# 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.