Reference · Cheat sheet
One page. Print it. The eight steps, and the checks before you let one run unattended.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ 1. AUTOMATION fires on a cadence │
│ │ │
│ ▼ │
│ 2. SKILL reads CI, issues, commits │
│ │ │
│ ▼ │
│ 3. STATE file records the findings ◄──┐ │
│ │ │ │
│ ▼ │ │
│ 4. WORKTREE opens per finding │ │
│ │ │ │
│ ▼ │ │
│ 5a. SUB-AGENT drafts the fix │ │
│ 5b. SUB-AGENT (different) verifies it │ │
│ │ │ │
│ ▼ │ │
│ 6. CONNECTORS open PR, update ticket │ │
│ │ │ │
│ ▼ │ │
│ 7. Leftovers → YOUR triage inbox │ │
│ │ │ │
│ └───────────────────────────┘ │
│ 8. tomorrow resumes from state │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘
| Check | Why |
|---|---|
| State file exists and has a do not retry section | Stops the loop repeating a known bad path every morning |
| The verifier is a different agent, told it did not write the code | A model grades its own work too kindly |
| Every stopping condition is machine-checkable | "Tests pass and lint is clean", not "the code is good" |
| Connectors are read-only for the first week | Write access to production is not recoverable |
| Parallelism ≤ diffs you can honestly review per day | The orchestration tax. You are the ceiling |
| Skills carry the reason, not only the rule | A future agent will otherwise decide the rule is obsolete |
| Token spend measured after week one | Osmani's own opening caveat. Sub-agents multiply cost |
| You read the diffs | Comprehension debt has no other mitigation |
| Need | Reach for |
|---|---|
| Repeat a prompt on a cadence | /loop, cron, scheduled tasks |
| Run until a condition is true | /goal <verifiable condition> |
| Fire on an agent lifecycle event | hooks |
| Keep running after the laptop closes | GitHub Actions |
| Isolate parallel work | git worktree add, --worktree, isolation: worktree |
| Write project knowledge down | .claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md |
| Add a verifier | .claude/agents/<name>.md |
| Reach an external tool | MCP server / connector |
Source: Addy Osmani, Loop Engineering.