pi-skills/.agents/skills/evolve/references/loop-mode.md

/evolve Loop Mode

--mode=loop flips /evolve from agent-self-regulated to operator-driven.

Invariants under --mode=loop

1. ao loop write-stop-marker exits 1 unconditionally
2. DORMANT/STOP/KILL markers are operator-only (operator writes by hand or via ao loop operator-stop)
3. Scope-filter (Step 3) splits too-big work into smaller beads via bd create --deps discovered-from:<parent>, never halts
4. Step 7 stop reasons are stripped of CONTEXT_BUDGET_EXHAUSTED; that becomes a non-sticky HANDOFF signal cleared by next cron-fire

CLI primitives that enforce

• /evolve --mode=loop — flag itself
• ao loop write-stop-marker — refuses under loop
• ao loop operator-stop — explicit operator override (separate code path)
• ao loop blocked (Wave 2) — typed blocked event instead of STOP

See: docs/plans/2026-05-21-evolve-loop-epic-design.md §A1 + §A7