🐛 Bug Fix: Silent Exit Issue
- Ralph was silently exiting when PROMPT.md not found (no error shown)
- Added comprehensive error handling with helpful guidance
- Now clearly explains when directory is not a Ralph project
🎯 Enhanced User Experience:
- Detects partial Ralph projects vs completely wrong directories
- Provides specific actionable solutions:
1. ralph-setup my-project (create new)
2. ralph-import requirements.md (import existing)
3. Navigate to existing Ralph project
4. Create PROMPT.md manually
- Updated help text with "IMPORTANT" note about project directories
- Added example workflow in help documentation
🔧 Technical Improvements:
- Better error detection logic
- Informative messages instead of silent failures
- Maintains proper exit codes for scripting
- Clear guidance for different scenarios
This resolves the confusing behavior where ralph would start logging
but then silently exit without explanation when run outside a Ralph project.
🚀 New Feature: ralph-import
- Converts existing PRDs/specs to Ralph format using Claude Code intelligence
- Supports multiple formats: Markdown, text, JSON, Word docs, PDFs
- Creates complete Ralph project with PROMPT.md, @fix_plan.md, specs/
- Leverages Claude Code for intelligent requirement parsing and conversion
🔧 Implementation:
- ralph_import.sh: Core conversion script with Claude Code integration
- Global installation: ralph-import command available system-wide
- Smart conversion prompt that extracts goals, priorities, and technical specs
- Auto-generates proper Ralph project structure from any source format
📚 Enhanced Documentation:
- New "Importing Existing Requirements" section in README
- Option A (import PRD) vs Option B (manual setup) in Quick Start
- Comprehensive format support and usage examples
- Command reference updated with ralph-import
🎯 Benefits:
- Eliminates manual conversion from PRDs to Ralph format
- Leverages Claude Code's intelligence for requirement interpretation
- Dramatically reduces onboarding friction for existing projects
- Maintains all original requirement context while making it actionable
Sample PRD included for testing and demonstration purposes.
- Add clear distinction between one-time installation and per-project setup
- Include visual workflow diagram showing install once → use many times
- Separate Phase 1 (Install Ralph) and Phase 2 (Initialize Projects)
- Add dedicated "Ongoing Usage" section for daily workflow
- Include comprehensive Command Reference section
- Reorganize Quick Start for better user understanding
- Emphasize "Install once, use everywhere" concept
This addresses confusion about when to run installation commands vs
when to run project setup commands, making the user journey much clearer.
Major architectural change to make Ralph available as global commands:
🌟 New Global Installation System:
- Add install.sh script for global installation to ~/.local/bin
- Creates ralph, ralph-monitor, ralph-setup global commands
- Installs templates and scripts to ~/.ralph/ directory
- Automatic dependency checking and PATH configuration
🚀 Enhanced User Experience:
- ralph-setup my-project (run from anywhere, no directory constraints)
- ralph --monitor (start from any project directory)
- ralph-monitor (global monitoring command)
- No more ../ralph_loop.sh relative path requirements
🔧 Improved Architecture:
- Global template system in ~/.ralph/templates/
- Smart path detection (global commands vs local scripts)
- Maintains backward compatibility during transition
- Clean separation of installation vs project files
📚 Updated Documentation:
- All examples now use global commands (ralph vs ../ralph_loop.sh)
- Clear installation instructions with ./install.sh
- Global command reference in CLAUDE.md
- Streamlined Quick Start workflow
This makes Ralph much more professional and user-friendly by eliminating
directory structure requirements and providing standard Unix command experience.
- Add --monitor flag to ralph_loop.sh for integrated tmux monitoring
- Automatically creates split-pane session with Ralph loop and monitor
- Include tmux availability check with installation instructions
- Update documentation to recommend tmux workflow
- Add tmux session management commands and controls
- Preserve all existing functionality for users without tmux
New workflow:
../ralph_loop.sh --monitor # Creates split session automatically
Traditional workflow still supported:
../ralph_loop.sh # Terminal 1
../ralph_monitor.sh # Terminal 2
System requirements updated to include tmux (recommended).
- Add .gitkeep files to ensure all essential directories are tracked by git
- Update .gitignore to allow .gitkeep files in logs/ and docs/generated/
- Preserve directory structure for Ralph project template system
- Directories added: src/, examples/, specs/stdlib/, templates/specs/,
logs/, docs/generated/
This ensures the complete Ralph project structure is available when
cloning the repository, even before any actual project files are created.
- Create professional README.md with complete feature overview, quick start guide,
configuration options, best practices, and troubleshooting
- Add CLAUDE.md for future Claude Code instances with architectural guidance,
key commands, and operational knowledge
- Transform minimal README into comprehensive project documentation
- Include visual hierarchy, code examples, and clear user journey
Documentation now covers the complete Ralph for Claude Code autonomous
development loop system for both end users and future AI agents.
- Fix nested EOF heredoc conflicts in update_status() and show_help() functions
- Use unique delimiters (STATUSEOF, HELPEOF) to avoid conflicts
- Complete Ralph for Claude Code implementation with all components:
- ralph_loop.sh: Main autonomous development loop with rate limiting
- ralph_monitor.sh: Live monitoring dashboard
- setup.sh: Project initialization script
- templates/: Template files for new projects
- .gitignore: Comprehensive ignore rules
All scripts are now executable and syntax-validated.
Features:
- Intelligent exit detection (knows when project is done)
- Test limiting (enforces 20% rule to prevent busy work)
- Rate limiting with graceful API usage management
- Live monitoring dashboard with real-time progress
- Auto-generated documentation every 10 iterations
- Specification-driven development approach
Based on Geoffrey Huntley's Ralph technique, adapted for Claude Code.
