ooo

name	ooo
description	Run the Ouroboros specification-first development loop: reduce ambiguity with a Socratic interview grounded in live git data (commits, churn, contributors), freeze an immutable seed/spec, render the execution plan through spec-kit (/speckit.plan → /speckit.tasks), execute against that contract through cli-anything agent-native CLI harnesses (cli-hub, --json evidence), verify before claiming success, and keep looping until completion is actually verified. Use when the user wants spec-first clarification, git-aware interviews, immutable requirements, drift-aware implementation, harness-driven execution, or a persistent completion loop that should keep going until tests / checks / acceptance criteria pass. Triggers on: ooo, ouroboros, interview, seed, run workflow, evaluate, evolve, ooo ralph, specification first, socratic interview, git-aware interview, ambiguity reduction, execution plan, cli harness execute, persistent completion.
allowed-tools	Read Write Bash Grep Glob WebFetch Agent
metadata	{"tags":"ooo, ouroboros, specification-first, socratic, interview, seed, evaluate, evolve, loop, completion, nine-minds, double-diamond, convergence, drift, multi-platform, mcp, plugin, git-aware, spec-kit, execution-planning, cli-anything, cli-hub, harness-execution","platforms":"Claude Code, Codex CLI, Gemini CLI, OpenCode","keyword":"ooo","version":"0.29.0","source":"Q00/ouroboros","license":"MIT"}

ooo — Ouroboros Specification-First Workflow

Stop prompting. Start specifying.

ooo is the portable Ouroboros method for spec-first development. The interview is grounded in live git data, the frozen seed is rendered into an execution plan by spec-kit, and the run stage executes through cli-anything agent-native harnesses:

git data (commits · churn · contributors)
        ↓ (regenerated every interview)
Interview → Seed → Plan (spec-kit) → Execute (cli-anything) → Evaluate → Evolve
                     ↓                                            ↑
                 ooo ralph                            --json artifact evidence
             (persist until verified)

Three bindings make the philosophy concrete:

1. Git-aware interview — the Socratic interview scores its brownfield Context weighting against .ouroboros/interview-context.md, a derived file regenerated from the repository's current commits, churn hotspots, contributors, and working-tree state. The interview philosophy stays bound to updated git data, never to stale chat memory.
2. spec-kit execution planning — after the seed freezes, GitHub spec-kit's /speckit.plan → /speckit.tasks render the reviewable execution plan from the seed. The seed stays the contract SSOT; spec-kit owns only the plan artifact (direction: seed → plan).
3. cli-anything execute harnesses — the run stage drives real software through CLI-Hub harnesses (cli-hub search → install → launch) instead of brittle GUI automation or bare shell guessing. Every harness command supports --json; that structured output is the artifact evidence the evaluate stage accepts. Name the harnesses in seed constraints so tool drift becomes measurable spec drift.

Installation

Plugin (recommended for Claude Code)

claude plugin marketplace add Q00/ouroboros

pip

pip install ouroboros-ai           # base
pip install ouroboros-ai[all]      # full: Claude, LiteLLM, MCP, TUI

Skill + integrations (recommended, any platform)

npx skills add https://github.com/akillness/jeo-skills --skill ooo

# One-shot installer: skill + ouroboros-ai + git interview + spec-kit + cli-anything
bash scripts/install.sh
GLOBAL=1 AGENTS="claude-code,codex" bash scripts/install.sh

# Knobs (designate at install time):
#   OOO_GIT_INTERVIEW=0  — skip git-aware interview wiring   (default: on)
#   OOO_SPEC_KIT=0       — skip spec-kit/`specify-cli`        (default: on)
#   OOO_CLI_ANYTHING=0   — skip cli-anything/CLI-Hub          (default: on)
#   SPEC_KIT_REF=v0.0.10 — pin the spec-kit git ref
#   CLI_ANYTHING_HUB_SPEC="cli-anything-hub==0.2.0" — pin CLI-Hub
#   SKIP_PACKAGE=1 / SKIP_SKILL=1 / OOO_EXTRAS=mcp

Setup runtimes

ouroboros setup                    # auto-detect Claude / Codex / OpenCode
ouroboros setup --runtime claude
ouroboros setup --runtime codex
ouroboros setup --runtime opencode --opencode-mode plugin

When to use

• Vague request needs a Socratic interview before coding starts
• Interview must be grounded in updated git data (commits, churn, contributors), not chat memory
• Requirements should become an immutable seed/spec before implementation
• Task needs a verify-before-done loop, not a one-shot answer
• You want to keep going until completion is actually verified
• Measure drift against the original contract
• Repeated failures need structured unstuck step instead of blind retries
• The frozen seed should become a reviewable spec-kit execution plan before implementation
• Execution must drive real software through agent-native CLI harnesses with --json artifact evidence

Do not use when

• Task is mainly platform setup or runtime commands → omc / omx / ohmg
• Task is mainly permission posture, sandbox, trust folders → (configure via ouroboros setup)
• Task needs integrated project ledgers + plan review + cleanup workflow → jeo
• Task is only pre-implementation landscape research → survey
• spec-kit should author the spec itself (spec → seed direction, docs as SSOT) → spec-stack
• Only installing or generating a CLI harness, no seed/loop → cli-anything

Core commands

Interview — clarify before coding

ouroboros init start "build a task management CLI"
ouroboros init start --resume <interview-id>
ouroboros init list

Git-aware context (brownfield) — regenerate before every interview so the Context score reflects the repo as it is now:

bash scripts/git-interview-context.sh        # → .ouroboros/interview-context.md
OOO_GIT_WINDOW=30 OOO_GIT_TOP=10 bash scripts/git-interview-context.sh

The generated file carries branch/HEAD, recent commits, churn hotspots, active contributors, and working-tree state. It is derived — regenerate it, never hand-edit it. Churn hotspots become interview questions; a dirty working tree is a question, not an assumption.

Ambiguity gate

• Greenfield: Goal 40% + Constraints 30% + Success 30%
• Brownfield: Goal 35% + Constraints 25% + Success 25% + Context 15% — score Context against .ouroboros/interview-context.md (live git data)
• Do not move to seed until Ambiguity ≤ 0.2

Seed — freeze the spec

After interview completes, a seed.yaml is generated in .ouroboros/seeds/.

# example seed.yaml
goal: "Build a CLI task manager with SQLite persistence"
constraints:
  - "Python 3.12+"
  - "No external HTTP dependencies"
acceptance_criteria:
  - "CRUD operations work end-to-end"
  - "All unit tests pass"

Plan — render the execution plan (spec-kit)

With OOO_SPEC_KIT=1 (installer default), the frozen seed is rendered into a reviewable execution plan before the loop starts:

specify init . --integration claude    # once per repo (or codex/gemini/...)
# then, inside the agent, from the frozen seed:
#   /speckit.plan   — technical strategy derived from seed goal + constraints
#   /speckit.tasks  — actionable task breakdown for the run stage

Plan-stage rules:

• Direction is one-way: seed → plan. The seed stays the contract SSOT; plan.md/tasks.md are derived artifacts. If requirements change, re-interview and re-freeze the seed first, then re-render the plan.
• /speckit.implement is optional sugar per task — completion is still gated by the ooo evaluate loop, never by task checkboxes.
• Want the opposite direction (spec-kit authors the spec, docs as SSOT)? That is spec-stack, not this skill.

Run — execute against the seed

ouroboros run workflow <seed.yaml>
ouroboros run workflow <seed.yaml> --sequential
ouroboros run workflow <seed.yaml> --no-qa
ouroboros run resume [execution-id]

Harness-driven execution (cli-anything) — with OOO_CLI_ANYTHING=1 (installer default), the run stage drives real software through agent-native CLI harnesses instead of GUI automation or bare shell guessing:

cli-hub search <keyword>      # registry first — 40+ harnesses exist
cli-hub install <name>        # install harness (+ the upstream app)
cli-anything-<name> --json …  # structured output = evaluate-stage evidence

Execute-stage rules:

• Registry before generation — cli-hub search costs seconds; only generate a new harness (/cli-anything <path-or-repo>) when no match.
• Name harnesses in seed constraints (e.g. "image ops go through cli-anything-gimp") so tool drift becomes measurable spec drift.
• --json output is the evidence the evaluate stage accepts — verify artifacts (magic bytes, structure, pixels), not exit codes.

Options

Flag	Purpose
-o/-O	Enable/disable orchestrator (default: on)
--runtime	Override runtime backend
-s	Execute acceptance criteria sequentially
-n	Dry-run: validate without executing
--no-qa	Skip post-execution QA evaluation

Evaluate — verify before done

Three-stage gate:

1. Mechanical — lint, tests, build, typecheck, coverage
2. Semantic — acceptance criteria and goal alignment
3. Consensus — optional multi-model agreement

ouroboros status executions
ouroboros status execution <execution-id> --events

Drift thresholds

Range	Status
0.00–0.15	Excellent
0.15–0.30	Acceptable — watch closely
0.30+	Correct course before continuing

Ralph — persistent completion loop

# keyword: ooo ralph
ouroboros run workflow seed.yaml     # run → verify → adjust → repeat
ouroboros run resume                 # resume last paused execution

Loop contract:

1. execute
2. verify (mechanical + semantic)
3. record failure evidence
4. adjust
5. continue until verified or capped

Evolve — continuous refinement

Runs when the ontology or solution shape is still changing.

ouroboros run workflow seed.yaml    # evolve loop runs automatically

Stop condition: convergence similarity ≥ 0.95

Cancel

ouroboros cancel execution <id>
ouroboros cancel execution --all
ouroboros cancel execution --reason "requirements changed"

Config

ouroboros config show
ouroboros config show orchestrator
ouroboros config backend claude
ouroboros config backend codex
ouroboros config set orchestrator.permission_mode allowedTools
ouroboros config validate

Status & TUI

ouroboros status health
ouroboros status executions -n 20
ouroboros tui monitor              # Textual TUI (Python)
ouroboros tui monitor --backend slt  # native Rust TUI

TUI keyboard shortcuts

Key	Screen
1	Dashboard — phase progress, drift meter, cost
2	Execution — details, timeline, phase outputs
3	Logs — filterable log viewer
4	Debug — state inspector, raw events
s	Session selector
e	Lineage view
p/r	Pause / resume
q	Quit

Unstuck mode

When repeated attempts fail, choose a deliberate persona instead of retrying blindly.

Persona	When
contrarian	Repeated similar failures
simplifier	Too many options / paralysis
researcher	Missing evidence
hacker	Need momentum
architect	Wrong foundation

Nine agents in the pool: Socratic Interviewer, Ontologist, Seed Architect, Seed Closer, Semantic Evaluator, Consensus Reviewer, Evaluator, QA Judge, plus domain-specific specialists.

MCP server

ouroboros mcp serve                           # stdio transport (default)
ouroboros mcp serve --transport sse --port 8080
ouroboros mcp info

# Claude Desktop integration
claude mcp add ouroboros -- uvx --from ouroboros-ai[mcp] ouroboros mcp serve

Available MCP tools

• ouroboros_execute_seed — execute a seed specification
• ouroboros_session_status — get session status
• ouroboros_query_events — query event history

Environment variables

Variable	Purpose
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY	Claude backend
OPENAI_API_KEY	LiteLLM / Codex
OPENROUTER_API_KEY	OpenRouter
OUROBOROS_AGENT_RUNTIME	Override runtime
OUROBOROS_LLM_BACKEND	Override LLM backend
OUROBOROS_AGENT_PERMISSION_MODE	Permission mode

Configuration files

File	Location
config.yaml	~/.ouroboros/
credentials.yaml	~/.ouroboros/ (chmod 600)
ouroboros.db	~/.ouroboros/ — SQLite event store
ouroboros.log	~/.ouroboros/logs/

Operating rules

1. Clarify before coding — do not move to seed until ambiguity ≤ 0.2
2. Ground the interview in live git data — regenerate .ouroboros/interview-context.md before every interview; churn hotspots and working-tree state are questions, not assumptions
3. Freeze the seed — do not rewrite the contract mid-run
4. Plan from the seed, one-way — spec-kit renders plan.md/tasks.md from the frozen seed; requirement changes go seed-first, then re-render
5. Measure drift against the original seed, not latest chat rationale
6. Verify before done — tests, checks, and acceptance criteria matter more than confidence
7. Treat failure as data — every failed loop feeds the next attempt
8. Execute through contracted harnesses — registry first (cli-hub search), name harnesses in seed constraints, and treat harness --json output as the evaluate-stage evidence
9. Keep runtime ownership separate — platform hooks belong in omc / omx / ohmg

Examples

# Full spec-first flow (git interview → seed → spec-kit plan → harness run)
bash scripts/git-interview-context.sh          # refresh live git context
ouroboros init start "build a REST API with auth"
# after seed freeze: /speckit.plan → /speckit.tasks (spec-kit, from the seed)
cli-hub search api && cli-hub install <name>   # arm execute-stage harnesses
ouroboros run workflow .ouroboros/seeds/seed_<hash>.yaml
ouroboros status executions

# Persistent verified loop (ooo ralph)
ouroboros run workflow seed.yaml
ouroboros run resume

# Monitor progress
ouroboros tui monitor

# Uninstall
ouroboros uninstall --keep-data

Source: Q00/ouroboros v0.29.0 — MIT License