Ralph

Ralph is a minimal, file‑based agent loop for autonomous coding. Each iteration starts fresh, reads the same on‑disk state, and commits work for one story at a time.

How it works

Ralph treats files and git as memory, not the model context:

• PRD (JSON) defines stories, gates, and status
• Loop executes one story per iteration
• State persists in .ralph/

Global CLI (recommended)

Install and run Ralph from anywhere:

npm i -g @iannuttall/ralph
ralph prd # launches an interactive prompt
ralph build 1 # one Ralph run

Template hierarchy

Ralph will look for templates in this order:

1. .agents/ralph/ in the current project (if present)
2. Bundled defaults shipped with this repo

State and logs always go to .ralph/ in the project.

Install templates into a project (optional overrides)

ralph install

This creates .agents/ralph/ in the current repo so you can customize prompts and loop behavior. During install, you’ll be asked if you want to add the required skills.

Install required skills (optional)

ralph install --skills

You’ll be prompted for agent (codex/claude/droid/opencode) and local vs global install. Skills installed: commit, dev-browser, prd. If you skipped skills during ralph install, you can run ralph install --skills anytime.

Quick start (project)

1. Create your PRD (JSON) or generate one:

ralph prd

Requires the prd skill (install via ralph install --skills).

Example prompt text:

A lightweight uptime monitor (Hono app), deployed on Cloudflare, with email alerts via AWS SES

Default output (agent chooses a short filename in .agents/tasks/):

.agents/tasks/prd-<short>.json

2. Run one build iteration:

ralph build 1 # one Ralph run

No‑commit dry run:

ralph build 1 --no-commit # one Ralph run

Override PRD output for ralph prd:

ralph prd --out .agents/tasks/prd-api.json

Optional human overview (generated from JSON):

ralph overview

This writes a tiny overview alongside the PRD: prd-<slug>.overview.md.

PRD story status fields are updated automatically by the loop:

• open → selectable
• in_progress → locked by a running loop (with startedAt)
• done → completed (with completedAt)

If a loop crashes and a story stays in_progress, you can set STALE_SECONDS in .agents/ralph/config.sh to allow Ralph to automatically reopen stalled stories.

Override PRD paths

You can point Ralph at a different PRD JSON file via CLI flags:

ralph build 1 --prd .agents/tasks/prd-api.json # one Ralph run

Optional progress override:

ralph build 1 --progress .ralph/progress-api.md # one Ralph run

If multiple PRD JSON files exist in .agents/tasks/ and you omit --prd, Ralph will prompt you to choose.

Optional config file (if you installed templates):

.agents/ralph/config.sh

Choose the agent runner

Set AGENT_CMD in .agents/ralph/config.sh to switch agents:

AGENT_CMD="codex exec --yolo -"
AGENT_CMD="claude -p --dangerously-skip-permissions \"\$(cat {prompt})\""
AGENT_CMD="droid exec --skip-permissions-unsafe -f {prompt}"
AGENT_CMD="opencode run \"$(cat {prompt})\""

Or override per run:

ralph prd --agent=codex
ralph build 1 --agent=codex # one Ralph run
ralph build 1 --agent=claude # one Ralph run
ralph build 1 --agent=droid # one Ralph run
ralph build 1 --agent=opencode # one Ralph run

If the CLI isn’t installed, Ralph prints install hints:

codex    -> npm i -g @openai/codex
claude   -> curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash
droid    -> curl -fsSL https://app.factory.ai/cli | sh
opencode -> curl -fsSL https://opencode.ai/install.sh | bash

State files (.ralph/)

• progress.md — append‑only progress log
• guardrails.md — “Signs” (lessons learned)
• activity.log — activity + timing log
• errors.log — repeated failures and notes
• runs/ — raw run logs + summaries

Notes

• .agents/ralph is portable and can be copied between repos.
• .ralph is per‑project state.
• Use {prompt} in AGENT_CMD when agent needs a file path instead of stdin.
• Examples: see examples/commands.md.
• OpenCode server mode: For faster performance with OpenCode, run opencode serve in a separate terminal and uncomment the AGENT_OPENCODE_CMD lines in .agents/ralph/agents.sh to use --attach http://localhost:4096. This avoids cold boot on every run.

Tests

Dry-run smoke tests (no agent required):

npm test

Fast agent health check (real agent call, minimal output):

npm run test:ping

Optional integration test (requires agents installed):

RALPH_INTEGRATION=1 npm test

Full real-agent loop test:

npm run test:real