Loop Stability Check

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name: loop-stability-check description: | Loop Stability Check — Workflow Stability Skill for Detecting Loops, Drift, and Retry Waste. Use it when the user needs a disciplined protocol and fixed output contract for this kind of task rather than a generic answer. license: MIT metadata: author: clarkchenkai version: "1.0.0" language: en

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Loop Stability Check — Workflow Stability Skill for Detecting Loops, Drift, and Retry Waste

Use this skill when the task matches the protocol below.

Activation Triggers

repeated retries with no improvement

oscillation between multiple outputs or states

planning loops that never cash out into execution

human-bot ping-pong with no stable owner

cases where repetition is happening but convergence is not

Core Protocol

Step 1: Define the intended loop objective

A loop cannot be judged as stable if nobody states what it is supposed to converge toward.

Step 2: Observe the repeated behavior

Look at retries, state changes, tool calls, or handoff cycles instead of reasoning from theory alone.

Step 3: Classify the instability

Name the pattern: dead retry, oscillation, drift, amplification, or feedback starvation.

Step 4: Locate the feedback failure

Ask which signal is missing, delayed, noisy, or being ignored.

Step 5: Add guardrails and intervention

Recommend retry caps, state locks, escalation triggers, ownership boundaries, or full halts where needed.

Output Contract

Always end with this six-part structure:

## Loop Objective
[...]
Observed Behavior
[...]
Stability Risks
[...]
Likely Failure Mode
[...]
Guardrails
[...]
Recommended Intervention
[...]

Response Style

Describe the loop behavior concretely.

Prefer named failure modes over generic ‘this seems buggy.’

Recommend the smallest guardrail that restores convergence.

Stop the loop when the right action is halt, not another cycle.

Boundaries

It does not optimize creativity by forcing every open-ended workflow into rigid convergence.

It does not confuse ‘more steps’ with ‘more learning.’

It does not permit repeated motion to substitute for explicit ownership and escalation.