Auto-Loop

Execute a TDD-based autonomous development loop with full observability.

---

Usage

# Start new task
/auto-loop "Implement user login"

# With acceptance criteria
/auto-loop "Implement authentication

Acceptance Criteria:
- [ ] Login form (email + password)
- [ ] JWT token generation
- [ ] Error handling
"

# Resume interrupted session
/auto-loop --resume

# Force restart (clear old state)
/auto-loop --force "New task"

# Check status
/auto-loop --status

# With iteration limit
/auto-loop "Task" --max-iterations 15

---

How It Works

┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                      TDD Iteration                            │
├───────────┬───────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  RED      │ Write failing test for next AC                    │
│           │ → Auto-logged: file_write, test_fail              │
├───────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  GREEN    │ Write implementation to make test pass            │
│           │ → Auto-logged: file_write/edit, test_pass         │
├───────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  REFACTOR │ Improve code quality (no behavior change)         │
│           │ → Use code-reviewer agent for suggestions         │
├───────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  VALIDATE │ Run full test suite + linter                      │
│           │ → Auto-logged: test_pass/fail                     │
├───────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  COMMIT   │ Commit changes with descriptive message           │
│           │ → Auto-logged: commit                             │
├───────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  DECIDE   │ Check AC completion → continue or complete        │
└───────────┴───────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

---

Execution

When user runs /auto-loop "<request>":

1. State Detection (Conflict Prevention)

STATE_DIR=".auto-loop"
CHECKPOINT="$STATE_DIR/checkpoint.json"

# Check for existing in-progress session
if [ -f "$CHECKPOINT" ]; then
    status=$(jq -r '.status // "unknown"' "$CHECKPOINT" 2>/dev/null || echo "unknown")
    iteration=$(jq -r '.current_iteration // 0' "$CHECKPOINT" 2>/dev/null || echo "0")

    if [ "$status" == "in_progress" ]; then
        echo "⚠️  Found interrupted session at iteration #$iteration"
        echo "Options:"
        echo "  /auto-loop --resume        → Continue"
        echo "  /auto-loop --force \"...\"  → Start fresh"
        exit 1
    fi
fi

Behavior Matrix:

Existing State	Command	Action
None	/auto-loop "task"	Start new
completed	/auto-loop "task"	Archive & start new
in_progress	/auto-loop "task"	Block - prompt user
in_progress	/auto-loop --resume	Continue
in_progress	/auto-loop --force "task"	Archive & start new

2. Initialize

# Archive old changelog if > 100 lines
CHANGELOG_DIR=".director-mode"
CHANGELOG="$CHANGELOG_DIR/changelog.jsonl"

if [ -f "$CHANGELOG" ] && [ $(wc -l < "$CHANGELOG") -gt 100 ]; then
    mv "$CHANGELOG" "$CHANGELOG_DIR/changelog.$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S).jsonl"
fi

# Create state directories
mkdir -p "$STATE_DIR" "$CHANGELOG_DIR"

# Initialize checkpoint
# Build with jq so multiline requests or embedded double quotes stay valid JSON
# (a raw heredoc would break on the quoted acceptance-criteria usage above).
jq -n --arg req "$ARGUMENTS" \
  '{request: $req, current_iteration: 0, max_iterations: 20, status: "in_progress", started_at: (now | todate), acceptance_criteria: [], last_test_result: null, files_changed: []}' \
  > "$CHECKPOINT"

# acceptance_criteria stays empty here; the parse step below fills it in.

3. Parse Acceptance Criteria

Input:
  "Implement authentication

  Acceptance Criteria:
  - [ ] Login form
  - [ ] JWT token
  "

Parsed:
{
  "acceptance_criteria": [
    { "id": 1, "description": "Login form", "done": false },
    { "id": 2, "description": "JWT token", "done": false }
  ]
}

4. DECIDE - Completion Check

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  DECIDE - Iteration #3                                      │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  [x] 1. Login form            ← test passing               │
│  [x] 2. JWT token             ← test passing               │
│  [ ] 3. Error handling        ← NO TEST YET                │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  Decision: 2/3 complete → CONTINUE                          │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Complete when:

• All AC marked done: true
• All tests passing

Stop when:

• max_iterations reached
• .auto-loop/stop file exists

---

Flags

Flag	Description
--resume	Continue interrupted session
--force	Clear old state, start fresh
--status	Show current session status
--max-iterations N	Set iteration limit (default: 20)

---

Observability

All events are automatically logged via PostToolUse hooks:

Event	Trigger	Hook
file_write	Write tool	log-file-change.sh
file_edit	Edit tool	log-file-change.sh
test_pass/fail	Bash (test)	log-bash-event.sh
commit	Bash (git commit)	log-bash-event.sh

Query with /changelog:

/changelog              # Recent events
/changelog --summary    # Statistics
/changelog --type test  # Filter by type

---

Stop / Resume

# Interrupt (stop after current iteration)
touch .auto-loop/stop

# Check status
/auto-loop --status

# Resume
/auto-loop --resume

# Force restart
/auto-loop --force "New task"

---

Related

• /changelog - View development events
• code-reviewer - Code quality review
• debugger - Error analysis
• test-runner - Test automation