Ralph

---
description: Ralph Loop - Autonomous feature development (orchestrator, single feature, or status)
argument-hint: orchestrator|feature FEAT-XXX|status|stop
allowed-tools: Bash(./ralph-*:*), Bash(git:*), Bash(gh:*), Bash(python3:*), Read, Write
---

# Ralph Loop Command

Autonomous feature development using the 9-phase Feature Development Cycle.

## Usage

```bash
# Start multi-feature orchestrator (processes all Pending features)
/ralph orchestrator [max_parallel]
/ralph orchestrator 3              # Default: 3 parallel

# Run single feature loop
/ralph feature FEAT-XXX [max_iterations]
/ralph feature FEAT-001-auth 15    # Default: 15 iterations

# Check status of running loops
/ralph status

# Stop all running loops
/ralph stop

How It Works

Orchestrator Mode

1. Reads docs/features/_index.md for features with Pending status
2. Creates isolated git worktrees for each feature
3. Launches ralph-feature.sh in each worktree
4. Monitors for merge completion
5. Cleans up worktrees after merge

Feature Loop Mode

Executes the complete 9-phase cycle:

Interview -> Think Critically -> Plan -> Branch -> Implement -> Verify -> PR -> Merge -> Wrap-Up

Each iteration:

1. Detects current phase from status.md
2. Executes phase-specific actions
3. Emits completion signal
4. Moves to next phase or continues current

Pause Conditions

The loop pauses (not terminates) for:

• Human input needed: spec.md has TBD values
• Analysis red flags: Think Critically found issues
• Waiting for merge: PR created, awaiting approval
• 3 consecutive failures: Something needs investigation

Instructions

For Orchestrator

# Make scripts executable
chmod +x ralph-orchestrator.sh ralph-feature.sh

# Run orchestrator
./ralph-orchestrator.sh $ARGUMENTS

For Single Feature

# Extract feature ID from arguments
FEATURE_ID=$(echo "$ARGUMENTS" | grep -oE 'FEAT-[0-9]+-[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+')
MAX_ITER=$(echo "$ARGUMENTS" | grep -oE '[0-9]+$' || echo "15")

# Run feature loop
./ralph-feature.sh "$FEATURE_ID" "$MAX_ITER"

For Status

./ralph-orchestrator.sh --status

For Stop

./ralph-orchestrator.sh --stop

Output Files

File	Purpose
feature-loop-state.json	Current state of all loops
activity.md	Chronological log of all actions
ralph-FEAT-XXX.log	Log for specific feature (in worktree)

Integration with Existing Commands

Ralph Loop uses the same documentation structure:

• Updates spec.md, design.md, tasks.md, status.md
• Writes to context/session_log.md
• Creates context/wrap_up.md at the end

You can still use manual commands alongside Ralph:

• /interview FEAT-XXX - If you want to do interview manually
• /resume FEAT-XXX - To continue a paused feature
• /wrap-up FEAT-XXX - To manually close a feature

Argument

$ARGUMENTS ```