// Self-referential loop until task completion with configurable verification reviewer
Strategic planning with optional interview workflow
N coordinated agents on shared task list using Claude Code native teams
QA cycling workflow - test, verify, fix, repeat until goal met
Socratic deep interview with mathematical ambiguity gating before explicit execution approval
Durable multi-goal workflow that persists plan/ledger artifacts under .omc/ultragoal and prints Claude /goal handoff text for the active session
Diagnose and fix oh-my-claudecode installation issues
| name | ralph |
| description | Self-referential loop until task completion with configurable verification reviewer |
| argument-hint | [--no-deslop] [--critic=architect|critic|codex] <task description> |
| level | 4 |
[RALPH + ULTRAWORK - ITERATION {{ITERATION}}/{{MAX}}]
Your previous attempt did not output the completion promise. Continue working on the task.
Ralph is a PRD-driven persistence loop that keeps working on a task until ALL user stories in prd.json have passes: true and are reviewer-verified. It wraps ultrawork's parallel execution with session persistence, automatic retry on failure, structured story tracking, and mandatory verification before completion.<Use_When>
<Do_Not_Use_When>
autopilot insteadplan skill insteadultrawork directly/goal and only wants that native goal loop monitored -- adopt the existing /goal explicitly or use artifact-only Ultragoal notes instead of starting Ralph as a competing persistence loop
</Do_Not_Use_When><Why_This_Exists> Complex tasks often fail silently: partial implementations get declared "done", tests get skipped, edge cases get forgotten. Ralph prevents this by:
<PRD_Mode>
By default, ralph operates in PRD mode. A scaffold prd.json is auto-generated when ralph starts if none exists. Active transient PRD state is session-scoped at .omc/state/sessions/{sessionId}/prd.json when a session ID is available; legacy project-level prd.json / .omc/prd.json files are read as startup migration inputs.
Startup gate: Ralph always initializes and validates prd.json at startup. Legacy --no-prd text is sanitized from the prompt for backward compatibility, but it no longer bypasses PRD creation or validation.
Deslop opt-out: If {{PROMPT}} contains --no-deslop, skip the mandatory post-review deslop pass entirely. Use this only when the cleanup pass is intentionally out of scope for the run.
Reviewer selection: Pass --critic=architect, --critic=critic, or --critic=codex in the Ralph prompt to choose the completion reviewer for that run. architect remains the default.
</PRD_Mode>
<Execution_Policy>
run_in_background: true for long operations (installs, builds, test suites)model parameter explicitly when delegating to agentsdocs/shared/agent-tiers.md before first delegation to select correct agent tiers/goal is mentioned, treat it as a native session-loop handoff/evidence source only and use the deterministic conflict policies refuse, adopt_existing, and artifact_only rather than non-deterministic warning handling. Ralph remains the OMC loop authority for this run; do not claim /goal independently ran tests or read files, and do not treat evaluator success as a substitute for Ralph reviewer verification.
</Execution_Policy>Pick next story: Read the active PRD file and select the highest-priority story with passes: false. This is your current focus.
Implement the current story:
run_in_background: trueVerify the current story's acceptance criteria: a. For EACH acceptance criterion in the story, verify it is met with fresh evidence b. Run relevant checks (test, build, lint, typecheck) and read the output c. If any criterion is NOT met, continue working -- do NOT mark the story as complete
Mark story complete:
a. When ALL acceptance criteria are verified, set passes: true for this story in the active PRD file
b. Record progress in progress.txt: what was implemented, files changed, learnings for future iterations
c. Add any discovered codebase patterns to progress.txt
Check PRD completion:
a. Read the active PRD file -- are ALL stories marked passes: true?
b. If NOT all complete, loop back to Step 2 (pick next story)
c. If ALL complete, proceed to Step 7 (architect verification)
Reviewer verification (tiered, against acceptance criteria):
20 files or security/architectural changes: THOROUGH tier (architect / Opus)
--critic=critic, use the Claude critic agent for the approval pass--critic=codex, run omc ask codex --agent-prompt critic "..." for the approval pass. The Codex critic prompt MUST include:
/oh-my-claudecode:cancel) or on rejection (Step 9). Treating an approved verdict as a reporting checkpoint is a polite-stop anti-pattern.7.5 Mandatory Deslop Pass (runs unconditionally after Step 7 approval, unless {{PROMPT}} contains --no-deslop):
Invoke the ai-slop-cleaner skill via the Skill tool: Skill("ai-slop-cleaner"). Run in standard mode (not --review) on the files changed during the current Ralph session only.
ai-slop-cleaner is a SKILL, not an agent. Do NOT call it via Task(subagent_type="oh-my-claudecode:ai-slop-cleaner") — that subagent type does not exist and the call will fail with "Agent type not found". If you see that error, retry with the Skill tool — do NOT substitute a similarly-named agent like code-simplifier as a "closest match".
Keep the scope bounded to the Ralph changed-file set; do not broaden the cleanup pass to unrelated files.
If the reviewer approved the implementation but the deslop pass introduces follow-up edits, keep those edits inside the same changed-file scope before proceeding.
7.6 Regression Re-verification:
After the deslop pass, re-run all relevant tests, build, and lint checks for the Ralph session.
Read the output and confirm the post-deslop regression run actually passes.
If regression fails, roll back the cleaner changes or fix the regression, then rerun the verification loop until it passes.
Only proceed to completion after the post-deslop regression run passes (or --no-deslop was explicitly specified).
On approval: After Step 7.6 passes (with Step 7.5 completed, or skipped via --no-deslop), run /oh-my-claudecode:cancel to cleanly exit and clean up all state files
On rejection: Fix the issues raised, re-verify with the same reviewer, then loop back to check if the story needs to be marked incomplete
<Tool_Usage>
Task(subagent_type="oh-my-claudecode:architect", ...) for architect verification cross-checks when changes are security-sensitive, architectural, or involve complex multi-system integrationTask(subagent_type="oh-my-claudecode:critic", ...) when --critic=criticomc ask codex --agent-prompt critic "..." when --critic=codex. Construct the prompt to include: (a) prd.json acceptance criteria, (b) files changed + related files, (c) explicit optimality question: "Is there a meaningfully simpler, faster, or more maintainable approach that achieves the same acceptance criteria?"state_write / state_read for ralph mode state persistence between iterationsai-slop-cleaner is a skill, invoke via Skill("ai-slop-cleaner"). architect, critic, executor etc. are agents, invoke via Task(subagent_type="oh-my-claudecode:<name>"). If you ever get "Agent type ... not found" for an oh-my-claudecode:<name> identifier, the item is a skill — retry with the Skill tool. Do NOT substitute a similarly-named agent as a "closest match".
</Tool_Usage>After refinement: acceptanceCriteria: [ "Legacy --no-prd text is stripped from the Ralph working prompt", "Ralph startup still creates or validates prd.json when legacy --no-prd text is present", "TypeScript compiles with no errors (npm run build)" ]
Why good: Generic criteria replaced with specific, testable criteria.
</Good>
<Good>
Correct parallel delegation:
Task(subagent_type="oh-my-claudecode:executor", model="haiku", prompt="Add type export for UserConfig") Task(subagent_type="oh-my-claudecode:executor", model="sonnet", prompt="Implement the caching layer for API responses") Task(subagent_type="oh-my-claudecode:executor", model="opus", prompt="Refactor auth module to support OAuth2 flow")
Why good: Three independent tasks fired simultaneously at appropriate tiers.
</Good>
<Good>
Story-by-story verification:
Why good: Each story verified against its own acceptance criteria before marking complete.
</Good>
<Bad>
Claiming completion without PRD verification:
"All the changes look good, the implementation should work correctly. Task complete."
Why bad: Uses "should" and "look good" -- no fresh evidence, no story-by-story verification, no architect review.
</Bad>
<Bad>
Sequential execution of independent tasks:
Task(executor, "Add type export") → wait → Task(executor, "Implement caching") → wait → Task(executor, "Refactor auth")
Why bad: These are independent tasks that should run in parallel, not sequentially.
</Bad>
<Bad>
Keeping generic acceptance criteria:
"prd.json created with criteria: Implementation is complete, Code compiles. Moving on to coding."
Why bad: Did not refine scaffold criteria into task-specific ones. This is PRD theater.
</Bad>
</Examples>
<Escalation_And_Stop_Conditions>
- Stop and report when a fundamental blocker requires user input (missing credentials, unclear requirements, external service down)
- Stop when the user says "stop", "cancel", or "abort" -- run `/oh-my-claudecode:cancel`
- Continue working when the hook system sends "The boulder never stops" -- this means the iteration continues
- If the selected reviewer rejects verification, fix the issues and re-verify (do not stop)
- If the same issue recurs across 3+ iterations, report it as a potential fundamental problem
- **Do NOT stop after Step 7 approval.** The boulder continues through 7 → 7.5 → 7.6 → 8 in the same turn as a single chain. Step 7 is a checkpoint inside the loop, not a reporting moment. Treating an architect/critic APPROVED verdict as "time to summarise and wait for user acknowledgment" is a polite-stop anti-pattern — the only reporting moments in Ralph are Step 8 (successful cancel) or Step 9 (rejection).
</Escalation_And_Stop_Conditions>
<Final_Checklist>
- [ ] All prd.json stories have `passes: true` (no incomplete stories)
- [ ] prd.json acceptance criteria are task-specific (not generic boilerplate)
- [ ] All requirements from the original task are met (no scope reduction)
- [ ] Zero pending or in_progress TODO items
- [ ] Fresh test run output shows all tests pass
- [ ] Fresh build output shows success
- [ ] lsp_diagnostics shows 0 errors on affected files
- [ ] progress.txt records implementation details and learnings
- [ ] Selected reviewer verification passed against specific acceptance criteria
- [ ] ai-slop-cleaner pass completed on changed files (or `--no-deslop` specified)
- [ ] Post-deslop regression tests pass
- [ ] `/oh-my-claudecode:cancel` run for clean state cleanup
</Final_Checklist>
<Advanced>
## Background Execution Rules
**Run in background** (`run_in_background: true`):
- Package installation (npm install, pip install, cargo build)
- Build processes (make, project build commands)
- Test suites
- Docker operations (docker build, docker pull)
**Run blocking** (foreground):
- Quick status checks (git status, ls, pwd)
- File reads and edits
- Simple commands
</Advanced>
Original task:
{{PROMPT}}