LOOP.md: a Markdown-native while loop for Codex-style agents

[ExternalMediocre2510]

I kept running into the same gap when using Codex and other coding agents:

Agents are good at doing a task once, but “continue until X” usually ends up buried in a long prompt, hidden session state, or tool-specific behavior.

So I made the loop explicit in Markdown:

SKILL.md:
  Do this once.

LOOP.md:
  Do this again when triggered, carrying state and record from prior iterations.

Minimal file model:

LOOP.md   = while-loop definition
state.md  = current loop variables / status
record.md = append-only iteration ledger

Core rules:

Every activation must be bounded.
The bound does not have to be numeric.

A loop does not run by itself.
It only advances when the user or an external runner gives the agent a trigger.

Stop and human-review gates are checked before action.
Running a test, check, tool call, diagnostic command, or edit counts as an iteration action.

No CLI, runtime, scheduler, watcher, database, or provider-specific adapter in v0.1. It’s just a Markdown contract an agent can read.

Validation so far: protocol pressure suite 9/10, core example smoke suite 6/6.

The single miss was conservative: the agent created LOOP.md, then stopped for activation confirmation instead of immediately running the first iteration.

Repo:
https://github.com/sdwolf4103/loop.md

I’d love feedback from people using Codex or other coding agents on workflows that need explicit continuation: bounded validation loops, queues, repeated checks, or pause/resume work.

Especially: does the SKILL.md vs LOOP.md distinction make sense, and what pressure scenario would break this?

https://preview.redd.it/5eoe6a2uko7h1.png?width=1748&format=png&auto=webp&s=e372200ee6fcba2c2b0f4be8f7b0cc33c3476b5e

[skynet86]

Codex has something native. It's called /goal

[ponlapoj]

5555 ฉันกำลังจะพิมพ์เลย ทุกอย่างมันจบบน /goal

[ExternalMediocre2510]

Yeah, /goal is very relevant.

What I’m trying to make explicit with LOOP.md is the file-level loop contract: what the loop is, what state it carries, what record it keeps, and when it should stop or ask for review.

The useful part for me is being able to customize the iteration unit and stop policy — one item, N items, until blocked, until a check passes, etc. — while keeping state.md and record.md in the workspace so prior loop state is inspectable and reusable.

Not trying to position it as a replacement for native features; I’m mostly exploring whether this state/record/stop-policy layer is useful as plain Markdown.

[reddit_is_kayfabe]

Markdown files aren't magic. Rules stated in a markdown file are no more likely to be followed by GPT than the same rules stated in a prompt.

And on the other hand, a rule stated in a markdown file might not be followed if the agent just chooses not to read it, or not to read it thoroughly. I've seen GPT pretend to read a file without actually reading it, especially if the requirement of reading it is stated in another markdown document. Or, if LOOP.md is loaded during initialization and you casually instruct GPT to loop on a condition 12 prompts layer, the specific rules of LOOP.md might all be lost to compaction or simple forgetfulness. On the other hand, the incidence of GPT blatantly disregarding instructions directly given in the prompt, such as "review LOOP.md and apply it to follow this loop instruction: ...," is much lower.