Setup Ralph

What it does

Example prompts

• “/setup-ralph”

Requirements

• A Bash shell

Workflow steps

3 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

1. 1Planning Phase: Gap analysis (specs vs code) outputs prioritized TODO list—no implementation, no commits
2. 2Building Phase: Picks tasks from plan, implements, runs tests (backpressure), commits
3. 3Observation Phase: You sit on the loop, not in it—engineer the setup and environment that allows Ralph to succeed

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 1757615. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

• Tool permissions

  Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

  From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

• Runs code

  Ships script files (Shell), which the agent can run.

  Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

  • claude

  From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

• Network

  No URLs in SKILL.md.

  From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

• Credentials

  Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

  From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Setup Ralph loads about 1.1k tokens when it runs, and up to ~12k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 41 tokens; SKILL.md has 502 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~41

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~1.1k

With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them

~12k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from glittercowboy/taches-cc-resources at commit 1757615, republished under its MIT licence (© glittercowboy). 502 words, ~1,100 tokens.

name

setup-ralph

description

Set up and configure Geoffrey Huntley's original Ralph Wiggum autonomous coding loop in any directory with proper structure, prompts, and backpressure.

while :; do cat PROMPT.md | claude ; done

<intake>
What would you like to do?

<routing>
| Response | Workflow |
|----------|----------|
| 1, "set up", "setup", "new", "initialize", "create" | `workflows/setup-new-loop.md` |
| 2, "understand", "learn", "concepts", "explain", "how" | `workflows/understand-ralph.md` |
| 3, "customize", "modify", "change", "update", "edit" | `workflows/customize-loop.md` |
| 4, "troubleshoot", "debug", "fix", "problem", "issue" | `workflows/troubleshoot-loop.md` |
| Other | Clarify intent, then select appropriate workflow |

© glittercowboy, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 15 other files (references) in skills/setup-ralph of glittercowboy/taches-cc-resources.

• SKILL.md
• README.md
• references/operational-learnings.md
• references/project-structure.md
• references/prompt-design.md
• references/ralph-fundamentals.md
• references/validation-strategy.md
• templates/Dockerfile
• templates/PROMPT_build.md
• templates/PROMPT_plan.md
• templates/loop-docker.sh
• templates/loop.sh
• workflows/customize-loop.md
• workflows/setup-new-loop.md
• workflows/troubleshoot-loop.md
• workflows/understand-ralph.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 1757615