Autonomous spec-driven build system with a built-in trust layer. It does not call work done until it is verified (RARV-C closure loop, 8 quality gates, completion council, verified-completion evidence gate). Triggers on "Loki Mode". Takes a spec (PRD, GitHub issue, OpenAPI doc,
Installs just this skill. Get the whole plugin for auto-invocation.
⚡ How it fires
How this skill gets triggered: by you, by Claude, or both.
Fires itselfClaude auto-loads it when your prompt matches the work.
You can call itInvoke it directly when you want it.
Slash command/loki-mode
👁️ Context preview
The summary Claude sees to decide when to auto-load this skill.
Autonomous spec-driven build system with a built-in trust layer. It does not call work done until it is verified (RARV-C closure loop, 8 quality gates, completion council, verified-completion evidence gate). Triggers on "Loki Mode". Takes a spec (PRD, GitHub issue, OpenAPI doc,
---name: loki-mode
description: Autonomous spec-driven build system with a built-in trust layer. It does not call work done until it is verified (RARV-C closure loop, 8 quality gates, completion council, verified-completion evidence gate). Triggers on "Loki Mode". Takes a spec (PRD, GitHub issue, OpenAPI doc, etc.) to deployed product with minimal human intervention. Provider-agnostic. Requires --dangerously-skip-permissions flag.
---# Loki Mode v7.129.3
**You are an autonomous agent. You make decisions. You do not ask questions. You do not stop.**
**Spec in, verified product out.** Spec-driven: a "spec" is whatever describes the work -- a Markdown PRD, a GitHub issue, an OpenAPI doc, a Jira ticket (a PRD is one form of spec). The differentiator is the trust layer: Loki does not call work done until it is verified. The RARV-C closure loop, 8 quality gates, the completion council, and the verified-completion evidence gate must all clear before completion is accepted.
**Evidence Receipt (verify it yourself).** Every run writes a receipt to `.loki/proofs/<run_id>/` (opt out with `LOKI_PROOF=0`) that separates deterministic FACTS (git diff with base/head SHAs and a `diff_sha256`, the test command + exit code, the build command + exit code, each gate verdict) from AI ASSESSMENTS (the council verdict, labeled judgment not proof). The headline is computed only from the facts: VERIFIED (tests ran a real command and exited 0, diff non-empty, nothing skipped), VERIFIED WITH GAPS (each gap listed by name), or NOT VERIFIED (a check ran and failed). Inspect and re-check with `loki proof list|show <id>|verify <id>` (aliased `loki receipt`); `loki proof verify` re-hashes the receipt (tamper) and re-derives the diff from the recorded base SHA against the live repo (drift), exiting 0 clean / 1 tamper-or-drift. This is honesty-of-done, not a claim that the code is bug-free.
**Provider-agnostic (stable since v5.0.0):** runs on Claude/Codex/Cline/Aider with abstract model tiers and degraded mode for non-Claude providers; no vendor lock-in. Gemini deprecated v7.5.18. See `skills/providers.md`. **Current track (v7.7.x):** LSP grounding as first-class agent tool (v7.7.0-v7.7.9; lsp_get_diagnostics actually-returns-diagnostics regression fix v7.7.14), provider_source cli (v7.7.11-v7.7.12 bash/bun parity), Docker/bash-3.2 robustness (v7.7.13), audit chain cross-file verification fix (v7.7.15), Phase 1 RARV-C closure (real provider judges, gate-failure flock, synthetic PRD e2e, status `--json`).
**Runtime migration:** Bash-to-Bun migration. Read-only commands (`version`, `status`, `stats`, `doctor`, `provider show/list`, `memory list/index`) flow through Bun runtime via `bin/loki` since v7.3.0. Every other command remains on the Bash runtime (`autonomy/loki`). Rollback: `LOKI_LEGACY_BASH=1`. See `UPGRADING.md` and `docs/architecture/ADR-001-runtime-migration.md`.
---
## PRIORITY 1: Load Context (Every Turn)
Execute these steps IN ORDER at the start of EVERY turn:
**Parallelization rule (Claude only):** Launch up to 10 agents simultaneously for independent tasks.
**Degraded mode (Codex/Cline/Aider):** No parallel agents or Task tool. Codex has MCP support. Runs RARV cycle sequentially. See `skills/model-selection.md`.
**Git worktree parallelism:** For true parallel feature development, use `--parallel` flag with run.sh. See `skills/parallel-workflows.md`.
**Scale patterns (50+ agents, Claude only):** Use judge agents, recursive sub-planners, optimistic concurrency. See `references/cursor-learnings.md`.
| `.loki/signals/HUMAN_REVIEW_NEEDED` | Never | When human decision required |
| `.loki/state/checkpoints/` | After task completion | Automatic + manual via `loki checkpoint` |
One-command rollback (v7.5.2+): `loki rollback latest` or `loki rollback to <id>` restores `.loki/` state from a checkpoint. It first captures a forced pre-rollback snapshot of the current state and prints its id, so a rollback is itself undoable (`loki rollback to <that-id>`). Use `loki rollback list` to see checkpoints.
---
## Module Loading Protocol (Skills)
This protocol governs **skill module** loading -- task-scoped instruction files in `skills/`. It is distinct from the Memory System Progressive Disclosure (see below), which governs persistent **memory layers** in `.loki/memory/`.
5. When task category changes: Load new modules (old context discarded)
```
**Memory System Progressive Disclosure** is a separate 3-layer structure (`index.json` -> `timeline.json` -> `episodic/*.json`) for retrieving past episodes/patterns. See `skills/memory.md` and `references/memory-system.md`.
---
## Invocation
**Unified entry point (v6.84.0):** `loki start [SPEC|ISSUE-REF]` auto-detects whether the input is a PRD file, an issue URL, an issue number, or another spec format (e.g. OpenAPI). No need to pick between `loki start` and `loki run` -- the single command handles all cases.
```bash
# Standard mode (Claude - full features)
claude --dangerously-skip-permissions
# Then say: "Loki Mode" or "Loki Mode with spec at path/to/spec" (PRD .md/.json, OpenAPI .yaml, etc.)
# Unified `loki start` -- one command, auto-detected mode
loki start # no arg: analyze current dir, auto-generate spec
loki start ./prd.md # PRD mode (.md/.json/.txt/.yaml) -- a PRD is one form of spec
loki start ./openapi.yaml # SPEC mode (OpenAPI doc treated as the spec)
loki start owner/repo#123 # ISSUE mode (GitHub specific repo)
2. Add `LOKI_MANAGED_MEMORY_HYDRATE=true` after one-week soak.
3. Keep `LOKI_EXPERIMENTAL_*` off until multiagent graduates from
research preview.
**NOT TESTED against live Anthropic API.** Automated CI uses
`memory/managed_memory/fakes.py`. Beta header pinned to
`managed-agents-2026-04-01`. If the SDK shape differs, calls raise
`AttributeError`/`TypeError` which are caught and translated to
`ManagedUnavailable` -> fallback to local path.
See `skills/memory.md` for the full integration guide.
---
## Phase 1 RARV-C Closure (v7.5.x)
The current track wires real evidence into RARV-C feedback. Documented here and in `loki internal --help`:
| Env Var | Effect |
|---------|--------|
| `LOKI_INJECT_FINDINGS=true` | Injects council findings + gate failures into the next REASON prompt |
| `LOKI_OVERRIDE_COUNCIL=true` | Promotes real provider judges over fakes when available |
| `LOKI_AUTO_LEARNINGS=true` | Auto-extracts learnings into semantic memory after VERIFY |
| `LOKI_HANDOFF_MD=true` | Emits a `handoff.md` continuity doc at session boundaries |
See `references/core-workflow.md` for the full RARV-C contract.
---
## Trust-layer additions (v7.28.0)
Two completion-trust features extend the verification gates. Full details in `skills/quality-gates.md`.
- **Held-out spec evals:** ~25% of checklist items (deterministic `sha256(id)` order, `N >= 4`) are reserved into `.loki/checklist/held-out.json` and excluded from the build prompt feed; the completion council blocks if a held-out item fails. Opt out with `LOKI_HELDOUT_GATE=0`. Honest limit: this guards the prompt feed, not a sandbox; the reservation file is on disk and an agent with filesystem access can read it.
- **Inconclusive-baseline disclosure:** when the evidence gate cannot establish a diff baseline (`no_git_repo` / `no_run_start_sha`) it writes `.loki/state/evidence-inconclusive.json` and `COMPLETION.txt` carries an honest "not independently verified" line. It never blocks non-git projects; red tests still block.
## First-run UX (v7.29.0)
- **`loki quickstart`:** guided 4-step first build (setup check, one-line idea, offline template match, plan review with real estimator figures); Enter-through-everything builds the sample Todo app; non-TTY/CI exits 2 with an automation hint.
- **Provider install offer:** when no provider CLI is found, doctor and the start/demo/quick/quickstart pre-flight offer to install Claude Code. Consent-gated on an interactive TTY only; the single command executed is printed first; auth handoff via `claude auth login` with readiness confirmed by `claude auth status`. Opt out: `LOKI_NO_INSTALL_OFFER=1`.
- **`loki demo` cost confirm:** the estimate always prints before spending; `--yes` skips the prompt, never the estimate. `LOKI_COMPLEXITY` is honored by `loki plan` with an honest forced-tier note.
---
## Concurrency and Security Hardening (v7.5.7 - v7.5.13)
Three back-to-back patches closed cross-process and security gaps. No user-facing behavior change on the default flow; verify via the cited paths.
- **Cross-process file locks** on append-or-rewrite state, so parallel runs / dashboard / MCP do not corrupt shared files: gate counter (`autonomy/run.sh` gate-counter writes), task queues (`autonomy/run.sh` queue read-modify-write), checkpoint index (`autonomy/run.sh` checkpoint index updates), `events.jsonl` append (event emission paths in `events/emit.sh` and `autonomy/run.sh`), human intervention signal files (`autonomy/run.sh:check_human_intervention()` at line ~8059 / 7897 per state-machine doc).
- **MCP path validation** -- file/path arguments to `mcp/server.py` tools are normalized and rejected if they escape the project root (path-traversal fix from v7.5.8).
- **Dashboard auth** now required on `/api/memory/*`, `/api/learning/*`, and `/api/status` in `dashboard/server.py` (previously unauthenticated read paths).
- **Bash quoting hardening** across `autonomy/run.sh` and `autonomy/loki` -- variable expansions inside command substitution and `[ ]` tests quoted to prevent word-splitting on paths with spaces.
See `CHANGELOG.md` entries [7.5.7], [7.5.8], [7.5.13] for the per-fix list and reviewer sign-off.
---
## Implemented Features
| Feature | Added | Notes |
|---------|-------|-------|
| Multi-provider support (4 providers) | v5.0.0 | claude, codex, cline, aider -- see `providers/` |
| CONTINUITY.md working memory | v5.35.0 | Auto-managed by run.sh, updated each iteration |
| Quality gates 3-reviewer system | v5.35.0 | 5 specialist reviewers in `skills/quality-gates.md`; execution in run.sh |
| Memory System (episodic/semantic/procedural) | v5.15.0 | Full implementation in `memory/` |
