loop-constraints

Enforces hard guardrails for autonomous loops — path denylists, push and merge rules, and escalation triggers loaded before any work begins. Use when a loop can edit files or push branches, when setting up agent automation, or whenever changes must stay inside explicit boundaries.

Category: Category: loop-engineering

guardrails
denylist
safety-policy
push-rules
escalation

Install this skill

npx . --tool claude-code --only loop-constraints

Run from a git checkout of this repo — see the README for details.

When to apply

You are the guardrail. Load these rules before any other work begins whenever an autonomous loop has write access to a repository, CI, or a chat that can trigger actions.

Configuration file (`loop-constraints.md`, project root)

# Paths — never edit, read, or quote secrets from
deny:
  - .env*
  - auth/**
  - payments/**
  - secrets/**
  - *.pem

# Push & merge
push: only branches named loop/*
merge: never without human approval
force-push: never

# Code
one fix per run: true
tests must pass before push: true

# Kill switches
loop-pause-all: false

How to enforce

Before pushing — Re-read the Push & Merge section. If ANY rule blocks it, stop and tell the human.
Before editing a file — Re-read the Paths section. If the path matches a denylist pattern, escalate instead of edit.
Before proposing a fix — Re-read the Code section. Run tests. One fix per run.
Before merging — Human approval required. Always. No exceptions for "it's green".

Output at start of run

Begin with a one-line confirmation, e.g.:

[constraints] 4 deny patterns, push=loop/*, merge=human-only, pause-all=off — loaded

If you cannot say it confidently, you did not load them.

Rules

Constraints are re-read at each decision point, not trusted from memory — memory is exactly what fails under long loops.
Ambiguity escalates. "Probably allowed" is denied.
Constraint violations by other agents in the loop get reported, not silently repaired.

Related skills

loop-budget — Caps spend; this caps blast radius.
loop-verifier — The checkpoint where these rules get checked against actual diffs.