Starter kits

template — the canonical loop kit (clone-and-fill)

This is the skeleton every loop in the library is stamped from. Copy the folder, fill the <ANGLE-BRACKET> placeholders, clear the seven-item minimum,…

This is the skeleton every loop in the library is stamped from. Copy the folder, fill the <ANGLE-BRACKET> placeholders, clear the seven-item minimum, and run it at L1. Nothing here is magic — it's the design checklist, pre-poured into files.

What's in the kit

File	Role	Fill it using
`LOOP.md`	the loop's definition — six parts, prompt, limits, ownership, three stops	the A–F method
`loop-state.md.example`	the spine — what the loop remembers between beats	rename to `<loop-name>-state.md`, commit before beat 1
`loop-budget.md`	caps: max runs/day, max tokens/day, the 80% tripwire	cost management
`loop-constraints.md`	the loop's constitution — what it may never do	safety
`loop-run-log.md`	the append-only flight recorder — one line per beat	observability
`.claude/skills/loop-task/SKILL.md`	the procedure (Claude Code)	Step 9 · Skills
`.claude/agents/loop-verifier.md`	the read-only checker (Claude Code)	Step 11 · Maker–Checker
`opencode.json.example` · `skills/loop-task.md`	the OpenCode variant of the same two artifacts	the same two steps

Codex and Grok kits follow the identical shape — a rules file, a skill, a read-only verifier, and a scheduler — and are a documented porting step, not a redesign.

Scaffold a loop in six moves

1. npx @loop-engineering/loop-kit new <loop-name>       # kits only — the course stays put
2. read the spine it named for you: <loop-name>-state.md
3. fill every <ANGLE-BRACKET> in LOOP.md                # the six parts + three stops
4. write the procedure into the SKILL.md                # intent in the prompt, steps in the skill
5. commit the spine BEFORE the first beat               # uncommitted state is pre-lost
6. run at L1, watched, for one real cycle               # prove before overnight

Move 1 needs Node 18+ and nothing else — no clone, no global install. Contributors working inside this repo copy the folder in place instead: cp -r starters/_template starters/<loop-name>.

The full walkthrough — with a worked example and the cross-tool plumbing — is Scaffold a Loop from the Template.

The seven-item minimum (clear this before beat 1)

Provable success condition
Run limit
Spine written first, committed
Report-only (L1) start
Human gate placed
One log line per beat
Kill switch tested

Attribution: the kit shape is adapted from the cobusgreyling/loop-engineering reference repo (S7, MIT) and the loop anatomy of Panaversity's Loop Engineering: A Crash Course (S1). Full attribution: resources/sources.md.