Iterative Development Skill (Ralph Wiggum Integration)

Load with: base.md

Concept: Self-referential development loops where Claude iterates on the same task until completion criteria are met. Based on the Ralph Wiggum plugin.

---

Core Philosophy

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  ITERATION > PERFECTION                                     │
│  ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────  │
│  Don't aim for perfect on first try.                        │
│  Let the loop refine the work. Each iteration builds on     │
│  previous attempts visible in files and git history.        │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  FAILURES ARE DATA                                          │
│  ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────  │
│  Failed tests, lint errors, type mismatches are signals.    │
│  Use them to guide the next iteration.                      │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  CLEAR COMPLETION CRITERIA                                  │
│  ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────  │
│  Define exactly what "done" looks like.                     │
│  Tests passing. Coverage met. Lint clean.                   │
│  No ambiguity about when to stop.                           │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

---

Installing Ralph Wiggum Plugin

# Clone the plugin
git clone https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code.git /tmp/claude-code
cp -r /tmp/claude-code/plugins/ralph-wiggum ~/.claude/plugins/

# Or add to project-local plugins
mkdir -p .claude/plugins
cp -r /tmp/claude-code/plugins/ralph-wiggum .claude/plugins/

---

How It Works

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  1. /ralph-loop "Your task prompt" --max-iterations 20      │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  2. Claude works on task                                    │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  3. Claude attempts to exit                                 │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  4. Stop hook blocks exit, feeds SAME PROMPT back           │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  5. Claude sees modified files + git history from before    │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  6. Claude iterates and improves                            │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  7. Loop continues until:                                   │
│     • Completion promise detected: <promise>DONE</promise>  │
│     • Max iterations reached                                │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Key insight: The prompt never changes. Only the file state evolves. Claude reads its own previous work and refines it.

---

TDD-Integrated Prompt Templates

Feature Development (TDD Loop)

/ralph-loop "
## Task: [Feature Name]

### Requirements
- [Requirement 1]
- [Requirement 2]
- [Requirement 3]

### TDD Workflow (MUST FOLLOW)
1. Write failing tests based on requirements
2. Run tests - verify they FAIL (RED phase)
3. Implement minimum code to pass tests
4. Run tests - verify they PASS (GREEN phase)
5. Run lint and typecheck
6. If any failures, debug and fix
7. Repeat until all green

### Completion Criteria
- [ ] All tests passing
- [ ] Coverage >= 80%
- [ ] Lint clean (no errors)
- [ ] TypeScript/type check passing

### Exit Condition
When ALL criteria above are TRUE, output:
<promise>ALL TESTS PASSING AND LINT CLEAN</promise>
" --completion-promise "ALL TESTS PASSING AND LINT CLEAN" --max-iterations 30

Bug Fix (TDD Loop)

/ralph-loop "
## Bug: [Bug Description]

### Reproduction
1. [Step 1]
2. [Step 2]
3. Observe: [Wrong behavior]
4. Expected: [Correct behavior]

### TDD Bug Fix Workflow (MUST FOLLOW)
1. Run existing tests - note if any catch the bug
2. Write a failing test that reproduces the bug
3. Run test - verify it FAILS (proves test catches bug)
4. Fix the bug with minimum code change
5. Run test - verify it PASSES
6. Run FULL test suite for regressions
7. Run lint and typecheck
8. If any failures, debug and fix
9. Repeat until all green

### Completion Criteria
- [ ] New test for bug exists
- [ ] New test passes
- [ ] All existing tests pass
- [ ] No regressions
- [ ] Lint clean

### Exit Condition
When ALL criteria are TRUE, output:
<promise>BUG FIXED WITH TEST</promise>
" --completion-promise "BUG FIXED WITH TEST" --max-iterations 25

Refactoring (Safe Loop)

/ralph-loop "
## Refactor: [What to refactor]

### Goals
- [Goal 1: e.g., Extract function, reduce complexity]
- [Goal 2: e.g., Improve naming]
- [Goal 3: e.g., Split file if > 200 lines]

### Saf

...