open-claw-team/.openclaw/workspace/skills/autonomous-loops/SKILL.md

name, description

name	description
autonomous-loops	Autonomous loop patterns for AI agents — sequential pipelines, retry loops, DAG orchestration. Use when building self-correcting workflows or multi-step automation.

Autonomous Loop Patterns

Based on ECC autonomous-loops skill.

Pattern 1: Sequential Pipeline

Run steps A → B → C → D, each depending on the previous.

result = step_a(input)
result = step_b(result)
result = step_c(result)
output = step_d(result)

When to use: Linear data processing, ETL, content generation pipeline.

Key: Each step validates its output before passing to next.

Pattern 2: Retry with Self-Correction

Run task, check result, if fails → diagnose → fix → retry → max N times.

MAX_RETRIES = 3
for attempt in range(MAX_RETRIES):
    result = run_task()
    errors = validate(result)
    if not errors:
        break
    fix_errors(errors)  # Self-correct based on validation
else:
    raise Exception(f"Failed after {MAX_RETRIES} attempts")

When to use: Code generation with validation, test fixing, migration scripts.

Key: The fix step must be SPECIFIC — generic retries don't work.

Pattern 3: DAG Orchestration

Tasks with dependencies forming a Directed Acyclic Graph.

• Independent tasks run in parallel
• Dependent tasks wait for prerequisites

A ──→ B ───→ D
  ──→ C ──→

When to use: Multi-agent coordination, build pipelines, complex deployments.

Key: Detect cycles in dependency graph before execution.

Pattern 4: Observer Loop

Continuous monitoring with alert-on-change.

while running:
    state = observe()
    if state != expected:
        alert(state)
        adapt()
    sleep(check_interval)

When to use: CI monitoring, resource monitoring, system health.

Key: Avoid tight loops — add backoff, throttling.

Observer Reliability

• Memory explosion fix: Use tail sampling (keep last N observations)
• Throttling: Rate-limit checks to avoid token waste
• Lazy start: Begin observations only after setup complete
• Re-entrancy guard: Don't start loop if already running

Best Practices

1. Always have a MAX_RETRIES or timeout
2. Log every iteration for audit
3. Make errors SPECIFIC so fix step can act
4. Don't retry the same prompt — adapt it
5. For DAGs: validate no cycles before start
6. For observers: throttle, don't poll aggressively