loop

---
name: loop
description: Use when the user runs /ar:loop or asks to run an autoresearch experiment continuously on a schedule, with a user-selected interval: 10min, 1h, daily, weekly, or monthly.
category: Engineering
version: 1.0.0
tools: []
---

# /ar:loop — Autonomous Experiment Loop

Start a recurring experiment loop that runs at a user-selected interval.

## Usage

- `/ar:loop <experiment>` — start a loop (prompts for interval)
- `/ar:loop <experiment> 10m` — every 10 minutes
- `/ar:loop <experiment> 1h` — every hour
- `/ar:loop <experiment> daily` — daily at ~9am
- `/ar:loop <experiment> weekly` — weekly on Monday ~9am
- `/ar:loop <experiment> monthly` — monthly on the 1st ~9am
- `/ar:loop stop <experiment>` — stop an active loop

## What It Does

### Step 1: Resolve experiment

If no experiment is specified, list the available experiments and let the user pick.

### Step 2: Select interval

If the interval isn't provided, present the options and map to a schedule:

| Interval | Cron Expression | Shorthand |
|----------|----------------|-----------|
| 10 minutes | `*/10 * * * *` | `10m` |
| 1 hour | `7 * * * *` | `1h` |
| Daily | `57 8 * * *` | `daily` |
| Weekly | `57 8 * * 1` | `weekly` |
| Monthly | `57 8 1 * *` | `monthly` |

### Step 3: Create the recurring job

Schedule a job that, on each run, does exactly ONE iteration:

- Review the experiment's results history: what worked, what failed, what hasn't been tried
- Make ONE change to the target based on a strategy escalation tied to the run count
- Record the change with a clear description
- Evaluate the change against the experiment's metric and direction
- Read the outcome (KEEP/DISCARD/CRASH)

Rules for each iteration:

- Only ONE change per experiment run
- NEVER modify the evaluator itself
- If 5 consecutive crashes appear in the results history, stop the loop and alert
- After every 10 experiments, update the strategy summary with what's been learned

### Step 4: Track loop metadata

Record the schedule ID, interval, start time, and experiment name so the loop can be checked or stopped later.

### Step 5: Confirm to the user

Report the interval, that recurring jobs auto-expire after 3 days, and how to check progress or stop the loop.

## Stopping a Loop

When asked to stop a loop: cancel the recurring job, clear its metadata, and confirm how many experiments completed.

## Important Limitations

- **3-day auto-expiry**: recurring jobs expire after 3 days. For longer experiments, restart the loop — results persist and the new loop picks up where the old one left off.
- **One loop per experiment**: don't start multiple loops for the same experiment.
- **Concurrent experiments**: multiple experiments can loop simultaneously only if they're isolated from each other (e.g., on separate branches), which they are by default.