SYSTEM ERROR'S THE LOOP

August 17, 2026 · View on GitHub

An autonomous agentic skill pack for Codex, Claude Code, Kimi Code, OpenCode and DeepSeek Harness.

Created and maintained by Moses Mawila through System Error Worldwide.

THE LOOP gives an agent a complete path from a rough objective to tested work and a clean handoff. It installs 31 portable skills, detects qualified specialists already available in the host harness, and keeps a bundled System Error fallback for every capability in the pack.

What ships in v0.1

All 31 portable SKILL.md packages.
Attended, Auto, Parallel, Cloud and Endless operating modes.
Setup, Doctor, Watch, Control, Autonomy, skill planning and skill creation.
Strategize, Spec-pack, Build, Test and Resolve lifecycle stages.
Health-check, Audit and Portfolio Review feeders.
Grounding, quality, memory, handoff and Close utilities.
Five thin harness adapters that preserve the host's permission decisions.
An offline toolkit with the protocols, schemas and Python runtime used by the pack.
Synthetic code and non-code examples plus a deterministic five-harness contract suite.

The exact package list and provenance class for every skill are recorded in the v0.1 shipping manifest.

How it works

The attended lifecycle is:

Strategize -> Spec-pack -> Build -> Test <-> Resolve -> Close

THE LOOP routes each stage by capability and recorded evidence. If a compatible, verified specialist is installed, the harness can use it. Otherwise the bundled fallback executes the same stage contract. Code and non-code work use the same issue, evidence, authority and close rules.

The modes change how work is supervised:

Mode	Use it for
`the-loop`	One attended lifecycle with visible stage gates.
`the-loop-auto`	One declared asset driven to green or to a configured gate.
`the-loop-parallel`	Independent lanes with explicit ownership and one integration join.
`the-loop-cloud`	Planning, drafting and handoff in a restricted or remote environment.
`the-loop-endless`	Repeated bounded Auto missions selected from an approved queue.

Endless never invents work when its queue is empty. Auto and Endless do not weaken approval, budget, lease, evidence or kill-switch requirements.

Quickstart

Prerequisites: Python 3.9 or newer and at least one supported harness executable.

git clone https://github.com/System-Error-Worldwide/the-loop.git
cd the-loop
mkdir -p /path/to/project

# 1. Inspect the installation plan. This does not write to the target.
python3 scripts/the_loop_setup.py \
  --target-root /path/to/project \
  --harness codex \
  --json

# 2. Apply the plan and write a private installation receipt.
python3 scripts/the_loop_setup.py \
  --target-root /path/to/project \
  --harness codex \
  --apply \
  --actor local-user \
  --source-version 0.1.0 \
  --json

# 3. Verify the installed pack from its offline toolkit.
python3 /path/to/project/.the-loop/toolkit/scripts/the_loop_doctor.py \
  --project-root /path/to/project \
  --json

Choose codex, claude_code, kimi_code, opencode or deepseek_harness for --harness. Setup refuses a different file already present at a destination unless that exact destination is approved with --approve-destination. It does not collect prompts or send telemetry.

The applied installation contains the skills and a namespaced offline toolkit at .the-loop/toolkit. The project does not need the source checkout or a network connection for core operation after installation.

Invoke THE LOOP

Harness	Explicit invocation
Codex	Select or mention `$the-loop`
Claude Code	Run `/the-loop`
Kimi Code	Run `/skill:the-loop`
OpenCode	Ask the agent to load `skill(the-loop)`
DeepSeek Harness	Run `/the-loop`

Start with the attended mode. Move to Auto after defining the asset, done gate, budgets, authority and kill switch.

Roll back an installation

python3 /path/to/project/.the-loop/toolkit/scripts/the_loop_setup.py \
  --rollback-receipt /path/to/project/.the-loop/installs/RECEIPT_ID.json \
  --target-root /path/to/project \
  --json

Rollback removes only unchanged files owned by that receipt. Modified files are kept and reported instead of being overwritten or deleted.

For a user-level install, use the same dry-run and apply sequence with --scope user --target-root "$HOME". Setup chooses one documented skill root for the selected harness and avoids duplicate copies across its search paths.

Supported harnesses

The repository includes adapters for:

Codex
Claude Code
Kimi Code
OpenCode
DeepSeek Harness

Setup detection, installation layout, skill discovery and portable contract behavior are covered by the repository test and conformance suites for all five adapters. Provider authentication, model availability and the host's own runtime remain host concerns; THE LOOP never bypasses their denial or permission settings. Dated probe reports live under docs/release.

Safety model

Outward actions, strategic expansion and self-modification require approval by default.
Elevated authority names its actor, scope, confirmation time, expiry and reversal path.
Run ownership, leases, evidence, audit history and faithful failure reporting remain mandatory.
A kill switch can halt work without granting a replacement worker authority.
Repeated missions stay individually bounded by configured duration, token, action, attempt and cost gates.

These invariants apply at every autonomy level, including full autonomy.

Contract conformance

The deterministic conformance runner installs and diagnoses the complete pack in five synthetic harness projects and validates 12 locked scenarios per adapter:

mkdir -p /tmp/the-loop-contract-check
python3 scripts/run_conformance.py \
  --project-root /tmp/the-loop-contract-check

That is a 60-scenario portable contract check. It verifies installation, discovery, fallback structure, lifecycle artifacts and safety assertions without spending model tokens or changing harness configuration.

See the code example and non-code example.

Repository map

Development validation

python3 scripts/validate_repository.py
python3 scripts/validate_protocols.py
python3 -m unittest discover -s tests -p 'test_*.py'
python3 scripts/run_conformance.py --project-root /tmp/the-loop-contract-check

The repository validator scans public files, the Git index, reachable history, commit metadata and symlink targets for blocked private material and credential patterns.

Licence and security

System Error original and clean-room rewrite work in this repository is released under the MIT License. Provenance classes describe lineage, not different usage rights. Third-party dependencies remain under their own licences and are not copied into this repository without an approved record.

Report vulnerabilities through SECURITY.md. Do not publish credentials, private infrastructure details or exploit material in a public issue.