Ralph the PRD backlog
The canonical Ralph loop: each iteration starts fresh, reads the PRD and guardrails, ships exactly one backlog item end-to-end, and records what it learned.
/loop start each iteration with fresh context: read PROMPT.md, prd.json, and .ralph/guardrails.md; pick the single highest-priority item in prd.json not marked done, implement it with tests, run the full check suite, commit and mark it done only if green; if blocked or a check fails twice the same way, append the lesson to .ralph/guardrails.md and move on; stop when every item is done or after 30 turns
claude-code · codex
Implementation note
Write prd.json as small, independently-shippable items — Ralph lives or dies on backlog granularity. Fresh context per iteration prevents long-session drift.
Source: Geoffrey Huntley (Ralph technique) ↗graded A · 95/100 — how grades work →
More planning loops
Implement feature X autonomously
Ralph runs until it outputs DONE, implementing the feature end-to-end over up to 20 iterations.
/ralph-loop "Implement feature X. Output DONE when complete." --completion-promise "DONE" --max-iterations 20
planningmedium risk
Ship GOALS.md phases 1-13
Implement each GOALS.md phase with tests and validation, committing and pushing after stable milestones until unblocked.
/goal Complete GOALS.md phases 1-13 in order. For each phase, implement the deliverables, add/update tests, run the common validation plus that phase's Automated QA, commit after the phase passes, and push after stable milestones. Preserve unrelated user changes. Stop only if blocked by missing credentials, external service access, or an explicit product decision that cannot be safely inferred Cap the run at 20 turns.
planninghigh risk
Execute roadmap phases to completion
Work through each phase in your roadmap, verify each one, run the final audit, and stop when all phases pass.
/goal "Execute all phases of <run-root /ROADMAP.md sequentially. Read <run-root /phases/phase-N.md for each phase; do the work; run mandatory commands; print SUPERGOAL PHASE VERIFY then SUPERGOAL PHASE DONE for each phase; follow the failure-recovery protocol in <run-root /PROTOCOL.md if any criterion fails. After the last phase, run the FINAL AUDIT in <run-root /PROTOCOL.md (re-verify against <run-root /ROADMAP.md; re-run aggregated mandatory commands; spot-check criteria; on gaps, write <run-root /phases/audit-fix-<round .md and execute inline). Only after AUDIT COMPLETE, print SUPERGOAL RUN COMPLETE. Done when SUPERGOAL RUN COMPLETE appears in the transcript with one SUPERGOAL PHASE DONE per phase, AUDIT COMPLETE printed before SUPERGOAL RUN COMPLETE, and no FAILURE HANDOFF or AUDIT HANDOFF this run
planninghigh risk