---

name: circuit-breaker description: Detect stalled loops, log context, and halt gracefully

circuit-breaker

Trigger Conditions

Activate circuit breaker if ANY of these occur:

• 4+ iterations with no meaningful file changes
• Same error repeating 3+ times without resolution
• Build/test failures persisting after 3 fix attempts (from back-pressure)

When Triggered

1. Output the halt signal:

Copy<circuit_open>REPEATED_FAILURE</circuit_open>

2. Log to progress.txt:

Copy## [Date/Time] - CIRCUIT BREAKER TRIGGERED

Story: [Story ID] - [Story Title]
Reason: [Brief description of the failure pattern]
Last error: [The repeating error message]
Attempts: [Number of iterations attempted]
Files affected: [List of files being modified]

---

3. Update prd.json: Add "blocked": true and "blockReason": "..." to the story:

Copy{
  "id": 5,
  "passes": false,
  "blocked": true,
  "blockReason": "TypeScript error in auth.ts line 42 - requires manual investigation"
}

4. Stop immediately — do not attempt further fixes

Recovery (Manual)

When a human investigates:

1. Review the progress.txt entry for context
2. Check the thread URL from previous iterations
3. Fix the underlying issue
4. Remove blocked and blockReason from prd.json
5. Resume Ralph loop