chore(ralph-loop): final cleanup

[baleen37]

Summary

• Redesigned Ralph Loop plugin from Stop hook-based session looping to fresh claude --print instances + bash loop architecture
• Added /ralph-init command for PRD creation with structured user stories
• Removed Stop hook mechanism (hooks/ directory, hooks.json, stop-hook.sh)
• Added scripts/ralph.sh core bash loop with PID management and completion detection
• Added scripts/prompt.md template for per-iteration prompts
• Updated /ralph-loop, /cancel-ralph, and /help commands for new architecture
• Rewrote README.md with comprehensive documentation and examples
• Added 30 functional BATS tests (69 Ralph Loop specific tests total)

Test plan

• All 231 BATS tests pass
• All pre-commit hooks pass (markdownlint, ShellCheck, etc.)
• No references to old Stop hook mechanism remain
• Functional tests verify: PID management, iteration counting, COMPLETE detection, cancel-ralph behavior

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

Summary by CodeRabbit

• New Features

  • Added /ralph-init to create structured PRDs and user stories
  • Added a loop runner script to execute iterative runs with fresh instances and progress tracking
  • Updated /cancel-ralph to cancel by terminating the running loop process

• Documentation

  • Major rewrite of help/README and command docs: new init+loop workflow, monitoring, examples, and prompt guidance
  • Added prompt template and iteration workflow guidance

• Tests

  • Added end-to-end and command validation test suites

• Chores

  • Removed legacy stop-hook and prior in-session setup mechanism

[coderabbitai]

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

Transition from an in-session stop-hook model to a PID-managed bash loop: hooks/stop-hook scripts removed; new scripts scripts/ralph.sh and scripts/prompt.md added; state moved to .ralph/ with prd.json and progress.txt; commands reworked (added /ralph-init, updated /ralph-loop, PID-based /cancel-ralph).

Changes

Cohort / File(s)	Summary
Documentation README.md, plugins/ralph-loop/README.md, plugins/ralph-loop/commands/help.md	Rewrote docs to describe new bash-loop architecture, .ralph state files, PRD-driven iterations, fresh-instance model, new commands and monitoring/cancellation workflow.
Command docs plugins/ralph-loop/commands/ralph-init.md, plugins/ralph-loop/commands/ralph-loop.md, plugins/ralph-loop/commands/cancel-ralph.md	Added /ralph-init for PRD creation; updated /ralph-loop to invoke scripts/ralph.sh and require .ralph/prd.json; changed /cancel-ralph to use .ralph/ralph.pid and kill/remove PID.
Removed hooks/setup plugins/ralph-loop/hooks/hooks.json, plugins/ralph-loop/hooks/stop-hook.sh, plugins/ralph-loop/scripts/setup-ralph-loop.sh	Deleted stop-hook configuration, stop-hook script, and previous setup script that created session frontmatter state.
New loop implementation plugins/ralph-loop/scripts/ralph.sh, plugins/ralph-loop/scripts/prompt.md	Added ralph.sh bash loop that runs Claude (claude --print) per-iteration, manages PID, branch handling, iteration loop and COMPLETE detection; introduced prompt.md template/rules for per-iteration behavior.
Tests tests/ralph_loop_command_tests.bats, tests/ralph_loop_script_tests.bats	Added comprehensive bats tests for command frontmatter, PID-based cancellation, script behavior, prompt/template substitution, iteration counting, COMPLETE detection, and end-to-end scenarios.

Sequence Diagram(s)

sequenceDiagram
    actor User
    participant ralph.sh as "ralph.sh (Loop Controller)"
    participant Claude as "Claude CLI"
    participant FS as "Filesystem (.ralph/ prd.json, progress.txt)"
    participant Git as "Git"

    User->>ralph.sh: start (/ralph-loop)
    ralph.sh->>FS: ensure .ralph/prd.json & prompt.md
    ralph.sh->>FS: write .ralph/ralph.pid
    ralph.sh->>Git: checkout/create branch from prd.json

    loop Iteration N
        ralph.sh->>FS: build prompt (inject ITERATION, MAX)
        ralph.sh->>Claude: claude --print prompt.md
        Claude->>FS: read prd.json, progress.txt
        Claude-->>ralph.sh: output (may include <promise>COMPLETE</promise>)
        alt output contains COMPLETE
            ralph.sh->>FS: remove ralph.pid
            ralph.sh-->>User: exit 0 (complete)
        else continue or reach max
            ralph.sh->>FS: append progress.txt
            ralph.sh->>ralph.sh: next iteration
        end
    end

Loading

Estimated code review effort

🎯 4 (Complex) | ⏱️ ~50 minutes

Possibly related PRs

• test(ralph-loop): add comprehensive unit tests for state library #207: Overlaps prior stop-hook and setup script logic that this PR removes or replaces.
• fix(ralph-loop): fix hooks matcher and stdin handling #388: Related to hooks.json/stop-hook handling; this PR deletes that hooks-based approach in favor of a PID bash loop.
• feat: add ralph-loop plugin and update author info #2: Earlier changes to ralph-loop plugin that are directly replaced by the new scripts/.ralph state model.

Poem

🐰 I hop from branch to branch with glee,

fresh Claude each turn, no sticky spree,
PID tucked safe within .ralph's den,
stories pass, progress sings again—
carrots for commits, a joyful "COMPLETE!" 🎉

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 1 | ❌ 2

❌ Failed checks (1 warning, 1 inconclusive)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Docstring Coverage	⚠️ Warning	Docstring coverage is 50.00% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%.	Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.
Title check	❓ Inconclusive	The title is vague and generic, using 'final cleanup' which does not convey meaningful information about the substantial architectural redesign from Stop hook–based session looping to a fresh-instance + bash loop model.	Consider a more specific title that reflects the primary change, such as 'refactor(ralph-loop): replace stop-hook with bash loop architecture' or similar.

✅ Passed checks (1 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.

_{✏️ Tip: You can configure your own custom pre-merge checks in the settings.}

✨ Finishing touches

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Post copyable unit tests in a comment
• Commit unit tests in branch chore/ralph-loop

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[coderabbitai]

Actionable comments posted: 8

🤖 Fix all issues with AI agents

In `@plugins/ralph-loop/commands/ralph-loop.md`:
- Around line 44-45: Remove the duplicated cancellation line by deleting one of
the two identical lines that read "To cancel: `/cancel-ralph`" in the ralph-loop
command docs; ensure only a single "To cancel: `/cancel-ralph`" remains so the
help text is not repeated.

In `@tests/ralph_loop_command_tests.bats`:
- Line 115: HELP_CMD is defined at file scope while CANCEL_RALPH_CMD,
RALPH_INIT_CMD and RALPH_LOOP_CMD are set inside setup(), so move the HELP_CMD
assignment (the variable HELP_CMD pointing to help.md) into the setup() function
and remove the file-scope declaration; this ensures HELP_CMD benefits from the
same setup() skip guard and prevents failing grep errors when help.md is
missing.
- Around line 173-175: The test "help.md: does NOT mention session-based
looping" is vacuously true because it uses "! grep -q "session" "$HELP_CMD" || !
grep -q "current session" "$HELP_CMD""; change the logic to explicitly fail if
either "session" or "current session" appears by using an AND of the two negated
greps (for example ensure ! grep -q "session" "$HELP_CMD" && ! grep -q "current
session" "$HELP_CMD") or perform a single grep that checks for either pattern
and fails when matched; update the test block name and keep using the HELP_CMD
variable to locate the check.

In `@tests/ralph_loop_script_tests.bats`:
- Around line 149-175: The test "ralph.sh: cleans up PID file on exit" currently
only checks that the process referenced by .ralph/ralph.pid is not running if
the file exists, which lets the test pass when the PID file was never created;
modify the test to explicitly assert that the PID file was created after
starting RALPH_SCRIPT (use ralph_pid or check .ralph/ralph.pid immediately after
launching) and then assert that the PID file no longer exists after
killing/waiting for ralph_pid, so you first verify presence of .ralph/ralph.pid
and then verify its removal by the EXIT trap.
- Around line 428-482: The test's background run and kill -0 polling can lose
output due to buffering/timing; instead run the script synchronously and remove
the background/poll/wait logic: invoke bash "$RALPH_SCRIPT" 3 > "$output_file"
2>&1 in the foreground (no &), delete the ralph_pid assignment, the while loop
that uses kill -0 and the subsequent wait, then continue reading output and
asserting iteration_count (grep "Ralph iteration") and the "max iterations"
message; this targets the MOCK_CLAUDE usage and output capture around
RALPH_SCRIPT and output_file.
- Around line 26-38: The mock "claude" in tests/ralph_loop_script_tests.bats is
echoing stdin back when invoked with "--print", which dumps the entire prompt
(including the <promise>COMPLETE</promise> tag) into OUTPUT and causes ralph.sh
to think the job completed; update the mock claude script so that when handling
the "--print" case it discards stdin (e.g., redirect stdin to /dev/null) instead
of catting it back, leaving the rest of the mock and PATH/export handling
unchanged so tests no longer receive the prompt text.
- Around line 124-147: The test "ralph.sh: creates PID file on startup"
currently uses a soft if that lets the test pass when .ralph/ralph.pid is
missing; change it to a hard assertion by waiting briefly for the PID file to
appear (poll with a short timeout, e.g., loop up to ~1s checking [ -f
.ralph/ralph.pid ]) and then assert the file exists (fail the test if not), read
and assert the PID content matches ^[0-9]+$, and keep the existing cleanup using
ralph_pid to kill/wait the background process; update the block referencing
.ralph/ralph.pid, ralph_pid and RALPH_SCRIPT accordingly.
- Around line 381-426: The test fails because the PID written by ralph.sh ($$)
doesn't match the parent shell's $! (the test's ralph_pid) and the test is flaky
due to race on PID-file creation; either (A) start the script so the
backgrounded process is the same PID by using exec to replace the shell that
spawns ralph.sh (so ralph_pid from the test equals the PID ralph.sh writes), or
(B) remove the direct equality assertion comparing pid_from_file to ralph_pid
and instead assert only that .ralph/ralph.pid exists and that the PID inside it
corresponds to a running process (e.g., use kill -0 on pid_from_file); also keep
the polling loop but increase timeout slightly to reduce CI races (refer to
ralph.sh, ralph_pid and pid_from_file).

🧹 Nitpick comments (4)

plugins/ralph-loop/scripts/ralph.sh (2)

77-77: Potential issue: tee /dev/stderr sends all output (including merged stderr) to stderr, meaning COMPLETE detection works on combined stdout+stderr.

If claude --print ever emits <promise>COMPLETE</promise> in an error message or diagnostic output on stderr, it would trigger a false positive completion. The 2>&1 merge is intentional for capturing everything, but consider separating concerns: capture stdout for COMPLETE detection and let stderr pass through independently.

Suggested approach

-  OUTPUT=$(echo "$PROMPT" | claude --print 2>&1 | tee /dev/stderr) || true
+  OUTPUT=$(echo "$PROMPT" | claude --print 2>/dev/null | tee /dev/stderr) || true

Or, if you still want stderr visible but not mixed into OUTPUT:

-  OUTPUT=$(echo "$PROMPT" | claude --print 2>&1 | tee /dev/stderr) || true
+  OUTPUT=$(echo "$PROMPT" | claude --print 2>"${RALPH_DIR}/claude_err.log" | tee /dev/stderr) || true

---

83-84: Redundant PID file removal before exit 0.

The cleanup trap on EXIT (line 64) already handles PID file removal. This explicit rm -f "$PID_FILE" on line 83 is harmless but unnecessary.

tests/ralph_loop_command_tests.bats (1)

12-16: setup() only guards on cancel-ralph.md, not on the file each test actually needs.

If ralph-init.md, ralph-loop.md, or help.md is missing but cancel-ralph.md exists, the respective tests will fail with confusing grep/file-not-found errors instead of a clean skip. Consider guarding each test group or checking all files in setup.

plugins/ralph-loop/README.md (1)

129-161: Inline prompt template can drift from the actual scripts/prompt.md.

The README embeds a copy of the prompt template. If scripts/prompt.md is updated later, this section will become stale. Consider referencing the file rather than duplicating its content, or add a note reminding maintainers to keep both in sync.

[coderabbitai]

⚠️ Potential issue | 🟡 Minor

Duplicate line: "To cancel: /cancel-ralph" appears twice.

Proposed fix

 To cancel: `/cancel-ralph`
-To cancel: `/cancel-ralph`

📝 Committable suggestion

‼️ IMPORTANT
Carefully review the code before committing. Ensure that it accurately replaces the highlighted code, contains no missing lines, and has no issues with indentation. Thoroughly test & benchmark the code to ensure it meets the requirements.

Suggested change

	To cancel: `/cancel-ralph`
	To cancel: `/cancel-ralph`
	To cancel: `/cancel-ralph`

🤖 Prompt for AI Agents

In `@plugins/ralph-loop/commands/ralph-loop.md` around lines 44 - 45, Remove the
duplicated cancellation line by deleting one of the two identical lines that
read "To cancel: `/cancel-ralph`" in the ralph-loop command docs; ensure only a
single "To cancel: `/cancel-ralph`" remains so the help text is not repeated.

[coderabbitai]

🛠️ Refactor suggestion | 🟠 Major

HELP_CMD defined at file scope, inconsistent with other command paths.

CANCEL_RALPH_CMD, RALPH_INIT_CMD, and RALPH_LOOP_CMD are all set inside setup(), but HELP_CMD is set at file scope (line 115). This works in BATS but is inconsistent and means HELP_CMD won't benefit from the setup() skip guard. If help.md is missing, the help tests will fail with grep errors rather than skipping gracefully.

Suggested fix: move HELP_CMD into setup()

 setup() {
   # Get command file paths
   CANCEL_RALPH_CMD="${PROJECT_ROOT}/plugins/ralph-loop/commands/cancel-ralph.md"
   RALPH_INIT_CMD="${PROJECT_ROOT}/plugins/ralph-loop/commands/ralph-init.md"
   RALPH_LOOP_CMD="${PROJECT_ROOT}/plugins/ralph-loop/commands/ralph-loop.md"
+  HELP_CMD="${PROJECT_ROOT}/plugins/ralph-loop/commands/help.md"

   # Verify command files exist
   if [[ ! -f "$CANCEL_RALPH_CMD" ]]; then
     skip "cancel-ralph.md not found"
   fi
 }

And remove line 115.

🤖 Prompt for AI Agents

In `@tests/ralph_loop_command_tests.bats` at line 115, HELP_CMD is defined at file
scope while CANCEL_RALPH_CMD, RALPH_INIT_CMD and RALPH_LOOP_CMD are set inside
setup(), so move the HELP_CMD assignment (the variable HELP_CMD pointing to
help.md) into the setup() function and remove the file-scope declaration; this
ensures HELP_CMD benefits from the same setup() skip guard and prevents failing
grep errors when help.md is missing.

[coderabbitai]

⚠️ Potential issue | 🟡 Minor

Test logic is vacuously true — it doesn't actually guard against "session" appearing.

! grep -q "session" "$HELP_CMD" || ! grep -q "current session" "$HELP_CMD" is satisfied whenever "current session" is absent, regardless of whether "session" appears alone. For instance, if help.md contained "session-based looping", this test still passes.

If the intent is "help.md must not mention session-based looping," a stricter check is needed:

Suggested fix

-@test "help.md: does NOT mention session-based looping" {
-  ! grep -q "session" "$HELP_CMD" || ! grep -q "current session" "$HELP_CMD"
-}
+@test "help.md: does NOT mention session-based looping" {
+  ! grep -qi "session.based" "$HELP_CMD"
+  ! grep -qi "current session" "$HELP_CMD"
+}

🤖 Prompt for AI Agents

In `@tests/ralph_loop_command_tests.bats` around lines 173 - 175, The test
"help.md: does NOT mention session-based looping" is vacuously true because it
uses "! grep -q "session" "$HELP_CMD" || ! grep -q "current session"
"$HELP_CMD""; change the logic to explicitly fail if either "session" or
"current session" appears by using an AND of the two negated greps (for example
ensure ! grep -q "session" "$HELP_CMD" && ! grep -q "current session"
"$HELP_CMD") or perform a single grep that checks for either pattern and fails
when matched; update the test block name and keep using the HELP_CMD variable to
locate the check.

[coderabbitai]

⚠️ Potential issue | 🔴 Critical

Default mock claude echoes stdin back, which includes the <promise>COMPLETE</promise> text from the prompt template — causing ralph.sh to detect completion on iteration 1 and exit immediately.

This is the root cause of the CI failure at line 406. The real prompt.md template contains the string <promise>COMPLETE</promise> as instructional text. When the mock claude at line 31 does cat (echoing stdin to stdout), the full prompt—including the COMPLETE tag—ends up in OUTPUT, triggering the early-exit path in ralph.sh (line 80–84). The script removes the PID file and exits before the polling loop in the cancel-ralph test can observe it.

The iteration-counting test (line 429) uses a corrected mock that discards stdin (cat >/dev/null), but could still be affected by similar timing issues in CI.

Fix the default mock to discard stdin:

Proposed fix

   cat > "$MOCK_CLAUDE" <<'EOF'
 #!/bin/bash
 # Mock claude command for testing
 if [[ "$*" == *"--print"* ]]; then
-  # Read from stdin
-  cat
+  # Read and discard stdin
+  cat >/dev/null
+  echo "Mock iteration output"
   exit 0
 fi
 echo "Mock claude command"
 EOF

🤖 Prompt for AI Agents

In `@tests/ralph_loop_script_tests.bats` around lines 26 - 38, The mock "claude"
in tests/ralph_loop_script_tests.bats is echoing stdin back when invoked with
"--print", which dumps the entire prompt (including the
<promise>COMPLETE</promise> tag) into OUTPUT and causes ralph.sh to think the
job completed; update the mock claude script so that when handling the "--print"
case it discards stdin (e.g., redirect stdin to /dev/null) instead of catting it
back, leaving the rest of the mock and PATH/export handling unchanged so tests
no longer receive the prompt text.

[coderabbitai]

⚠️ Potential issue | 🟠 Major

PID creation test has weak assertion — if block silently passes when PID file is missing.

Lines 138-142 use if [ -f .ralph/ralph.pid ] which means the test passes even if the PID file was never created. This should be a hard assertion. The same timing issue as the cancel test applies here (script may exit before the check).

Proposed fix

-  # Check if PID file was created
-  if [ -f .ralph/ralph.pid ]; then
-    pid=$(cat .ralph/ralph.pid)
-    # PID should be a number
-    [[ "$pid" =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]]
-  fi
+  # PID file must have been created
+  [ -f .ralph/ralph.pid ]
+  pid=$(cat .ralph/ralph.pid)
+  # PID should be a number
+  [[ "$pid" =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]]

📝 Committable suggestion

‼️ IMPORTANT
Carefully review the code before committing. Ensure that it accurately replaces the highlighted code, contains no missing lines, and has no issues with indentation. Thoroughly test & benchmark the code to ensure it meets the requirements.

Suggested change

	@test "ralph.sh: creates PID file on startup" {
	create_prd
	create_progress
	cd "$TEST_GIT_DIR"
	mkdir -p .ralph
	cp "$TEST_RALPH_DIR/"* .ralph/
	# Start ralph.sh in background and check for PID file
	bash "$RALPH_SCRIPT" 1 >/dev/null 2>&1 &
	ralph_pid=$!
	sleep 0.5
	# Check if PID file was created
	if [ -f .ralph/ralph.pid ]; then
	pid=$(cat .ralph/ralph.pid)
	# PID should be a number
	[[ "$pid" =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]]
	fi
	# Clean up
	kill $ralph_pid 2>/dev/null || true
	wait $ralph_pid 2>/dev/null || true
	}
	`@test` "ralph.sh: creates PID file on startup" {
	create_prd
	create_progress
	cd "$TEST_GIT_DIR"
	mkdir -p .ralph
	cp "$TEST_RALPH_DIR/"* .ralph/
	# Start ralph.sh in background and check for PID file
	bash "$RALPH_SCRIPT" 1 >/dev/null 2>&1 &
	ralph_pid=$!
	sleep 0.5
	# PID file must have been created
	[ -f .ralph/ralph.pid ]
	pid=$(cat .ralph/ralph.pid)
	# PID should be a number
	[[ "$pid" =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]]
	# Clean up
	kill $ralph_pid 2>/dev/null || true
	wait $ralph_pid 2>/dev/null || true
	}

🤖 Prompt for AI Agents

In `@tests/ralph_loop_script_tests.bats` around lines 124 - 147, The test
"ralph.sh: creates PID file on startup" currently uses a soft if that lets the
test pass when .ralph/ralph.pid is missing; change it to a hard assertion by
waiting briefly for the PID file to appear (poll with a short timeout, e.g.,
loop up to ~1s checking [ -f .ralph/ralph.pid ]) and then assert the file exists
(fail the test if not), read and assert the PID content matches ^[0-9]+$, and
keep the existing cleanup using ralph_pid to kill/wait the background process;
update the block referencing .ralph/ralph.pid, ralph_pid and RALPH_SCRIPT
accordingly.

[coderabbitai]

⚠️ Potential issue | 🟠 Major

CI failure: iteration counting test fails — likely a timing or output capture issue.

The mock claude here correctly discards stdin (cat >/dev/null), so the COMPLETE false-positive shouldn't apply. However, the test runs ralph.sh in the background and polls with kill -0 to detect completion. A few potential issues:

1. Timing: If the process finishes before the first poll iteration, kill -0 returns false immediately, wait runs, and the output file may be incomplete or empty if buffering hasn't flushed.
2. Output routing: ralph.sh line 77 uses tee /dev/stderr inside a command substitution. The iteration-progress echo statements (lines 71, 87-89) go to stdout, but the claude output goes to stderr via tee. Both should be captured by 2>&1 in the test, but buffering differences could cause issues.

Consider running synchronously instead of in the background, since the mock claude returns instantly:

Suggested simplification

-  bash "$RALPH_SCRIPT" 3 > "$output_file" 2>&1 &
-  ralph_pid=$!
-
-  # Wait for all iterations to complete
-  local count=0
-  while kill -0 "$ralph_pid" 2>/dev/null && [ $count -lt 15 ]; do
-    sleep 0.3
-    count=$((count + 1))
-  done
-
-  # Wait for process to finish
-  wait $ralph_pid 2>/dev/null || true
-
-  # Read output from file
-  output=$(cat "$output_file")
+  run bash "$RALPH_SCRIPT" 3 2>&1
+  # run captures output and status automatically

📝 Committable suggestion

‼️ IMPORTANT
Carefully review the code before committing. Ensure that it accurately replaces the highlighted code, contains no missing lines, and has no issues with indentation. Thoroughly test & benchmark the code to ensure it meets the requirements.

Suggested change

	# Functional Test: ralph.sh iteration counting
	@test "ralph.sh: iterates correct number of times" {
	create_prd
	create_progress
	cd "$TEST_GIT_DIR"
	mkdir -p .ralph
	cp "$TEST_RALPH_DIR/"* .ralph/
	# Create an initial commit
	echo "test" > test.txt
	git add test.txt
	git commit -q -m "Initial commit" 2>/dev/null || true
	# Create a mock claude that never returns COMPLETE
	# This allows ralph.sh to run through all iterations
	cat > "$MOCK_CLAUDE" <<'EOF'
	#!/bin/bash
	# Mock claude that never returns COMPLETE
	if [[ "$*" == *"--print"* ]]; then
	# Read from stdin and echo response without COMPLETE
	cat >/dev/null
	echo "Working on tasks..."
	exit 0
	fi
	echo "Mock claude command"
	EOF
	chmod +x "$MOCK_CLAUDE"
	# Run ralph.sh with 3 iterations, output to a temp file
	local output_file="${TEST_TEMP_DIR}/ralph_output.txt"
	bash "$RALPH_SCRIPT" 3 > "$output_file" 2>&1 &
	ralph_pid=$!
	# Wait for all iterations to complete
	local count=0
	while kill -0 "$ralph_pid" 2>/dev/null && [ $count -lt 15 ]; do
	sleep 0.3
	count=$((count + 1))
	done
	# Wait for process to finish
	wait $ralph_pid 2>/dev/null || true
	# Read output from file
	output=$(cat "$output_file")
	# Verify we ran exactly 3 iterations
	# The script should show "=== Ralph iteration 1/3 ===", "2/3", "3/3"
	iteration_count=$(echo "$output" | grep -c "Ralph iteration" || true)
	[ "$iteration_count" -eq 3 ]
	# Should show "reached max iterations" message
	[[ "$output" == *"max iterations"* ]]
	}
	# Functional Test: ralph.sh iteration counting
	`@test` "ralph.sh: iterates correct number of times" {
	create_prd
	create_progress
	cd "$TEST_GIT_DIR"
	mkdir -p .ralph
	cp "$TEST_RALPH_DIR/"* .ralph/
	# Create an initial commit
	echo "test" > test.txt
	git add test.txt
	git commit -q -m "Initial commit" 2>/dev/null || true
	# Create a mock claude that never returns COMPLETE
	# This allows ralph.sh to run through all iterations
	cat > "$MOCK_CLAUDE" <<'EOF'
	#!/bin/bash
	# Mock claude that never returns COMPLETE
	if [[ "$*" == *"--print"* ]]; then
	# Read from stdin and echo response without COMPLETE
	cat >/dev/null
	echo "Working on tasks..."
	exit 0
	fi
	echo "Mock claude command"
	EOF
	chmod +x "$MOCK_CLAUDE"
	# Run ralph.sh with 3 iterations
	run bash "$RALPH_SCRIPT" 3 2>&1
	# run captures output and status automatically
	# Verify we ran exactly 3 iterations
	# The script should show "=== Ralph iteration 1/3 ===", "2/3", "3/3"
	iteration_count=$(echo "$output" | grep -c "Ralph iteration" || true)
	[ "$iteration_count" -eq 3 ]
	# Should show "reached max iterations" message
	[[ "$output" == *"max iterations"* ]]
	}

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🪛 GitHub Actions: CI / test

[error] 473-473: ralph.sh: iterates correct number of times failed: test assertion [ "$iteration_count" -eq 3 ] failed.

🤖 Prompt for AI Agents

In `@tests/ralph_loop_script_tests.bats` around lines 428 - 482, The test's
background run and kill -0 polling can lose output due to buffering/timing;
instead run the script synchronously and remove the background/poll/wait logic:
invoke bash "$RALPH_SCRIPT" 3 > "$output_file" 2>&1 in the foreground (no &),
delete the ralph_pid assignment, the while loop that uses kill -0 and the
subsequent wait, then continue reading output and asserting iteration_count
(grep "Ralph iteration") and the "max iterations" message; this targets the
MOCK_CLAUDE usage and output capture around RALPH_SCRIPT and output_file.