| name | autoloop |
| description | Use when the user explicitly invokes /autoloop to automate an already-approved plan through /execute, /verify, and /ship with bounded retries and handoff on repeated failure. |
| when_to_use | Use only after a reviewed plan exists and the user explicitly asks for /autoloop. Do not use for idea shaping, plan creation, destructive operations, vague "keep going" requests, or simple one-off changes. |
| argument-hint | [plan] |
| user-invocable | true |
| allowed-tools | ["Bash","Read"] |
/autoloop
Step 0: Escape Hatch
If builder says 别走流程, 直接做, 简单点, or 不走地图, do not run /autoloop. Acknowledge once and do the smallest direct action.
Exception: the escape hatch does not bypass safety gates for destructive changes, secret access, public upload, deploy, database migration, force push, or irreversible writes.
Contract
/autoloop is an explicit automation wrapper for mature, already-approved plans.
It may run:
/execute -> /verify -> /ship
It must not create a plan, expand scope, choose new dependencies, perform destructive actions, push, open a PR, or publish unless the active plan and /ship both say that action is in scope and builder explicitly approves it.
Preconditions
Before doing anything else:
- Resolve the active plan:
bash ${BDC_HOME:-$HOME/.bdc}/scripts/active-plan-resolver.sh --single
- Confirm the plan is reviewed or explicitly approved by builder.
- Confirm at least one unchecked step remains.
- Confirm the plan has executable verify commands.
- Confirm no step asks for destructive work without explicit owner approval.
If any precondition fails, stop and report the exact missing condition. Do not downgrade into ad-hoc /execute.
Process
- Run
/execute on the next unchecked step.
- If
/execute passes, run /verify on the finished work.
- If
/verify returns APPROVE, continue until the next boundary or until no unchecked steps remain.
- If
/verify returns REQUEST_CHANGES, treat it as failure 1 and run one correction loop through /execute.
- If the correction loop still fails, or any stage accumulates two failures, stop and run
/handoff.
- When the plan has no unchecked steps, run
/ship for local-first go/no-go. Do not push, publish, or open a PR unless /ship asks for it and builder confirms.
Failure Budget
| Event | Count |
|---|
/execute verify failure | 1 |
/verify REQUEST_CHANGES | 1 |
/ship NO-GO with actionable fix | 1 |
| Same stage fails again after one correction loop | stop |
Two accumulated failures in one /autoloop invocation require:
- stop execution
- summarize what passed, what failed, and what was changed
- run
/handoff or write the equivalent handoff if the handoff skill is unavailable
Safety Boundaries
- Do not run destructive commands from
/autoloop. Because: automation must not hide irreversible decisions.
- Do not push, publish, deploy, or open a PR by default. Because:
/autoloop is a local execution wrapper, not a release authority.
- Do not continue after scope drift. Because:
/execute scope checks define the atomic boundary.
- Do not change the approved plan's dependencies or architecture decisions. Because:
/autoloop starts after planning is frozen.
Output
Keep a compact running ledger:
Autoloop:
- Plan: <path>
- Current stage: execute | verify | ship | stopped
- Passed: <count>
- Failures: <count>/2
- Last evidence: <command or verdict>
- Next action: <continue | stop | handoff | ship>
Verification
- The active plan was resolved with
active-plan-resolver.sh --single.
/execute produced fresh verify evidence before /verify.
/verify returned APPROVE before /ship.
/ship produced GO/NO-GO and rollback/restore notes before any release action.
Red Flags
/autoloop starts from a fuzzy idea or unreviewed plan.
- It performs destructive work or publishing without explicit approval.
- It retries indefinitely instead of stopping after two failures.
- It treats
REQUEST_CHANGES as a warning instead of a failure.
Common Rationalizations
| Rationalization | Response |
|---|
| "The plan is probably approved because it exists." | Do not assume. Incident: standards/debugging.md 2026-04-04 records written rules being ignored until hard gates enforced them; approval must be explicit. |
| "One more retry might fix it." | Stop after the budget. Incident: large health baseline runs require durable handoff state instead of unbounded continuation. |
References
${BDC_HOME:-$HOME/.bdc}/standards/roadmap.md
${BDC_HOME:-$HOME/.bdc}/skills/execute/SKILL.md
${BDC_HOME:-$HOME/.bdc}/skills/verify/SKILL.md
${BDC_HOME:-$HOME/.bdc}/skills/ship/SKILL.md
${BDC_HOME:-$HOME/.bdc}/skills/handoff/SKILL.md