Ralph loops for agentic engineering

23-02-2026

• https://ghuntley.com/ralph/

• RALPH: add ralph.sh, progress.txt

  • https://x.com/alxfazio/status/2027473676690665745
  • https://traycer.ai/blog/ralph-loops-bart-orchestrates
  • https://www.anthropic.com/engineering/building-c-compiler
  • https://github.com/mattpocock/ralph-workshop-repo-001/blob/main/plans/afk-claude.sh
  • https://github.com/snarktank/ralph/blob/main/ralph.sh
  • https://github.com/mattpocock/ai-hero-cli/blob/9ed1a07e036cd2efb22ab5360bff2408488210aa/plans/ralph.sh

• RALPH: writing a PRD

  • https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/blob/main/write-a-prd/SKILL.md
  • https://github.com/snarktank/ralph/blob/main/skills/prd/SKILL.md

• RALP: prd.json (converting from PRD to PRD.json)

  • https://github.com/snarktank/ralph/blob/main/skills/ralph/SKILL.md
  • https://github.com/snarktank/ralph/blob/main/prd.json.example
  • https://github.com/mattpocock/ai-hero-cli/blob/9ed1a07e036cd2efb22ab5360bff2408488210aa/plans/prd-example.json

• tasks

  • setup workspace
    • create git worktree, cd worktree, done, cd project root, remove git worktree
  • setup hooks
    • pre tool use hooks (gaurds for bash and git and files)
  • setup agents
    • PLANNER AGENT
      • ask user about all requirements; follow conventions, taste, implementation, tests
      • use opus, then spawn agent teams using sonnet for implementation
    • REVIEWER AGENT
    • BUILDER AGENT
      • build, test, evaluate, repeat
  • verification
    • common template of requirements to meet (unit, integration, contract, e2e, typecheck)
      • add examples for each test category (good vs bad, things to consider)