What is Ralph loop?
Also called: Ralph Wiggum loop, Ralph technique
A Ralph loop restarts a coding agent again and again with the same task description until the task is done. Progress lives in files, not in the chat.
Example
A plan file lists tasks. Each run, the agent completes one, ticks it off and starts over until the plan is empty and the tests pass.
For pros
The technique comes from Geoffrey Huntley; in its original form it is a simple Bash loop that feeds the same prompt file to the agent over and over. Claude Code has an official plugin with a maximum number of iterations and a completion condition. Without such limits the loop can run long and cost a lot.
On AI Compare Ninja
Related prompts, skills, agents and tools
Written by AI Compare Ninja with AI assistance and edited by us. Every explanation is our own text.