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Coding Workflows

Ralph Loop

Keeps Claude working on the same task, round after round, until it's truly finished.

FreeOpen sourceBy Anthropic
View source

What is it?

Named after a well-known technique in the Claude Code community, this plugin stops Claude from finishing early. When Claude tries to end its turn, the plugin feeds the same task straight back in. Claude sees the files it already changed, picks up where it left off and keeps going until it writes the finishing phrase you chose.

It suits jobs with a clear finish line that a computer can check, like "all the tests pass". It's a poor fit for anything that needs your judgement along the way, such as design choices.

Always set --max-iterations. Without it the loop can run for a very long time and burn through your plan's usage on a task it can't finish.

Install in Claude Code

In Claude Code run /plugin install ralph-loop@claude-plugins-official. Start a loop with /ralph-loop "your task" --max-iterations 20 --completion-promise "DONE", and stop it any time with /cancel-ralph.

Try this prompt

Paste into Claude Code
/ralph-loop "Build the booking form in TASK.md. Run the tests after each change. When every test passes, reply with <promise>DONE</promise>." --completion-promise "DONE" --max-iterations 20

Who it's for

Confident Claude Code users with a well-defined job they want finished while they're away from the desk.

Best for

  • Getting tests to pass
  • Big jobs with a clear checklist
  • Work you can leave running
  • Building from a written spec

Why it made the list

It's Anthropic's packaged version of one of the most talked-about Claude Code tricks, with a proper off switch.

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