Ralph Loop Kiro Specs

Ralph Loop for Kiro Specs

An automated, iterative agent runner that drives spec-based development in Kiro. It wraps kiro-cli in a bash loop, feeding it a carefully engineered prompt that turns Kiro into a disciplined, self-correcting implementation agent — one that picks up tasks from a spec, implements them, verifies its own work, and learns from its mistakes across iterations.

Attribution: Based on ralph-loop-kiro-specs by mreferre, licensed under Apache License 2.0.

When to Use

• Automate implementation of Kiro spec tasks through repeated agent iterations
• Drive a spec from start to finish without manual prompt-by-prompt interaction
• Set up the Ralph Loop in a new project
• Troubleshoot a stuck or failed Ralph Loop run
• Understand how progress tracking, corrections, and codebase patterns work
• Generate or interpret the summary dashboard after completion

Prerequisites

How It Works

Ralph runs a loop where each iteration sends a prompt to kiro-cli. The prompt instructs the agent to follow a strict six-phase cycle:

The Six Phases

1. Load Context — Read steering files (product.md, structure.md, tech.md) and the target spec (requirements.md, design.md, tasks.md, progress.md). Take stock of available tools.
2. Pick ONE Task — Find the lowest-numbered incomplete top-level task. Record start time. Never pick more than one task per iteration.
3. Understand Before Implementing — Read relevant source files, study existing patterns, re-read the Corrections and Codebase Patterns sections from progress.md, and apply every relevant correction proactively.
4. Implement — Implement the task and all subtasks in order. Run typechecks and tests. If something fails: fix it, write a correction immediately if a future iteration could hit the same problem, and move on. After 5 failed attempts, mark the task [F] and log an unresolved blocker.
5. Verify Exit Criteria — Re-read exit criteria from requirements.md and design constraints from design.md. Confirm each is satisfied before marking complete.
6. Update Tracking — Mark the task [X] in tasks.md, append a progress entry to progress.md, add new codebase patterns, do a final correction sweep, and record timing to specs_time.md.

The Self-Correction System

The Corrections section at the top of progress.md is a flat lookup table of mistakes and their fixes. Every iteration reads it before doing any work and must never repeat a listed mistake. Corrections are written immediately when errors happen — not at the end of the task.

Format:

- ❌ `python manage.py migrate` → ✅ `python3 manage.py migrate` (system has no `python` alias)
- ❌ Running tests with `npm test` → ✅ `npm run test:unit` (project uses separate test scripts)
- ❌ UNRESOLVED: [description of issue that couldn't be fixed after 5 attempts]

Codebase Patterns

Ralph accumulates conventions discovered during implementation — file naming, import patterns, error handling, testing commands, etc. Only patterns actually encountered are recorded, not speculative ones.

Completion and Summary Dashboard

When all tasks are marked [X], Ralph generates a self-contained summary.html in the spec directory with:

• Top pane: spec name, status indicator (green/red), total elapsed time, task count, date range
• Left pane: collapsible task tree with hover tooltips showing progress details
• Right pane: timing table with per-task start/end times and durations

Project Structure

The user's project should look like this before running Ralph:

your-project/
├── ralph-loop-kiro-specs-prompt.md    # The Ralph agent prompt template
├── ralph-loop-kiro-specs-script.sh    # The loop runner script
└── .kiro/
    ├── steering/
    │   ├── product.md                 # What the product is
    │   ├── structure.md               # Project structure conventions
    │   └── tech.md                    # Tech stack and tooling
    └── specs/
        └── <specs_name>/
            ├── requirements.md        # Requirements and exit criteria
            ├── design.md              # Architecture and design decisions
            ├── tasks.md               # Task checklist
            ├── progress.md            # Auto-created: corrections, patterns, progress log
            ├── specs_time.md          # Auto-created: per-task timing
            └── summary.html           # Auto-generated on completion: visual dashboard

Setup Instructions

To set up Ralph Loop in a project:

1. Copy the script and prompt template to the project root:
   • ralph-loop-kiro-specs-script.sh — the loop runner (bundled in this skill under scripts/)
   • ralph-loop-kiro-specs-prompt.md — the agent prompt template (bundled under references/)
2. Make the script executable: chmod +x ralph-loop-kiro-specs-script.sh
3. Ensure the project has Kiro specs set up under .kiro/specs/<specs_name>/ with at least requirements.md, design.md, and tasks.md
4. Ensure steering files exist under .kiro/steering/ (product.md, structure.md, tech.md) — these significantly improve output quality

Usage

./ralph-loop-kiro-specs-script.sh <max_iterations> <specs_name>

Example

# Run up to 15 iterations on the "auth-feature" spec
./ralph-loop-kiro-specs-script.sh 15 auth-feature

Iteration Modes

The script asks at startup whether to run automatically or manually:

• Automatic — Tasks run back-to-back without pausing. Good for well-defined specs.
• Manual — Pauses after each iteration for review. Good for new or unfamiliar specs.

Troubleshooting

Ralph gets stuck on a task (marked [F])

Fix the issue manually, update tasks.md to unmark the task, and re-run. The corrections from the failed attempt will still be in progress.md for the next iteration to learn from.

Max iterations reached without completion

Increase max_iterations and re-run. Ralph will pick up where it left off since it reads tasks.md to find the next incomplete task.

Agent implements more than one task per iteration

This violates the core constraint. Check that you're using the unmodified prompt template. The prompt has a critical constraint section at the top that enforces one-task-per-iteration.

Steering files are missing

Ralph works without them but produces better results with context. Create .kiro/steering/product.md, structure.md, and tech.md with descriptions of your product, project structure, and tech stack.

Quality Checklist

Before running Ralph Loop, verify:

• kiro-cli is installed and available on PATH
• Spec directory exists under .kiro/specs/<specs_name>/
• requirements.md has numbered requirements with exit criteria
• design.md has architecture and design decisions
• tasks.md has a numbered task checklist with subtasks
• Steering files exist under .kiro/steering/ (recommended)
• max_iterations is set to at least the number of tasks + buffer
• The prompt template (ralph-loop-kiro-specs-prompt.md) is in the project root
• The script (ralph-loop-kiro-specs-script.sh) is executable

Bundled Resources

Read the prompt template when you need to understand the detailed phase instructions, correction format, codebase pattern categories, or the summary dashboard specification.

License

This skill is based on ralph-loop-kiro-specs by mreferre, licensed under the Apache License 2.0.

Copyright [mreferre]

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at

    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.