dev-loop

Iterative development workflow skill for Hermes Agent — plan with the user, build, then loop ponytail-review + ponytail-audit until the code is clean, and only then ask for validation.

Pairs with the ponytail skills (lazy senior dev mode). Not affiliated with ponytail; this is a workflow wrapper around it.

The loop

Phase 1  Need → plan draft (ponytail ladder, YAGNI list, ceilings)
Phase 2  Refine with the user → plan approved only when the user says so
Phase 3  Build exactly the approved plan + ONE runnable check
Phase 4  ponytail-review on the diff → cuts applied immediately
Phase 5  ponytail-audit if 3+ files touched
Phase 6  Real findings → back to Phase 4 (max 3 rounds) → present → user validates

Hard gates

• No code before plan approval.
• No delivery before ponytail-review ran on the diff.
• Nothing a review round cut comes back unless the user asks.
• Accepted ponytail: debts are recorded in PONYTAIL-DEBT.md at the repo root.

Install (Hermes)

Copy the skill into your Hermes skills directory:

git clone https://github.com/CLVwp/dev-loop.git
mkdir -p "$LOCALAPPDATA/hermes/skills/software-development/dev-loop"
cp dev-loop/skills/dev-loop/SKILL.md "$LOCALAPPDATA/hermes/skills/software-development/dev-loop/SKILL.md"

Then reload skills (or restart the session).

Install (Claude Code)

Copy the same SKILL.md into ~/.claude/skills/dev-loop/SKILL.md — the format is compatible. Replace the ponytail-review / ponytail-audit skill loads with the ponytail plugin equivalents if you have the ponytail plugin installed.

License

MIT