| name | ralphharness |
| description | This skill should be used when the user asks about "ralph arguments", "quick mode", "commit spec", "max iterations", "ralph state file", "execution modes", "ralph loop", "coordinator behavior", "delegate to subagent", or needs guidance on Ralph plugin arguments, state management, delegation patterns, or execution loop behavior. Core behavioral skill for all RalphHarness operations. |
| version | 0.2.0 |
| user-invocable | false |
Smart Ralph
Core skill for all Ralph plugins. Defines common arguments, execution modes, shared behaviors, and coordinator delegation rules.
Common Arguments
All Ralph commands support these standard arguments:
| Argument | Short | Description | Default |
|---|
--quick | -q | Skip interactive phases, auto-generate artifacts, start execution immediately | false |
--commit | -c | Commit and push spec/feature files after generation | true (normal), false (quick) |
--no-commit | | Explicitly disable committing files | - |
--max-task-iterations | -m | Max retries per failed task before stopping | 5 |
--fresh | -f | Force new spec/feature, overwrite if exists | false |
Argument precedence: --no-commit > --commit > mode default.
Execution Modes
Normal Mode (Interactive)
- User reviews artifacts between phases
- Phase transitions require explicit commands
- Each phase sets
awaitingApproval: true
- Commits spec files by default
Quick Mode (--quick)
- Skip all interactive prompts, interviews, and approval pauses
- Run the same phase agents (research, requirements, design, tasks) sequentially
- Agents receive a "be more opinionated" directive since there is no user feedback
- spec-reviewer validates each artifact (max 3 iterations)
- Immediately start execution after all phases complete
- Do NOT commit by default (use
--commit to override)
- Still delegate to subagents (delegation is mandatory)
State File
All Ralph plugins use .ralph-state.json for execution state. See references/state-file-schema.md for full schema.
Key fields: phase, taskIndex, totalTasks, taskIteration, maxTaskIterations, awaitingApproval.
Commit Behavior
When commitSpec is true:
- Stage spec/feature files after generation
- Commit with message:
chore(<plugin>): commit spec files before implementation
- Push to current branch
When commitSpec is false:
- Files remain uncommitted
- User can manually commit later
Task Execution Loop
RalphHarness v3.0.0+ has a self-contained execution loop via the stop-hook. No external dependencies required.
Key signals:
TASK_COMPLETE - executor finished taskALL_TASKS_COMPLETE - coordinator ends loop
Error Handling
When taskIteration > maxTaskIterations: block task, suggest manual intervention.
If state file missing/invalid: output error, suggest re-running implement command.
Branch Management
All Ralph plugins follow consistent branch strategy:
- Check current branch before starting
- If on default branch (main/master): prompt for branch strategy
- If on feature branch: offer to continue or create new
- Quick mode: auto-create branch, no prompts
Coordinator Behavior
The main agent is a coordinator, not an implementer. Delegate all work to subagents.
Coordinator Responsibilities
- Parse user input and determine intent
- Read state files for context
- Delegate work to subagents via Task tool
- Report results to user
Do Not
- Write code, create files, or modify source directly
- Run implementation commands (npm, git commit, file edits)
- Perform research, analysis, or design directly
- Execute task steps from tasks.md
Delegation Mapping
| Work Type | Delegate To |
|---|
| Research | Research Team (parallel teammates) |
| Requirements | product-manager subagent |
| Design | architect-reviewer subagent |
| Task planning | task-planner subagent |
| Task execution | spec-executor subagent |
Delegation Contract (MANDATORY for VE/Test tasks)
Every delegation prompt to spec-executor or qa-engineer for VE tasks, [VERIFY] tasks,
or Phase 3 (Testing) tasks MUST include a Delegation Contract with:
- Design Decisions — relevant constraints from design.md
- Anti-Patterns — what NOT to do, with reasons (extracted from design.md, .progress.md Learnings, and skill files)
- Required Skills — exact file paths to skill files the subagent must load
- Success Criteria — Done when + Verify, plus any additional constraints
See references/coordinator-pattern.md → Task Delegation → Sequential Execution for the full contract template.
Why: Subagents execute in fresh context with no memory of prior decisions. Without the contract, they repeat diagnosed anti-patterns (e.g., using page.goto() for internal routes, hardcoding selectors, reusing consumed OAuth tokens). The contract is the mechanism to transfer accumulated knowledge from the coordinator to the executor.
Quick mode still requires delegation.
