Everyone is raving about Ralph. What is it? Ralph is an autonomous AI coding loop that ships features while you sleep. Created by @GeoffreyHuntley and announced in his original post, it runs @AmpCode (or your agent of choice) repeatedly until all tasks are complete. Each iteration is a fresh context window (keeping Threads nice and small). Memory persists via git history and text files. I ran it for the first time and shipped a feature last night. I love it. ## How It Works A bash loop that: - Pipes a prompt into your AI agent - Agent picks the next story from prd.json - Agent implements it - Agent runs typecheck + tests - Agent commits if passing - Agent marks story done - Agent logs learnings - Loop repeats until done Memory persists only through: • Git commits • progress.txt (learnings) • prd.json (task status) File Structure ## ralph.sh The loop: Make executable: Other agents: • Claude Code: `claude --dangerously-skip-permissions` ## prompt.md Instructions for each iteration: ## prd.json Your task list: Key fields: • `branchName` — branch to use • `priority` — lower = first • `passes` — set true when done ## progress.txt Start with context: Ralph appends after each story. Patterns accumulate across iterations. ## Running Ralph Runs up to 25 iterations. Ralph will: • Create the feature branch • Complete stories one by one • Commit after each • Stop when all pass ## Critical Success Factors 1. Small Stories Must fit in one context window. 2. Feedback Loops Ralph needs fast feedback: • `npm run typecheck` • `npm test` Without these, broken code compounds. 3. Explicit Criteria 4. Learnings Compound By story 10, Ralph knows patterns from stories 1-9. Two places for learnings: - progress.txt — session memory for Ralph iterations - AGENTS.md — permanent docs for humans and future agents Before committing, Ralph updates AGENTS.md files in directories with edited files if it discovered reusable patterns (gotchas, conventions, dependencies). 5. AGENTS.md Updates Ralph updates AGENTS.md when it learns something worth preserving: 6. Browser Testing For UI changes, use the dev-browser skill by @sawyerhood. Load it with `Load the dev-browser skill`, then: Not complete until verified with screenshot. ## Common Gotchas Idempotent migrations: Interactive prompts: Schema changes: After editing schema, check: • Server actions • UI components • API routes Fixing related files is OK: If typecheck requires other changes, make them. Not scope creep. ## Monitoring ## Real Results We built an evaluation system: • 13 user stories • ~15 iterations • 2-5 min each • ~1 hour total Learnings compound. By story 10, Ralph knew our patterns. ## When NOT to Use • Exploratory work • Major refactors without criteria • Security-critical code • Anything needing human review For a great video walkthrough of how to use Ralph, checkout the video from @mattpocockuk ...