Ralph

PRD-based continuous loop that keeps executing until all user stories are verified

Overview

Ralph is a PRD (Product Requirements Document) based continuous loop. It continues working until all user story acceptance criteria are met and a reviewer verifies them. On top of Ultrawork's parallel execution, it adds session persistence, automatic retries, structured story tracking, and mandatory verification.

It was created to prevent tasks from being declared "done" when only partially implemented.

Usage

/oh-my-claudecode:ralph "fix all TypeScript errors across the project"

Also activated via magic keywords.

ralph refactor the authentication module
don't stop until all tests pass
must complete the migration

Options / Flags

Flag	Description
`--no-prd`	Skip PRD generation (for simple tasks)
`--critic=architect`	Use architect as completion reviewer (default)
`--critic=critic`	Use critic as completion reviewer
`--critic=codex`	Use Codex CLI as completion reviewer

Execution Steps

1. PRD Setup

On the first iteration, creates prd.json or reads an existing file. Replaces generic acceptance criteria in the auto-generated scaffold with task-specific concrete criteria.

{
  "stories": [
    {
      "id": "US-001",
      "title": "Add flag detection helpers",
      "acceptanceCriteria": [
        "detectNoPrdFlag('ralph --no-prd fix') returns true",
        "TypeScript compiles with no errors (npm run build)"
      ],
      "passes": false
    }
  ]
}

2. Per-Story Implementation

Selects the highest-priority incomplete story and implements it.

Simple tasks: LOW tier (Haiku)
Standard tasks: MEDIUM tier (Sonnet)
Complex tasks: HIGH tier (Opus)
Independent tasks run concurrently

3. Per-Story Verification

Verifies each acceptance criterion with fresh evidence. Marks passes: true when all criteria are met.

4. PRD Completion Check

If all stories are complete, proceeds to reviewer verification. If incomplete stories remain, selects the next one.

5. Reviewer Verification

The verification tier is determined by the scope of changes.

Fewer than 5 files, fewer than 100 lines: STANDARD (Sonnet)
20 or more files, or security/architecture changes: THOROUGH (Opus)

6. Completion

On approval, cleans up state with /oh-my-claudecode:cancel. On rejection, fixes issues and re-verifies.

Examples

# Basic usage
ralph fix all failing tests in the auth module

# Simple task without PRD
ralph --no-prd fix the typo in README.md

# Using Codex reviewer
ralph --critic=codex implement the user profile page

ultrawork - parallel execution engine inside ralph
autopilot - full autonomous pipeline that includes ralph
cancel - cancel ralph execution

Reference

Item	Value
Invoke	`/oh-my-claudecode:ralph`
Magic Keywords	`ralph`, `don't stop`, `must complete`
Category	Workflow
State File	`.omc/state/ralph-state.json`
PRD File	`.omc/prd.json`
Progress Log	`.omc/progress.txt`

On this page