step:

   • Success (QA passed): Next: ooo evaluate for formal 3-stage verification
   • Max iterations reached: Next: ooo interview to re-examine the problem — or ooo unstuck to try a different approach

5. Report progress each iteration:

   [Ralph Iteration <i>/<max>]
   Execution complete. Running QA...
   
   QA Verdict: <PASS/REVISE/FAIL> (score: <score>)
   Differences:
     - <difference 1>
     - <difference 2>
   Suggestions:
     - <suggestion 1>
     - <suggestion 2>
   
   The boulder never stops. Continuing...
   

6. Handle interruption:

   • If user says "stop": exit gracefully
   • If user says "continue": call ouroboros_query_events(aggregate_id=<lineage_id>) to reconstruct iteration history from EventStore

The Boulder Never Stops

This is the key phrase. Ralph does not give up:

• Each failure is data for the next attempt
• Verification drives the loop
• Only complete success or max iterations stops it

Example

User: ooo ralph fix all failing tests

[Ralph Iteration 1/10]
Started background execution (job_abc123)
Polling progress...
  Phase: Executing | AC Progress: 1/3
  Phase: Executing | AC Progress: 2/3
  Phase: Executing | AC Progress: 3/3
Execution complete. Fetching result...

QA Verdict: REVISE (score: 0.65)
Differences:
  - 3 tests still failing
  - Type errors in src/api.py
Suggestions:
  - Fix type annotations in api.py before retrying

The boulder never stops. Continuing...

[Ralph Iteration 2/10]
Executing in parallel...
Fixing remaining issues...
Running QA...

QA Verdict: REVISE (score: 0.85)
Differences:
  - 1 test edge case failing
Suggestions:
  - Add boundary check in parse_input()

The boulder never stops. Continuing...

[Ralph Iteration 3/10]
Executing in parallel...
Fixing edge case...
Running QA...

QA Verdict: PASS (score: 1.0)

Ralph COMPLETE
==============
Request: Fix all failing tests
Iterations: 3

QA History:
- Iteration 1: REVISE (0.65)
- Iteration 2: REVISE (0.85)
- Iteration 3: PASS (1.0)

All tests passing. Build successful.

Next: `ooo evaluate` for formal 3-stage verification