Ralph Loop Failure Modes (Context Rot, Runaway Cost) and How to Avoid Them
A Ralph loop fails in a handful of predictable ways. Here is each failure mode, why it happens, and the specific guardrail that stops it.
ralph-technique
6 posts with the tag “ralph-technique”
Completion Promises and Exit Codes: How a Ralph Loop Knows When to Stop
A Ralph loop stops on an explicit signal, not a guess. How promise tags and exit codes tell the loop and your scripts when the agent is COMPLETE, BLOCKED, or needs a decision.
How to Write the PROMPT.md File That Drives a Ralph Loop
PROMPT.md is the instruction sent to the agent on every iteration. Here is how to structure it so a fresh-context agent reorients from disk and ships one verified task at a time.
Ralph Loop vs One-Shot Prompting: Why Iteration Beats a Single Prompt
One-shot prompting solves small changes in a single response and stalls on hard ones. A Ralph loop iterates with fresh context and tests until the work is actually done.
Who Invented the Ralph Technique? Geoffrey Huntley and the Bash Loop That Stuck
Geoffrey Huntley popularized the Ralph technique by running a coding agent in a plain Bash loop until a working programming language fell out the other end. Here is where the idea came from and why it stuck.
What Is the Ralph Technique? The Autonomous AI Coding Loop, Explained
The Ralph technique runs a coding agent in a loop until it signals completion. Fresh context each iteration, state on disk, and a promise tag that tells the loop when to stop.