# Autonomous Agent Loop

> Maintains durable goal and handoff state. Use for explicit goal-management requests, resuming a recorded goal, or diagnosing agents that stall and need repeated prompts.

- Skill: `edmundmiller/autonomous-agent-loop` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add edmundmiller/autonomous-agent-loop`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/edmundmiller/autonomous-agent-loop/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: AI & ML
- Author: edmundmiller (https://skillmd.com/u/edmundmiller)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/edmundmiller/autonomous-agent-loop

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# Autonomous Agent Loop

Use this skill when the task should finish without repeated user nudges.

## Start: make the contract durable

Keep exactly one active outcome. Record:

- `Outcome`: the single requested end state.
- `Done when`: the observable stopping condition.
- `Proof`: the commands, diffs, rendered output, smoke checks, logs, or artifacts that establish it.

Derive repository facts before asking. Request only missing product intent or authority. If a durable goal tool exists and no active goal covers the work, create one; do not add a task store or second goal-tracking convention. Prefer `goalize` and `goal-continue-audit`, and keep project-specific details in the goal or repository docs.

## Work loop

Repeat until the only valid return state is `done` or genuine `blocked`:

1. Choose the next low-risk step that reduces uncertainty or advances the outcome.
2. Run it and inspect fresh evidence.
3. Update the plan from that evidence.
4. Record unrelated discoveries as `Parked`, then resume the active outcome.
5. Before proposing scope expansion, state what current work it would displace.
6. Continue without waiting unless tools, access, or a required decision make progress impossible.
7. For background jobs, use a blocking or longest bounded wait when available. After an unchanged status, increase the interval; never poll again immediately unless the status changed or a real deadline is near.

Do not stop at a plan, agent-actionable next steps, untriaged validation failures, or partial completion. Do not add a scheduler, dashboard, coordinator process, or notification policy; existing durable-goal tools are the execution mechanism.

## Delegation return contract

When a primary delegates a bounded task, require one compact structured progress
report from the worker:

- `status`: `DONE`, `CONTINUE`, `PARTIAL`, or `BLOCKED`.
- `changed_paths`: every created, modified, or deleted path.
- `verification`: exact checks and evidence, including failures.
- `landing_state`: `UNLANDED`, `READY_FOR_DONE`, `LANDED`, or `BLOCKED`.
- `next_action`: exactly one concrete follow-up, or `none` when no follow-up is needed.

The primary must wait for each worker. Follow up `CONTINUE` and `PARTIAL` results
or take the next bounded step; a worker's `DONE` only completes its assignment.
Durable goals are checkpoints, not wake schedulers: an active goal does not relaunch
a stopped worker. Keep the goal open through `done`, and close it only after
`landing_state` is `LANDED` or the outcome is genuinely `BLOCKED`.

## Evidence-first debugging

When behavior is “rough” or repeatedly needs kicks:

- Search session/log history for repeated user follow-ups: `continue`, `try again`, `did that fix`, `how is it going`, `commit`, `rerun`, `still broken`.
- Compare the first ask to the final answer: did the agent deliver artifacts and verification, or just recommendations?
- Identify missing feedback loops: no build/test, no smoke check, no rendered UI inspection, no deploy verification, no issue update.
- Patch the smallest durable surface that future agents read: `AGENTS.md`, an
  existing skill, a prompt template, a repo doc, or a deterministic check.

## Blocked stop format

Return `blocked` only when completion is impossible. Report:

- attempted paths
- evidence gathered
- exact blocker
- unmet requirements
- exactly one smallest human action needed to continue

Never mark a durable goal `done` while any requirement is unverified, narrowed, deferred, or merely locally checked when authorized landing remains.