Add the Ralph loop delivery standard (docs/ralph-loop.md + §9)

STANDING-AGREEMENT.md

@@ -100,3 +100,11 @@ These apply to Zeph and to Timmy equally. They are the price of being trusted wi
 
 Changes to this file go through a pull request to it. Alexander's decisions bind; Timmy's decisions bind within
 the boundaries above; beyond them, ask, and asking goes through this repo.
+
+## 9. The Ralph loop — delivery standard
+
+Every deliverable ends with a `CHECK: <shell command>` that exits 0 when the work is correct. The runner
+(`ralph-loop.sh`, spec in `docs/ralph-loop.md`) runs that CHECK and enforces the loop: green ships; red feeds
+the failure back and the wizard fixes + re-emits, max 3 iterations, then escalation to Timmy. A missing
+`CHECK:` counts as red. A `CHECK:` that is a tautology (`true`, `echo ok`, `exit 0`) is a fault, not a
+verification. No deliverable is done on a claim — it is done when its CHECK exits 0.

docs/ralph-loop.md

@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+# The Ralph loop — delivery standard
+
+Named after the loop in "Hyperoptimized Engineer 2026": the interface tests itself, and the
+agent fixes until the completion check passes. This is the troupe's delivery law — no deliverable
+is "done" on a claim. It is done when its `CHECK` exits 0.
+
+## The contract
+
+Every wizard deliverable ends with one line:
+
+```
+CHECK: <shell command>
+```
+
+The command must **exit 0** when the work is correct, and **non-zero** when it is not. It is the
+machine-enforced definition of "done": a test run, a `sha256sum`, a `curl` status, a grep count, a
+`git cat-file`, a census — anything a shell can verify against the actual artifact.
+
+## The loop (enforced by `ralph-loop.sh`)
+
+1. **Run** the wizard on its task.
+2. **Extract** the `CHECK:` line from its output.
+3. **Run** the CHECK (60s timeout, in the troupe repo).
+4. **Exit 0 → GREEN.** Shipped.
+5. **Non-zero → RED.** Feed the failure output back to the wizard — "fix it and re-emit a CHECK".
+6. **Repeat**, max **3 iterations**. After 3 REDs → **ESCALATE** to Timmy. Never silently pass.
+
+## Rules
+
+- A missing `CHECK:` line counts as RED.
+- The CHECK must be a **real verification**, not a tautology (`echo ok`, `true`, `exit 0`). It must
+  exercise the actual artifact — the thing that was just built, fixed, or claimed.
+- `VERDICT:` format: `VERDICT: <status> — check "<cmd>" = <exit code> after <N> iterations`.
+- No invented green. The runner runs the CHECK itself; a wizard cannot claim a pass it did not earn.
+- A red CHECK is not a failure of the wizard — it is the loop doing its job. Fix and re-emit.