ralph

name	ralph
description	Autonomous feature development - setup and execution. Triggers on: ralph, set up ralph, run ralph, run the loop, implement tasks. Two phases: (1) Setup - chat through feature, create tasks with dependencies (2) Loop - pick ready tasks, implement, commit, repeat until done.

Ralph Feature Setup

Interactive feature planning that creates ralph-ready tasks with dependencies.

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The Job

Two modes:

Mode 1: New Feature

1. Chat through the feature - Ask clarifying questions
2. Break into small tasks - Each completable in one iteration
3. Create task_list tasks - Parent + subtasks with dependsOn
4. Set up ralph files - Save parent ID, reset progress.txt

Mode 2: Existing Tasks

1. Find existing parent task - Search or let user specify
2. Verify structure - Check subtasks have proper dependsOn
3. Set up ralph files - Save parent ID to parent-task-id.txt
4. Show status - Which tasks are ready, completed, blocked

Ask the user which mode they need:

Are you:
1. Starting a new feature (I'll help you plan and create tasks)
2. Using existing tasks (I'll set up Ralph to run them)

---

Step 1: Understand the Feature

Start by asking the user about their feature. Don't assume - ASK:

What feature are you building?

Then ask clarifying questions:

• What's the user-facing goal?
• What parts of the codebase will this touch? (database, UI, API, etc.)
• Are there any existing patterns to follow?
• What should it look like when done?

Keep asking until you have enough detail to break it into tasks.

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Step 2: Break Into Tasks

Each task must be completable in ONE Ralph iteration (~one context window).

Ralph spawns a fresh Amp instance per iteration with no memory of previous work. If a task is too big, the LLM runs out of context before finishing.

Right-sized tasks:

• Add a database column + migration
• Create a single UI component
• Implement one server action
• Add a filter to an existing list
• Write tests for one module

Too big (split these):

• "Build the entire dashboard" → Split into: schema, queries, components, filters
• "Add authentication" → Split into: schema, middleware, login UI, session handling
• "Refactor the API" → Split into one task per endpoint

Rule of thumb: If you can't describe the change in 2-3 sentences, it's too big.

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Step 3: Order by Dependencies

Tasks execute based on dependsOn. Earlier tasks must complete before dependent ones start.

Typical order:

1. Schema/database changes (migrations)
2. Server actions / backend logic
3. UI components that use the backend
4. Integration / E2E tests

Use dependsOn to express this:

Task 1: Schema (no dependencies)
Task 2: Server action (dependsOn: [task-1])
Task 3: UI component (dependsOn: [task-2])
Task 4: Tests (dependsOn: [task-3])

Parallel tasks that don't depend on each other can share the same dependency.

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Step 4: Create Tasks

First, create the parent task:

task_list create
  title: "[Feature Name]"
  description: "[One-line description of the feature]"
  repoURL: "https://github.com/snarktank/untangle"

Save the returned task ID - you'll need it for subtasks.

Then, create subtasks with parentID and dependsOn:

task_list create
  title: "[Task title - action-oriented]"
  description: "[Detailed description with:
    - What to implement
    - Files to create/modify
    - Acceptance criteria
    - How to verify (typecheck, tests, browser)]"
  parentID: "<parent-task-id>"
  dependsOn: ["<previous-task-id>"]  // omit for first task
  repoURL: "https://github.com/snarktank/untangle"

Task description format:

Write descriptions that a future Ralph iteration can pick up without context:

Implement category name to ID mapping for expenses.

**What to do:**
- Create function mapExpenseCategoryNameToId(name, isChildExpense)
- Query item_category table with category_type filter
- Add alias mapping for common synonyms (rent → Rent or Mortgage)

**Files:**
- workflows/tools/upsert-expense.ts

**Acceptance criteria:**
- Function returns category ID for valid names
- Returns null for unknown categories
- npm run typecheck passes

**Notes:**
- Follow pattern from upsert-income.ts
- EXPENSE type for family, CHILD_EXPENSE for child

---

Step 5: Set Up Ralph Files

After creating all tasks, run the shared setup steps from "Final Setup (Required for Both Modes)" section.

This ensures:

• Parent task ID is saved to scripts/ralph/parent-task-id.txt
• Previous progress.txt is archived if it has content
• Fresh progress.txt is created with Codebase Patterns preserved

---

Step 6: Confirm Setup

Show the user what was created:

✅ Ralph is ready!

**Parent task:** [title] (ID: [id])

**Subtasks:**
1. [Task 1 title] - no dependencies
2. [Task 2 title] - depends on #1
3. [Task 3 title] - depends on #2
...

**To start Ralph:** Say "run ralph" or "start the loop" - I'll use handoff to execute the first ready task, and each task will hand off to the next until complete.

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Mode 2: Setting Up Existing Tasks

If the user already has tasks created, help them set up Ralph to run them.

Find the parent task:

First, check if a parent task is already saved:

cat scripts/ralph/parent-task-id.txt

If this file exists and contains a task ID, use it! Verify it's valid by fetching the task:

task_list action: "get", taskID: "<id-from-file>"

Only if no saved parent task exists, ask the user:

What's the parent task? You can give me:
- The task ID directly
- A search term and I'll find it
- Or say "list recent" to see recent tasks

To search for tasks (always use limit to avoid context overflow):

task_list list
  repoURL: "https://github.com/snarktank/untangle"
  limit: 10

Verify subtasks exist:

Once you have the parent ID, check for subtasks (always use limit):

task_list list
  parentID: "<parent-task-id>"
  limit: 10

If no subtasks found, the parent task might BE the work (not a container). Ask:

This task has no subtasks. Is this:
1. A parent task with subtasks I should find differently?
2. The actual work task (I should create it as a parent with this as the first subtask)?

Check dependencies:

Review the subtasks and verify:

• Do they have dependsOn set correctly?
• Are there any circular dependencies?
• Is the first task(s) dependency-free so Ralph can start?

If dependencies are missing, offer to fix:

These tasks don't have dependencies set. Should I:
1. Add dependencies based on their order?
2. Leave them parallel (Ralph picks any ready task)?

Set up ralph files:

Run the shared setup steps from "Final Setup (Required for Both Modes)" section below.

Show status:

✅ Ralph is ready to use existing tasks!

**Parent task:** [title] (ID: [id])

**Status:**
- ✅ Completed: 3 tasks
- 🔄 Ready to work: 2 tasks  
- ⏳ Blocked: 5 tasks (waiting on dependencies)

**Next task Ralph will pick:**
[Task title] - [brief description]

**To start Ralph:** Say "run ralph" or "start the loop"

---

Final Setup (Required for Both Modes)

ALWAYS run these steps after creating tasks OR setting up existing tasks:

1. Save parent task ID:

echo "<parent-task-id>" > scripts/ralph/parent-task-id.txt

Verify it was saved:

cat scripts/ralph/parent-task-id.txt

2. Check if progress.txt needs archiving:

Read the current progress.txt:

cat scripts/ralph/progress.txt

Archive if:

• It has content beyond the header (learnings from a previous feature)
• The previous feature is different from the current one

Archive command:

DATE=$(date +%Y-%m-%d)
FEATURE="previous-feature-name-here"
mkdir -p scripts/ralph/archive/$DATE-$FEATURE
cp scripts/ralph/progress.txt scripts/ralph/archive/$DATE-$FEATURE/
echo "Archived to scripts/ralph/archive/$DATE-$FEATURE/"

3. Reset progress.txt:

Preserve useful Codebase Patterns from the previous run, then reset:

cat > scripts/ralph/progress.txt << 'EOF'
# Ralph Progress Log
Started: [current date]

## Codebase Patterns
[Copy any patterns from previous run that are still relevant]
---
EOF

4. Verify setup is complete:

# Confirm parent ID is saved
cat scripts/ralph/parent-task-id.txt

# Confirm progress.txt is reset
head -10 scripts/ralph/progress.txt

# List subtasks to confirm they exist
# (use task_list list with parentID)

Only after completing all 4 steps is Ralph ready to run.

---

Acceptance Criteria for Each Task

Each task description MUST include verifiable acceptance criteria:

Good criteria (verifiable):

• "Add investorType column to investor table with default 'cold'"
• "Filter dropdown has options: All, Cold, Friend"
• "npm run typecheck passes"
• "npm test -- path/to/test.ts passes"

Bad criteria (vague):

• ❌ "Works correctly"
• ❌ "Good UX"
• ❌ "Handles edge cases"

Always include:

npm run typecheck passes

For tasks with testable logic:

npm test passes

For UI/browser tasks:

For functional testing (checking behavior, not appearance):

Use Chrome DevTools MCP with take_snapshot to read page content (NOT screenshots)

• take_snapshot returns the a11y tree as text that Ralph can read and verify
• take_screenshot returns images which Ralph cannot interpret for functional checks
• Only use screenshots when testing visual appearance/look and feel

For visual testing (checking appearance):

Use take_screenshot to capture and verify visual appearance

---

Example Conversation

User: set up ralph for adding expense tracking to the legal agent

Assistant: What feature are you building?

User: I want Grace (our legal chat agent) to be able to create, update, and delete expenses when users mention them in conversation.

Assistant: Got it - an expense upsert tool for the legal agent. A few questions:

1. Are there existing tools in the legal agent I should follow as a pattern?
2. Do expenses have different types (family vs child)?
3. Should it also list expenses or just CRUD?
4. Any task completion logic needed?

User: Follow upsert-income.ts. Yes family and child expenses (different tables). Yes list too. Mark APP_EXPENSES_ENTERED task complete.

Assistant: Perfect. Here's my proposed breakdown:

1. Create tool skeleton - Zod schema, basic structure
2. Category mapping - Map names like "rent" to category IDs
3. Amount parsing - Handle currency formats, allow $0
4. Duplicate detection - Check before creating
5. Create family expenses - Insert into expense table
6. Create child expenses - Insert into child_expense table
7. Update action - Modify existing expenses
8. Delete action - Remove expenses
9. List action - Show all expenses with totals
10. Task completion - Mark APP_EXPENSES_ENTERED done
11. Register tool - Add to legal chat workflow
12. UI progress indicator - Show progress during tool use
13. Unit tests - Test helper functions
14. E2E tests - Test via chat interface

Does this look right? Any tasks to add or remove?

User: Looks good, create the tasks

Assistant: [Creates parent task, then subtasks with dependencies, saves parent-task-id.txt]

✅ Ralph is ready!

Parent task: Legal Agent Expense Upsert Tool (ID: task-abc123)

Subtasks: 14 tasks created with dependencies

To start: Say "run ralph" or "start the loop"

---

How Ralph Completes

When all subtasks are completed:

1. Ralph marks the parent task as completed
2. Reports "✅ Build complete - all tasks finished!"
3. Summarizes what was accomplished

Important: Ralph uses limit: 5 when querying tasks to avoid context overflow. If you have many subtasks, they'll be processed over multiple iterations.

---

Checklist Before Creating Tasks

• Chatted through feature to understand scope
• Each task completable in one iteration (small enough)
• Tasks ordered by dependency (schema → backend → UI → tests)
• Every task has "npm run typecheck passes" in description
• UI tasks have browser verification in description
• Descriptions have enough detail for Ralph to implement without context
• Parent task ID saved to scripts/ralph/parent-task-id.txt
• Previous run archived if progress.txt had content

---

Phase 2: The Execution Loop

Once setup is complete, Ralph runs the autonomous loop to implement tasks one by one.

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Loop Workflow

0. Get the parent task ID

First, read the parent task ID that scopes this feature:

cat scripts/ralph/parent-task-id.txt

If this file doesn't exist, ask the user which parent task to work on.

Check if this is a new feature: Compare the parent task ID to the one in scripts/ralph/progress.txt header. If they differ (or progress.txt doesn't exist), this is a NEW feature - reset progress.txt:

# Build Progress Log
Started: [today's date]
Feature: [parent task title]

## Codebase Patterns
(Patterns discovered during this feature build)

---

This ensures each feature starts with a clean slate. Progress.txt is SHORT-TERM memory for the current feature only.

1. Check for ready tasks (with nested hierarchy support)

The task hierarchy may have multiple levels (parent → container → leaf tasks). Use this approach to find all descendant tasks:

Step 1: Get all tasks for the repo

task_list action: "list", repoURL: "<repo-url>", ready: true, status: "open", limit: 10

Important: Always use limit (5-10) to avoid context overflow with many tasks.

Step 2: Build the descendant set Starting from the parent task ID, collect all tasks that are descendants:

1. Find tasks where parentID equals the parent task ID (direct children)
2. For each child found, recursively find their children
3. Continue until no more descendants are found

Step 3: Filter to workable tasks From the descendant set, select tasks that are:

• ready: true (all dependencies satisfied)
• status: "open"
• Leaf tasks (no children of their own) - these are the actual work items

CRITICAL: Skip container tasks that exist only to group other tasks. A container task has other tasks with its ID as their parentID.

2. If no ready tasks

Check if all descendant tasks are completed:

• Query task_list list with repoURL: "<repo-url>" (no ready filter)
• Build the full descendant set (same recursive approach as step 1)
• If all leaf tasks in the descendant set are completed:
  1. Archive progress.txt:

     DATE=$(date +%Y-%m-%d)
     FEATURE="feature-name-here"
     mkdir -p scripts/ralph/archive/$DATE-$FEATURE
     mv scripts/ralph/progress.txt scripts/ralph/archive/$DATE-$FEATURE/
     

  2. Create fresh progress.txt with empty template
  3. Clear parent-task-id.txt: echo "" > scripts/ralph/parent-task-id.txt
  4. Commit: git add scripts/ralph && git commit -m "chore: archive progress for [feature-name]"
  5. Mark the parent task as completed
  6. Stop and report "✅ Build complete - all tasks finished!"
• If some are blocked: Report which tasks are blocked and why

3. If ready tasks exist

Pick the next task:

• Prefer tasks related to what was just completed (same module/area, dependent work)
• If no prior context, pick the first ready task

Execute the task:

Use the handoff tool with this goal:

Implement and verify task [task-id]: [task-title].

[task-description]

FIRST: Read scripts/ralph/progress.txt - check the "Codebase Patterns" section for important context from previous iterations.

When complete:

1. Run quality checks: `npm run typecheck` and `npm test`
   - If either fails, FIX THE ISSUES and re-run until both pass
   - Do NOT proceed until quality checks pass

2. Update AGENTS.md files if you learned something important:
   - Check for AGENTS.md in directories where you edited files
   - Add learnings that future developers/agents should know (patterns, gotchas, dependencies)
   - This is LONG-TERM memory - things anyone editing this code should know
   - Do NOT add task-specific details or temporary notes

3. Update progress.txt (APPEND, never replace) - this is SHORT-TERM memory for the current feature:

[Date] - [Task Title]

Thread: [current thread URL] Task ID: [task-id]

• What was implemented
• Files changed
• Learnings for future iterations:
  • Patterns discovered
  • Gotchas encountered
  • Useful context

---

4. If you discovered a reusable pattern for THIS FEATURE, add it to the `## Codebase Patterns` section at the TOP of progress.txt

5. Commit all changes with message: `feat: [Task Title]`

6. Mark task as completed: `task_list action: "update", taskID: "[task-id]", status: "completed"`

7. Invoke the ralph skill to continue the loop

---

Progress File Format

# Build Progress Log
Started: [date]
Feature: [feature name]
Parent Task: [parent-task-id]

## Codebase Patterns
(Patterns discovered during this feature build)

---

## [Date] - [Task Title]
Thread: https://ampcode.com/threads/[thread-id]
Task ID: [id]
- What was implemented
- Files changed
- **Learnings for future iterations:**
  - Patterns discovered
  - Gotchas encountered
---

Note: When a new feature starts with a different parent task ID, reset progress.txt completely. Long-term learnings belong in AGENTS.md files, not progress.txt.

---

Task Discovery

While working, liberally create new tasks when you discover:

• Failing tests or test gaps
• Code that needs refactoring
• Missing error handling
• Documentation gaps
• TODOs or FIXMEs in the code
• Build/lint warnings
• Performance issues

Use task_list action: "create" immediately. Set appropriate dependsOn relationships.

---

Browser Verification

For UI tasks, specify the right verification method:

Functional testing (checking behavior, not appearance):

Use agent-browser with snapshot -i to read page content

• agent-browser snapshot -i returns interactive elements with refs that can be verified
• Use for: button exists, text appears, form works
• Example: agent-browser snapshot -i | grep "Submit" to verify button exists

Visual testing (checking appearance):

Use agent-browser screenshot to capture and verify visual appearance

• agent-browser screenshot tmp/result.png saves a screenshot
• Use for: layout, colors, styling, animations

---

Quality Requirements

Before marking any task complete:

• npm run typecheck must pass
• npm test must pass
• Changes must be committed
• Progress must be logged

---

Stop Condition

When no ready tasks remain AND all tasks are completed:

1. Output: "✅ Build complete - all tasks finished!"
2. Summarize what was accomplished

---

Important Notes

• Always use ready: true when listing tasks to only get tasks with satisfied dependencies
• Always use limit: 5-10 when listing tasks to avoid context overflow
• Each handoff runs in a fresh thread with clean context
• Progress.txt is the memory between iterations - keep it updated
• Prefer tasks in the same area as just-completed work for better context continuity
• The handoff goal MUST include instructions to update progress.txt, commit, and re-invoke this skill