loop

Loop

Parse

Accept /loop [interval] <prompt>.

• Leading interval: 5m /foo, 30s check status, 2h run report.
• Trailing interval: check deploy every 5m, run tests every 10 minutes.
• No interval: dynamic mode; the agent chooses the next delay after each run.
• Empty prompt: show Usage: /loop [interval] <prompt>.

Use intervals like 30s, 5m, 2h, 1d. Convert unit words to short units.

Use monitored shell output to wake the agent for recurring local work.

Fixed Schedule

while true; do
  sleep <seconds>
  echo 'AGENT_LOOP_TICK_<purpose> {"prompt":"<prompt>"}'
done

1. Check existing terminals for an already-running matching loop.
2. Start one background shell loop with notify_on_output.
3. Use a unique sentinel and a regex such as ^AGENT_LOOP_TICK_<purpose>.
4. Smoke-check once to confirm clean startup.
5. Run the prompt once immediately after arming the loop.
6. The first sentinel should arrive only after the initial sleep, so startup does not double-run the prompt.
7. Track the PID so the agent can stop the loop if asked.
8. Briefly confirm: the interval, that the prompt already ran once, when the first tick will arrive, and that the loop will fire on each tick until stopped. On later ticks, give a short update of what changed. On stop, say the loop has stopped and why.

Dynamic Schedule

The user wants the agent to self-pace. Decide what makes the next iteration worth running — a passage of time, or an observable event.

1. Run the prompt now.
2. If the next run is gated on an event (a git ref advancing, a log line matching, a file changing, a CI check completing), arm a background watcher that emits the sentinel only when the event fires, with notify_on_output on ^AGENT_LOOP_WAKE_<purpose>. Arm once; skip on later ticks if it's still running.
3. At the end of the turn, arm a one-shot time-based wake:

sleep <seconds>
echo 'AGENT_LOOP_WAKE_<purpose> {"prompt":"<prompt>"}'

With a watcher armed, this is the fallback heartbeat — lean long so idle ticks aren't pure overhead. Without a watcher, this is the cadence — pick a delay based on when the result is worth checking again.