Ralph wiggum loop

Ralph Wiggum Loop

Overview

The Ralph Wiggum pattern: an external shell loop that spawns a fresh agent session per PR comment. Each invocation reads a plan file, does exactly one unit of work (triage or fix), then exits. The shell loop handles repetition.

This avoids context window exhaustion and works with any agent.

How to invoke

This skill is not invoked via chat. Instead, you run a shell loop in your terminal — the loop pipes CODE_REVIEW_PLAN.md to a fresh agent session for each iteration:

# Claude
while [ ! -f PR_REVIEW_DONE ]; do
  cat CODE_REVIEW_PLAN.md | claude -p --dangerously-skip-permissions
done

# Codex
while [ ! -f PR_REVIEW_DONE ]; do
  cat CODE_REVIEW_PLAN.md | codex exec --yolo -
done

See Setup below to get CODE_REVIEW_PLAN.md into your project.

Setup (once per PR)

1. Copy CODE_REVIEW_PLAN.md from this skill to your project root:

   # Project-local install (default — installed without --global):
   cp .agents/skills/ralph-wiggum-loop/CODE_REVIEW_PLAN.md .
   
   # Global install (installed with --global):
   cp ~/.claude/skills/ralph-wiggum-loop/CODE_REVIEW_PLAN.md .
   

   The path depends on how the skill was installed. Check .agents/skills/ first (project-local); if not found, use your global skills directory.

2. Optionally add both files to .gitignore:

   CODE_REVIEW_PLAN.md
   PR_COMMENTS_PLAN.md
   PR_REVIEW_DONE
   .pr-review/
   

3. Start the loop:

   Claude:

   while [ ! -f PR_REVIEW_DONE ]; do
     cat CODE_REVIEW_PLAN.md | claude -p --dangerously-skip-permissions
   done
   

   Codex:

   while [ ! -f PR_REVIEW_DONE ]; do
     cat CODE_REVIEW_PLAN.md | codex exec --yolo -
   done
   

   Any agent that accepts stdin:

   while [ ! -f PR_REVIEW_DONE ]; do
     cat CODE_REVIEW_PLAN.md | <agent-command>
   done
   

How it works

Iteration	PR_COMMENTS_PLAN.md exists?	What the agent does
1st	No	Fetches all PR comments, triages them, writes the file
2nd–N	Yes	Fixes the topmost unresolved comment, marks it done
Final	Yes, all resolved	Writes PR_REVIEW_DONE, loop terminates

Each session is minimal: one triage pass or one comment fix.

State files (in project root)

• CODE_REVIEW_PLAN.md — the instruction file (static, copied once)
• PR_COMMENTS_PLAN.md — triage + progress state (generated, updated each run)
• PR_REVIEW_DONE — written by the agent when all comments are addressed; stops the loop
• .pr-review/plan-<id>.md — per-comment plan for non-trivial fixes (deleted after resolution)

Cleanup

rm -f CODE_REVIEW_PLAN.md PR_COMMENTS_PLAN.md PR_REVIEW_DONE
rm -rf .pr-review/

Do Not

• Run the loop with --dangerously-skip-permissions on a repository you do not fully trust
• Let the loop run unattended past the first few iterations without reviewing what the agent committed
• Bundle all PR feedback into one large commit (each agent session commits at most one fix)
• Delete PR_COMMENTS_PLAN.md while the loop is running — this is the shared state file