loop

loop is a skill for Claude Code from swt-labs/vibe-better-with-claude-code-vbw. It costs 26 tokens per session (820 once invoked), scanned A, original, MIT.

A controlled loop that works through named backlog items within an optional spending ceiling. A backlog is a list of planned work that has not been completed yet.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to process backlog items in order, see the current item and step, and stop the loop safely before its next step.
Why use it?
It avoids repeatedly starting each approved item by hand while limiting the work to the listed items. It does not push, release, or publish changes, and it stops for requirements that need a human judgment.

Skill for Claude Code

Written for Claude Code: allowed-tools in frontmatter.

Runs only inside its plugin — its command needs a path that Claude Code sets for a plugin’s own hooks and for nothing else. Install the plugin, not this.

Part of the vbw plugin — 34 skills, 7 agents, 4 hooks shipped together

Good fit Use it to process backlog items in order, see the current item and step, and stop the loop safely before its next step.

Compare 6 skills from other repositories ↓
Install

Getting it into your agent

This one installs as part of its plugin. Adding the marketplace and installing the plugin brings it with everything else the plugin ships.

Claude Code
/plugin marketplace add swt-labs/vibe-better-with-claude-code-vbw
Claude Code
/plugin install vbw

Made for: Claude Code.

Or install vbw, the plugin that ships this one along with the rest of its 34 skills, 7 agents, 4 hooks.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for loop

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/swt-labs/vibe-better-with-claude-code-vbw/loop/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/swt-labs/vibe-better-with-claude-code-vbw/loop)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/swt-labs/vibe-better-with-claude-code-vbw/loop"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/swt-labs/vibe-better-with-claude-code-vbw/loop/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

agentmods 80×15 button for loop

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/swt-labs/vibe-better-with-claude-code-vbw/loop"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/swt-labs/vibe-better-with-claude-code-vbw/loop.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 26 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 820 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.00026 $0.00820
Opus 5.5 $0.00010 $0.00328
Sonnet 5.5 $0.00005 $0.00164
Haiku 4.5 $0.00003 $0.00082

Measured today against content hash 1eeac0a9a84c, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-10-07, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

loop scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured today.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

plugin/skills/loop/SKILL.md · 61 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 61 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

The user ran /vbw:loop. Result:

"${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/bin/vbw" interview 2>&1 || true
"${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/bin/vbw" loop start --session ${CLAUDE_SESSION_ID} $ARGUMENTS 2>&1 || true
"${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/bin/vbw" loop status 2>&1 || true

Write to the user's level, explanation depth and involvement (above; "-": plain words).

Never run vbw loop start, vbw loop next or vbw loop park yourself.

The one message

$ARGUMENTS is stop: run vbw loop stop, then vbw loop status. Say what the loop was doing (which item, which step) and that it stops before its next step. Nothing else.

The preamble refused (no armed loop in the output): say exactly why and what to do, then stop. No cycle.

Armed: one message, no questions, covering:

  • the items in order, and the ceiling with its mode (stops before the next step, or finishes the item; or no ceiling);
  • approval is delegated for these items only: the kernel approves their contract, you never do;
  • what never happens: no push, release or publish; no work beyond the items; a [human] requirement waits for you to judge;
  • how to stop: /vbw:loop stop, from any session.
  • each item has a time budget (shown in the status); past it the loop stops before the item's next step and keeps its work.

End the turn after the message. The loop's Stop hook (vbw auto gate) then answers with the next step, each time naming the action.

The cycle

Read ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/vibe/SKILL.md once. Do each step the hook names as its Steps section describes it: the same workflows and the same arguments (session, models, rigor, effort, profile from VBW_SESSION_ID=${CLAUDE_SESSION_ID} vbw next --json). Then end the turn; the hook gives the next step.

Differences from /vbw:vibe, as rules:

  • Never arm autonomy yourself; the Stop hook is the loop's.
  • The guided autonomy setting never makes the loop ask: never ask, never use the step menus.
  • At needs_decisions, take the recommended option and record each: vbw decide "<option>" "chosen by the loop: <the trade-off accepted>", then plan again.
  • Follow no suggestion (vbw:suggest) on the user's behalf.
  • Never run the approve command and never ask the approval menu: the kernel approves by delegation, or the loop stops.
  • A [human] requirement is skipped by the kernel; never judge it.
  • Never push, release or publish (the guard refuses it anyway).

Read the full file on GitHub · 61 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. today First seen · 61 lines · 26 tokens per session scan A 1eeac0a9a84c

Subscribe to this mod's changes

loop is a skill published in the GitHub repository swt-labs/vibe-better-with-claude-code-vbw (85 stars, last pushed today), licensed MIT. It adds 26 tokens to every session and 820 once invoked, about $0.0001 per session on Opus 5.5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-10-22.

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