Ralph

Ralph Feature Setup

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

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.

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.

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.

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 run Ralph:**
```bash
./scripts/ralph/ralph.sh [max_iterations]
# or directly:
npx tsx scripts/ralph/ralph.ts [max_iterations]

To check status:

amp task list --parentID [parent-id] --limit 10

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:

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 run Ralph:**
```bash
./scripts/ralph/ralph.sh [max_iterations]
# or directly:
npx tsx scripts/ralph/ralph.ts [max_iterations]

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 run: ./scripts/ralph/ralph.sh 20

How Ralph Completes

When all subtasks are completed:

1. Ralph marks the parent task as completed
2. Ralph outputs <promise>COMPLETE</promise>
3. The ralph.sh/ralph.ts loop detects this and exits

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