# Build Iterated Agentic Loop

Use this skill when the user wants to turn a repeatable agent task into a repo-local skill plus a GitHub Actions workflow that runs a coding agent on a schedule, manually, or both.

The target shape is an iterated agentic loop: a focused skill defines the agent's judgement, a workflow invokes a coding agent with a repo-specific prompt, an agent-memory file carries standing feedback between runs, and each workflow labels its PRs so only one open PR exists per loop. The `narrow-react-prop-types` skill is the concrete reference pattern.

## Outputs

Create or update these files in the target repo:

- `.claude/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md` for the repo-local agent behavior.
- `.github/workflows/agent-<task-name>.yml` for the recurring coding-agent automation.
- `.github/agent-memory/<task-name>.md` for stable feedback and scope constraints.
- Optional references under `.claude/skills/<skill-name>/references/` when the skill needs templates, examples, or long supporting material.

## Workflow

### 1. Explore the target repo

Read before asking setup questions:

- Existing `.github/workflows/*.yml` and `.github/actions/**` to understand runner, checkout, dependency install, cache, and PR patterns.
- Package manager files such as `package.json`, `bun.lock`, `pnpm-lock.yaml`, `yarn.lock`, `package-lock.json`, `pyproject.toml`, `go.mod`, or `Cargo.toml`, or other package management-related files
- Existing validation scripts, especially typecheck, lint, test, quality, format, and package-scoped commands.
- Existing `.claude/skills` and `.agents/skills` to avoid duplicating conventions.

Completion criterion: you can name the repo's package manager, install command, likely validation commands, and existing workflow conventions.

### 2. Ask setup questions

Walk the user through these decisions. Recommend defaults from repo evidence instead of presenting a blank form.

1. **Coding Agent**: Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, or CodeLayer. Explain the required secret and headless command for the recommended choice. Use `references/agent-runner-templates.md`. CodeLayer is Humanlayer's ultra-lightweight agent harness.
2. **Cadence**: daily, weekly, weekdays, monthly, manual-only, or custom cron. Recommend a cadence based on task risk and review burden - most likely weekdays, daily, or weekly. 
3. **Task**: What task should the agent loop accomplish?
  - Are there existing skills for doing this? (you can do research before asking the user this)
  - Ask the user if you should look at recent PRs, git history, or other particular parts of the codebase for reference.
4. **Scope**: which directories/packages the loop may change and which it may only inspect
5. **Validation**: which commands must pass before the agent commits (You should propose this to the user based on your earlier research and ask them to confirm)
6. **PR bounding**: Ask if scheduled runs should no-op when open PRs from this agent already exist, and if so, how many open PRs to allow before blocking new runs.
  - **Recommended: Yes, bound to 1 open PR per agent loop.** This prevents the agent from creating unbounded work that piles up faster than humans can review. Without bounding, a daily agent could generate 5+ unreviewed PRs in a week, creating review fatigue and merge conflicts.
  - The workflow uses a label (e.g., `agent-<task-slug>`) to identify PRs from each agent loop. Scheduled runs check `gh pr list --label <label> --state open` and skip if the count meets or exceeds the bound.
  - Manual `workflow_dispatch` runs bypass the bound check, allowing forced runs when needed.
7. **PR metadata**: label name, PR title prefix, and branch prefix.
  - Suggest `[MM/DD][Agent: <Agent Name>]: <Concise Description>` as a template, e.g. `[6/23][Agent: Effect Migrator]: Migrate XYZ module`
8. **Response format**: How should the CI agent format its final response (which becomes the PR body)?
  - Show the user `references/response-template.md` for examples (fix/migration, generation, refactor).
  - Ask what information reviewers need: summary stats, risk levels, verification steps, file lists, etc.
  - Create a customized response template that the generated skill will reference in its `references/` directory
9. **Iteration behavior**: whether `/iterate` comments should update the existing PR.
  - If enabled, install `references/agent-iteration.ts` to the repo. Ask the user's preferred location: `.github/scripts/`, `ci-scripts/`, or `scripts/`.
  - The script has two modes: `footer` (adds the PR body marker) and `prompt` (builds the iteration prompt from PR context).
  - If disabled, remove the `issue_comment` trigger and iteration-only steps from the workflow.

Completion criterion: every placeholder in the workflow, prompt, and memory template has a chosen value or an explicit default.

### 3. Define the agent job

Extract the smallest repeatable job the agent should perform. Work through these three questions with the user:

**What are we 

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