Shape Goal

Shape Goal

Ralph already defines a verifiable target (RALPH.md + RALPH.png). Codex /goal adds a long-horizon thread-level anchor on top. This skill is the bridge: it converts a Ralph-style spec (or a fuzzy intent) into a /goal prompt that will actually terminate, and it seeds the three memory files long-horizon runs need.

A /goal is not a longer prompt. It is a loop with a stop condition. If the stop condition is missing, the loop fails in one of two opposite ways:

1. Early give-up — the agent decides "looks done" after a few minutes.
2. Never stops — the agent edits in circles without converging.

Same root cause, opposite symptoms: the model is inferring when to stop. This skill exists to keep that inference out of the loop.

When to invoke

• User says: "set up /goal", "shape my goal", "make this a /goal", "ralph + goal", "goal from RALPH.md".
• User pastes a long, vague target ("make the migration work", "improve the runtime", "build the demo") and wants Codex to run it long-horizon.
• A RALPH.md exists but the user wants to launch it through Codex /goal instead of OMX/OMC native ralph.
• Any time a stop condition needs to be made explicit before a long run starts.

Do NOT invoke for:

• One-shot questions or short edits.
• Tasks that should run via native Ralph/OMX/OMC/OmO without /goal.
• "Keep improving forever" requests — refuse and shape instead.

The Four Shape Checks

Every shaped goal must pass these four checks before emission. If any one fails, the skill asks one targeted question to repair it. Do not emit a /goal with any check still open.

1. Outcome — one sentence

There is exactly one named outcome. Not a basket. Not "and also."

Bad: "improve the codebase and ship the migration and add tests" Good: "the Stripe migration replaces PayPal in src/payments/ with the existing test suite green"

2. Stop — a command or a checklist

The agent can run a deterministic check that returns done / not done.

Allowed forms:

• a shell command exit code (npm run test:contract, pytest -k stripe, grep -c paypal src/ == 0)
• a checklist file with N rows where the stop rule is "N/N rows checked"
• a manual verification with concrete observable state ("Stripe test card 4242… returns payment_intent.succeeded in logs")

Refused forms:

• "the code is better"
• "the architecture is cleaner"
• "the prose reads well"

When a qualitative target arrives, run the Qualitative → Quantitative trick (see below) before continuing.

3. Proxy — declared fidelity

If the validation in step 2 is slow, the agent will use a proxy (subset of tests, smaller model, smaller dataset). The shaped goal must say so explicitly:

• which proxy each iteration runs
• how often full validation is rerun against the proxy
• what divergence between proxy and real result triggers a stop-and-escalate

A fast proxy with no fidelity check is worse than a slow real validation — it converges fast in the wrong direction.

4. Memory — three files seeded

A multi-hour /goal outlives its context window. The shaped goal must reference and seed three files alongside RALPH.md:

• PLAN.md — current plan, next checkpoint
• EXPERIMENT_NOTES.md — scratchpad, present-tense thinking
• EXPERIMENTS.md — durable past: every attempt as one row (what / why / result / verdict)

EXPERIMENTS.md is the load-bearing one. Without it, the agent rediscovers dead ends after every compaction.

Qualitative → Quantitative Trick

When the user's outcome is qualitative, do not refuse — extract a checklist.

Pattern:

qualitative target: "match ICML formatting"
extracted artifact: CHECKLIST.md with 200+ rows
each row: a single yes/no judgment the model can make reliably
new stop rule: every row marked done in CHECKLIST.md

Macro judgment becomes the sum of micro judgments. The model that cannot rate "is this paper ICML-shaped" can rate any single row.

When you trigger this trick, write the checklist file into the repo at ./CHECKLIST.md (or a topic-specific name) and reference it as the stop rule in the emitted /goal. The agent itself can populate the checklist if a source-of-truth document exists (e.g. a style guide, a spec, a rubric).

Core Loop

1. detect RALPH.md
   - if present: read Task, Constraints, Success Criteria, Verification Commands
   - if absent: ask for the one-sentence outcome first

2. run the four checks
   - Outcome → if multi-target, ask which one is the goal for this run
   - Stop → if qualitative, run Qualitative → Quantitative trick
   - Proxy → if validation > a few minutes, ask for proxy + fidelity policy
   - Memory → check / create PLAN.md, EXPERIMENT_NOTES.md, EXPERIMENTS.md

3. emit the shaped /goal
   - outcome-first, not process-first
   - includes the stop command, proxy policy, memory contract
   - copy-paste-able into a Codex thread

4. (optional) launch
   - if the user is inside Codex, hand the prompt to `/goal`
   - otherwise, print it and tell the user where to paste

Operating Rules

• Read RALPH.md first when it exists. Do not re-ask what is already in it.
• Ask one repair question at a time, only for the failing check.
• Never emit a goal with an inferred stop condition. The user must approve the stop rule explicitly or the skill aborts.
• Prefer commands over prose for verification. grep, pytest, npm run, exit codes.
• When a checklist is generated, write it to disk. Do not keep it in the conversation.
• Seed memory files as empty templates with section headers — do not invent contents.
• Keep the emitted /goal under ~25 lines. Beyond that, the model is reading too much process.

Output Format

The emitted goal follows this skeleton:

/goal <one-sentence outcome>.

Success means:
- <observable behavior 1>
- <observable behavior 2>
- final answer includes: changed files, validation output, residual risk

Stop rule:
- <command or N/N checklist>

Proxy policy (if applicable):
- per-iteration: <fast check>
- every Nth iteration: <full validation>
- divergence > X% → pause and report

Memory:
- read EXPERIMENTS.md before proposing a new approach
- append one row to EXPERIMENTS.md after every attempt (success or fail)
- keep PLAN.md current; use EXPERIMENT_NOTES.md as scratchpad

Constraints:
- <from RALPH.md Constraints>

Do not:
- run more than <budget> iterations without rerunning full validation
- mark complete on proxy alone

Memory File Templates

When seeding the three files, use these minimal templates so the agent has shape but no false content.

PLAN.md

# Plan

## Current outcome
<one sentence, copied from /goal>

## Next checkpoint
<the next observable thing that should be true>

## Backlog
- 

EXPERIMENT_NOTES.md

# Scratchpad

<append-only running thoughts. older notes stay; do not edit history.>

EXPERIMENTS.md

# Experiments

| # | When | Attempt | Why | Result | Verdict |
|---|------|---------|-----|--------|---------|
|   |      |         |     |        |         |

Verdict values: kept, reverted, partial, dead-end. The dead-end rows are the most valuable — they keep the loop from re-entering failed paths after context compaction.

Internal State

Track this state while the skill runs:

RALPH.md present:        yes / no
outcome (one sentence):
qualitative?             yes / no
checklist file:          path or none
validation command:
proxy used:              yes / no
proxy fidelity policy:
memory files present:    PLAN / NOTES / EXPERIMENTS
unresolved check:        Outcome / Stop / Proxy / Memory / none

When unresolved check becomes none, emit the /goal and stop.

Refusal Conditions

The skill must refuse to emit a goal when:

• the outcome cannot be reduced to one sentence after one repair question
• the stop rule is qualitative and the user refuses to materialize a checklist
• the user wants to "keep improving forever" with no terminal state

Refusal message template:

This goal would not terminate. The stop rule is <missing | qualitative | open-ended>.
A /goal without a terminal state will fail in one of two ways: it either gives up
early or never stops. Re-shape the outcome, or run this as an open exploration
instead of /goal.

Relation to existing oh-my-ralph pieces

• RALPH.md — source of truth for Task / Constraints / Success Criteria. This skill reads it; it does not replace it.
• RALPH.png — visual contract. Untouched by this skill.
• .ralph/prompts/codex-goal.md — researched notes + five copy-paste /goal templates. This skill uses those templates as starting points; it does not duplicate them.
• Native ralph (OMX / OMC / OmO / Ouroboros) — runs the actual loop. /goal is an additional anchor for Codex specifically. This skill emits the goal; the native backend still executes.