Ralph Loop

A Ralph Loop is autonomous iteration in an isolated git worktree. You hand a card to the Lab; Jorv Builder spins up a worktree, runs Orbit on it iteratively until a quality gate is met (or a maximum iteration count), and surfaces the result as a Review card on the Mission Board.

Why a worktree?

Three reasons:

1. You keep working. The loop touches files in a separate git worktree, not your main checkout. You can keep editing in Jorv Builder while the loop runs.
2. Isolation. A misfire in the loop can't damage your main working tree.
3. Auto-merge or auto-discard at the end. When the loop completes (or fails), it lands as a Review card; you and Orbit decide via Brainstorm whether to merge to main or discard.

When to use a Ralph Loop vs. Direct Build

See Lab vs Direct Build. Short version: pick Lab when the work is well-bounded and you don't want to babysit it; pick Direct Build when you want to watch and guide each step.

Iteration

Each iteration:

1. Runs Orbit against the loop's bound goal
2. Auto-commits dirty files to the loop branch
3. Runs the project's quality dimensions (tests, lints, type-checks)
4. Scores quality 0–100
5. Either continues (if quality < threshold and iter < max) or stops

You can watch progress live via the Mission Board card's inline chip.

Review

When the loop finishes, the card moves to Review. Open in Orbit and the brainstorm includes:

• The loop's branch ref + list of commits ahead of main
• A mandatory staleness signal (days since branch start, commits main has gained, whether protected docs changed)
• Quality history per iteration

You and Orbit discuss; merge or discard happen as Brainstorm side-effects via merge_loop_branch / discard_loop_branch tools.

Related

• Lab vs Direct Build
• Brainstorm-First
• Mission Board