WrathZA HITL Loop
Throw the lasso, pull it tight, move to the next. One change at a time, one approval at a time — no bundling, no skipping ahead.
Core question for every item: What's the smallest change that makes this finding false? Apply only that — nothing more. Verify: if any part of the change were removed, would the finding still be true? If yes, the change is too large.
Workflow
1 — Read the list
Parse the numbered improvement list from context. If there are multiple lists or it's unclear which to apply, ask once before starting — not mid-loop. If the response does not resolve the ambiguity, stop: "Still unclear which list to apply — please re-invoke with the target list quoted directly."
If improvements reference specific files, verify they still exist and haven't changed substantially since the evaluation. If a target file is missing or heavily modified, note it at the top of the board: "⚠ Target may be stale — has changed since evaluation. Items may not apply cleanly. (c)ontinue / (Q)uit?"
If items have dependencies (item 3 requires item 1), note the dependency at the board level. Do not re-order — apply in sequence and mark dependent items [○] if their prerequisite was skipped.
Check git status before showing the board. If the working directory is not a git repo, note this at the top of the board and skip all commit steps:
ℹ No git repo — changes will be applied but not committed.
Display the full status board upfront: all items with [ ] markers, then (A)pprove all / (s)tart options. Symbols: [ ] pending, [✓] done, [→] in progress, [–] skipped, [○] obsolete.
If the user responds A: apply and commit all items in sequence, then show the final board per step 3.
If the user responds s: begin the per-item loop from item #1.
2 — Apply each one
Repeat for every item in order:
a. Announce — show ─── #N of M ─── and the full improvement description.
b. Apply
If the smallest change requires touching more than one logical unit (function, section, rule), the improvement is under-scoped — note this in the change summary and apply only the first unit.
Do not touch adjacent code, bundle items, or anticipate the next improvement. If applying this item overlaps with a later item (same lines, same function), apply only what's needed now and note the overlap in the change summary.
If an improvement requires non-edit actions (adding a dependency, creating a new file, running a command), describe the action in the change summary and let the user decide whether to perform it.
c. Show the change
Changed: <file>:<lines> — <one-line description>
<concise diff summary — not the full file>
d. Ask
(a)pprove, (r)evise, (s)kip, (o)bsolete, (A)ccept-all, (k)skip-all, (Q)uit?
Wait. Do not advance until the user responds. Any input not in the table below is a stop signal: show the current board and ask "Stop here? (y) to pause, (c)ontinue from #N?"
| Key | Commit? | Mark | Advance to | Special |
|---|---|---|---|---|
a |
yes | [✓] |
next item | — |
r |
no | — | re-apply same item | Collect guidance, re-show. After 3 revisions: "Revised N times — skip and file a separate issue, or keep going?" |
s |
no | [–] |
next item | Note reason if given |
o |
no | [○] |
next item | Already done / no longer applies / impossible |
A |
yes (current + all remaining) | [✓] each |
final board | Skip per-item prompts for remaining |
k |
no | [–] current + all remaining |
final board | — |
Q |
no | [–] all remaining (current unchanged) |
final board | — |
e. Update the board — after each decision, show the current state of all items using the status symbols. For accept-all (A): skip intermediate board updates — apply and commit each remaining item silently, then show the final board once in step 3.
3 — Done
When all items are processed, show the final board and a one-liner: HITL complete. Applied: N Skipped: M Revised then applied: P
Commits
If in a git repo: commit after each approved change, before advancing to the next item:
git add <changed files>
git commit -m "<short description of this improvement>"
If commit fails (pre-commit hook, empty diff): show the error, fix the issue, re-stage, and retry. If the fix changes the applied improvement, re-show the diff and re-ask for approval — do not silently commit a different change than what was shown.
If not in a git repo: skip commits entirely. Mark each approved item [✓] and continue — do not warn on every item, the single board-level notice is sufficient.
NEVER
- NEVER apply two improvements in one change — if both items touch the same code, the user loses the ability to approve them independently, which defeats the purpose of the loop.
- NEVER advance past an item without an explicit approve, revise, or skip response — silence is not approval.
- NEVER ask clarifying questions about an improvement's intent mid-loop — ambiguities must be resolved in step 1 before the first item.
- NEVER show the full file diff — show only the changed lines and a one-line description. Full files bury the signal.
- NEVER let a revision loop run silently past 3 attempts — a stuck item means the improvement is under-specified, not that the agent needs to try harder.
- NEVER offer accept-all (
A) before the status board has been shown — the status board IS the plan review; once the user has seen all items listed, offering approve-all at the board level or from item #2 onwards is acceptable. - NEVER treat lowercase
qas a quit signal — only uppercaseQquits; lowercaseqis keyboard-adjacent toaand falls through to the unknown-input stop signal.