loop-engineering

name	loop-engineering
description	Design, scaffold, audit, and operate agent loops — scheduled automations that prompt agents on your behalf. Use when setting up automated workflows like daily triage, PR babysitter, CI sweeper, or dependency sweeper.
version	1.0.0
author	Hermes Agent (adapted from cobusgreyling/loop-engineering)
license	MIT
platforms	["linux","macos","windows"]
metadata	{"hermes":{"tags":["loops","automation","scheduling","infrastructure","governance"],"related_skills":["loopy","cronjob","self-learning","safety-guard"]}}

Loop Engineering

Design the system that prompts your agents. Stop prompting manually — build loops that triage, fix, verify, and report on a schedule. This skill covers the infrastructure side: scaffolding, scoring, scheduling, worktree isolation, drift detection, and governance. For loop content (discovering, crafting, running, debriefing individual loops), use the loopy skill.

When to use this skill

• "Set up automated PR review on this repo"
• "I want daily issue triage that runs unattended"
• "Run loop doctor on this project"
• "What's my Loop Ready score?"
• "Add a CI sweeper loop"
• "Wire up loop-engineering to this codebase"

The five building blocks + memory

Block	What it is	Hermes Equivalent
Automations / Scheduling	Discovery + triage on a cadence	cronjob tool
Worktrees	Safe parallel execution per fix attempt	delegate_task with isolated context
Skills	Persistent project knowledge	skills/ directory
Plugins & Connectors	Reach into real tools (MCP)	MCP servers in config.yaml
Sub-agents	Maker / checker split	delegate_task with leaf role
+ Memory / State	Durable spine outside any conversation	memory tool + hermes_state.py

The 7 production patterns

Pattern	Cadence	Autonomy	Token cost
Daily Triage	1d–2h	L1 report	Low
PR Babysitter	5–15m	L1 watch	High
CI Sweeper	5–15m	L2 cautious	Very high
Dependency Sweeper	6h–1d	L2 patch-only	Medium
Changelog Drafter	1d or tag	L1 draft	Low
Post-Merge Cleanup	1d–6h	L1 off-peak	Low
Issue Triage	2h–1d	L1 propose-only	Low

Quickstart: install loop-engineering into a project

Step 1: Pick a pattern

Map the user's problem to the right pattern:

Symptom	Pattern
Morning chaos / unclear priorities	daily-triage
PRs stalling	pr-babysitter
CI red / flakes	ci-sweeper
CVE / Dependabot noise	dependency-sweeper
Post-merge TODOs piling up	post-merge-cleanup
Stale release notes	changelog-drafter
Noisy issues	issue-triage

Step 2: Scaffold with Hermes cron

Use Hermes's cronjob tool to schedule the loop:

cronjob add --schedule "every 1d" --prompt "Triage open issues..." --skills loopy

Step 3: Doctor check

Review the loop configuration:

• Is the schedule appropriate?
• Are the right skills loaded?
• Is the autonomy level correct?
• Are safety guards enabled?

Step 4: Week-one rule

Report only. No auto-fix, no auto-merge. Start at L1 and phase up.

Autonomy levels

Level	What it does	When to use
L1	Report only. No changes.	Week one. Always start here.
L2	Assisted fixes with human gate.	After L1 is stable for 2+ weeks.
L3	Unattended fixes within denylist.	Loop Ready ≥ 80, verifier passing, human explicitly opts in.

Never jump straight to L3. Phase through L1 → L2 → L3.

Safety rules

1. Week one is always L1 (report-only). No exceptions.
2. No auto-merge on main except trivial dependency patches.
3. All unattended code changes run in isolated contexts via delegate_task.
4. Token caps are enforced. Check budget before enabling high-cadence loops.
5. Kill switch: cronjob pause or disable in config.
6. Enable safety-guard skill for all L2+ autonomous loops.

Relationship to loopy

	loopy	loop-engineering
Focus	Loop content — discover, craft, run, debrief	Loop infrastructure — scaffold, score, schedule, govern
Output	A loop definition (LOOPS.md entry)	A scored, scheduled, isolated loop system
When to use	"I want to turn this repeated task into a loop"	"I want automated loops running on this repo"

They work together: use loop-engineering to scaffold the infrastructure, then use loopy to refine the loop content within that infrastructure.

Hermes Integration

• Use cronjob tool for all loop scheduling
• Use delegate_task for isolated loop execution
• Use safety-guard skill for autonomous loop protection
• Use memory tool for loop state persistence
• Use terminal for git operations within loops
• Use write_file to create LOOPS.md and STATE.md
• Combine with self-learning to harvest successful loop patterns as skills