Loop

Loop

Run /loop on a recurring or variable interval.

Parse

Accept /loop [interval] <prompt>.

• Leading interval: 5m /foo, 30s check status, 2h run report.
• Trailing interval: check deploy every 5m, run tests every 10 minutes.
• No interval: dynamic mode; choose and revise the delay as the work requires.
• Empty prompt: show Usage: /loop [interval] <prompt>.

Use intervals such as 30s, 5m, 2h, and 1d. Normalize unit words to these forms. For a calendar schedule such as “every weekday at 9am”, use the host scheduler's cron support when it has one.

Choose a scheduling mechanism

Use the host's durable timer or subscription mechanism when available. It must be able to deliver a follow-up prompt back into the current agent session. Otherwise, use the host's background-process monitor to watch a local loop's stdout. Do not use a local sleep loop when the runtime cannot retain a local process between agent turns.

Use a unique stable handle derived from the purpose, such as loop-check-deploy. Before creating a schedule, check whether that handle is already active; do not create a duplicate loop.

Fixed schedule

1. Arm a recurring schedule that sends the literal prompt after each full interval.
2. Run the prompt once immediately after arming it.
3. Ensure the first scheduled wake is only after the first full interval, so startup does not run the prompt twice.
4. Record enough information to stop the schedule later: its handle and, when relevant, its scheduler subscription or process identifier.
5. Confirm the interval, immediate run, first wake time, and that it continues until stopped.

For a local monitored process, emit one unique machine-readable sentinel per wake, with the prompt encoded beside it. For example:

while true; do
  sleep <seconds>
  echo 'AGENT_LOOP_TICK_<purpose> {"prompt":"<prompt>"}'
done

Configure the host monitor to wake the agent only for that sentinel. Keep the loop body quiet and avoid additional work in the background process.

Dynamic schedule

Use dynamic mode when the next useful check depends on an event or on changing conditions.

1. Run the prompt now.
2. When the host can observe the relevant event (for example, a CI completion, git reference advance, log match, or file change), arm one event watcher.
3. Arm a one-shot time-based fallback wake. Pick a longer fallback while an event watcher is active; otherwise it is the normal cadence.
4. On a wake, read the prompt payload, execute it, then re-arm the next fallback. Re-arm an event watcher only if it exited.
5. Do not start duplicate watchers or sleepers.

Change or stop a loop

To change a schedule, replace the existing one rather than relying on an in-place update: stop or unsubscribe the old handle first, then create the replacement. Some schedulers silently retain a prior configuration when an existing handle is reused.

To stop a loop, locate its active handle, cancel its subscription or terminate its process, and consume any final completion notification so it cannot cause a later wake. Do not arm a replacement. Confirm that it stopped and why.

Guidance

• Use the title Loop <schedule>: <prompt> for background work when the host supports titles.
• Adapt shell syntax to the user's platform.
• On later ticks, report only what changed.
• Prefer the host's monitored background facility over OS cron when the agent needs to receive wake notifications.