drn/loop

Loop

Run a prompt repeatedly at a fixed interval. The main thread stays alive by sleeping between executions, spawning a background agent each cycle to do the work.

Arguments

• $ARGUMENTS - interval and prompt, or a management command (list, cancel)

Syntax:

/loop <interval> <prompt or /skill>
/loop list
/loop cancel <id>
/loop cancel all

Examples:

/loop 5m check if CI is green on this PR
/loop 20m /review-pr 1234
/loop 2h check for new Sentry errors in the payments service
/loop 30s tail the deploy logs and report status
/loop list
/loop cancel 2

Context

• Current branch: !git branch --show-current 2>/dev/null | head -1
• Git status: !git status --short 2>/dev/null | head -10
• Working directory: !pwd

Instructions

Step 1: Parse the Arguments

Parse $ARGUMENTS to determine the action:

Management commands:

• list - Show all active loops with their ID, interval, prompt, and execution count. If no loops are active, say so.
• cancel <id> - Mark the specified loop as cancelled. On the next sleep cycle, the loop will detect the cancellation and stop.
• cancel all - Mark all loops as cancelled.

New loop:

• Extract the interval token (first argument matching the pattern below)
• Everything after the interval is the prompt to execute

Interval parsing:

• Ns or Nsec - N seconds (minimum 30 seconds, round up if less)
• Nm or Nmin - N minutes
• Nh or Nhr - N hours
• Nd - N days
• No interval specified - default to 10 minutes
• Convert to seconds for the sleep command

If the prompt is empty after parsing, ask the user what they want to run.

Step 2: Confirm and Initialize

Present the loop configuration:

## Loop configured

**Interval:** {human-readable interval}
**Prompt:** {the prompt to execute}
**Loop ID:** {sequential integer, starting at 1}

Starting now. First execution is immediate. Use /loop list to check status or /loop cancel {id} to stop.

Initialize tracking state:

loop_id = {next sequential ID}
interval_seconds = {parsed interval in seconds}
prompt = {the prompt to execute}
execution_count = 0
max_executions = 500
cancelled = false

Step 3: Execute the First Iteration Immediately

Spawn a background agent to execute the prompt:

Agent(
  prompt: "{prompt}\n\nThis is execution #{execution_count + 1} of a recurring loop (ID {loop_id}). Report your findings concisely.",
  run_in_background: true,
  description: "Loop {loop_id} run {execution_count + 1}"
)

Increment execution_count.

If the prompt starts with /, invoke it as a skill via the Skill tool inside the agent prompt instructions.

Step 4: Enter the Sleep Loop

This is the critical section that keeps the thread alive.

Loop:

1. Block the thread:

   Bash("sleep {interval_seconds}")
   

   This keeps the lead thread alive in Conductor.

2. Check cancellation: If the loop has been marked cancelled (via a /loop cancel command in another message, or by tracking state), output:

   Loop {loop_id} cancelled after {execution_count} executions.
   

   Stop looping and exit.

3. Check limits:

   • If execution_count >= max_executions, stop and report.
   • If the agent that ran the previous iteration reported a terminal condition (e.g., "CI is green", "deploy complete"), ask the user if they want to continue or stop.

4. Spawn the next execution as a background agent (same as Step 3).

5. Output a heartbeat every 3rd execution:

   Loop {loop_id}: execution #{execution_count} complete ({elapsed time} elapsed). Next in {interval}.
   

6. Increment and repeat.

Step 5: Completion

When the loop ends (cancelled, max reached, or terminal condition), output:

## Loop {loop_id} finished

**Executions:** {count}
**Duration:** {total elapsed time}
**Reason:** {cancelled | max executions reached | terminal condition}
**Last result:** {brief summary of last execution output}

Failure Handling

| Failure | Action | |---------|--------| | Background agent fails to spawn | Retry once. If still fails, report error and continue to next iteration. | | Prompt execution errors | Log the error in heartbeat output. Continue looping -- transient errors are expected for monitoring tasks. | | Sleep interrupted | Re-enter the sleep for remaining time. | | User sends a new message | The loop may pause. Resume on next turn. Note: in Conductor, user messages may interrupt the sleep loop. The loop resumes when control returns. |

Design Notes

This skill uses the same blocking-sleep pattern as /swarm to keep the main thread alive in Conductor. Unlike the built-in /loop (which uses CronCreate/CronDelete), this version:

• Dies when the workspace session ends (session-scoped)
• Runs the prompt via background agents so the lead can continue monitoring
• Tracks state in-memory rather than via cron infrastructure
• Works in any environment that supports the Agent and Bash tools