Godmode Loop Warden

Outcome

Every retry cycle runs under a declared cap with named stop conditions, each iteration leaves a tick with its evidence, a stalled cycle is stopped at the cap rather than at exhaustion, and the close says finished or cut off with the evidence that decides which.

Use

• The same failing test or build error is being retried with small edits.
• Edits keep landing on the same lines or hunks with nothing new asserted.
• An agent has run more iterations than the task warranted and cannot see it.
• A loop is about to start and its stop contract has not been written down.

Do Not Use

• Root-causing the failure the loop is retrying - that is godmode-investigation.
• Open operator asks that repeat across sessions - that is godmode-triage.
• Re-pitching an answer the operator did not follow - that is godmode-repair.

Deterministic Execution Flow

1. Audit readiness before cycle one. godmode loop --preflight - the loop file's stop contract, budget, verdict path and escalation thresholds; a missing piece is named before any iteration runs.
2. Declare the cap and the stop conditions. godmode loop declare <name> --max-iterations 5 --stop-when "the failing test passes" - the cap is fixed at declaration; a loop with no cap is refused.
3. Tick every iteration with its evidence. godmode loop tick <name> --evidence seq:<the attestation of this iteration's check>; an iteration that changed nothing is godmode loop tick <name> --empty - the empty ticks are what escalate.
4. Read the transcript for repetition the agent cannot see. godmode loop --transcript <host transcript path> --episodes - repeating error signatures, overlapping hunks, no new files, no new assertion, with the backtrack context for each episode.
5. Check the blame before changing the model. godmode loop --blame --session <session id> - whether blaming the model is supported by a non-model control; a loop with no such control is a contract gap, not a model fault.
6. Close with the outcome the evidence supports. godmode loop close <name> --outcome finished --evidence seq:<the passing check>, or godmode loop close <name> --outcome cut-off --evidence seq:<the last tick> when the cap was reached.
   • Fallback: a close that names no evidence is refused; cite the tick or the attestation, never a description of it.

Read PURPOSE.md for the archive records this skill exists to close.

Must Not

• Never raise the iteration cap mid-loop; instead close it cut off and declare a new loop with its reason.
• Never close a loop as finished without the passing check's evidence; instead close it cut off.
• Never blame the model before loop --blame names a non-model control that supports it; instead record the contract gap the check found.
• Never tick an iteration as progress when the diff touched the same hunk with no new assertion; instead tick it empty.
• Never run the retried check on the live archive of another session; instead name the session on every verb.

Acceptance

• Every loop on the record has a declaration, at least one tick, and a close.
• No loop closed as finished cites nothing.

If an assertion cannot be proved, report the unmet assertion and the next safe action rather than the outcome it was meant to prove.