01 / The closed loop
Endless Dev Kit
Loop engineered. Wax sealed. Human approved.
- AI can write the fix. That part's solved.
- The real question: is it real — or is the AI grading its own homework?
- Proof you can read. Proof the AI can't fake.
loop engineeringthe closed loop
The closed loop / endless by design
EDK
Human gateEvery lap ends at a human door
Scroll to follow the work ↓
02 / The Workbench
The Workbench
Nothing starts until you're clear to work.
- Green light first — identity, repo, tracker, tools, all live.
- Shape the work: file a bug, pull one in, or flesh out a hunch.
- Checked against the real code until the plan holds.
- Leaves as a Fix Plan (something broke) or Build Plan (something new).
- Built for Linear. Jira, Shortcut, GitHub connect too.
preflight · intake · plan · confirmbuilt for Linear
Front of the shop / shape work until it's ready
WorkbenchFix Plan or Build Plan
Green light
Shape
Confirm
Ready plan
03 / The Mailman
The Mailman
Ready work gets packaged — not approved.
- The brain between planning and building.
- Reads the board. Takes only what's ready.
- Bundles related work into one clean package.
- He packages — he does not seal. (Remember that word.)
- Drops it in the mailbox and moves on.
composepackaging
Intelligence layer / bundle ready issues
Ready
Ready
Ready
MailmanPackages — does not seal
PackageWork-in-progress batch
Unsealed
04 / The Mailbox
The Mailbox
Packages wait to be picked up.
- A queue, on purpose — nothing pushes itself at your code.
- Work waits a minute or a week. Never expires, never drifts.
- Your reviewers set the pace — not the AI's speed.
ready queue
Ready queue / nothing pushes itself
MailboxWaits a minute or a week
05 / The Mayor
The Mayor
The AI never gets ahead of the human.
- Checks the mailbox on a pulse — or the second you say "now."
- Opens several lanes at once, each its own crew of agents.
- Lanes are capped to what you can actually review and merge.
- Three lanes, three reviewers. One finishes, the next moves up.
orchestrateWIP cap
Control plane / lanes capped to human review
Mailbox
MayorPulse · or check now
Lane 1
Lane 2
Lane 3
Lane 4
Cap: 3 · held
06 / The Floor
The Floor
Here's the question every engineer asks.
- The shop floor — where the code actually gets written.
- Safe work runs in fast batches. Risky work gets watched.
- You approved the scope. That's all you signed.
- So what stops the AI from editing the test till it passes?
- If it writes the fix and owns the scoreboard, "all green" means nothing.
work-batchwork-issue
The floor / who's checking the checker?
Route by riskCapacity · coupling · risk
Work BatchRoutine · many safe units
Unit
Work IssueCoupled · supervised
test ?
test ?
07 / The Wax Seal
The Wax Seal
We don't ask the AI not to cheat. We make cheating impossible.
- Before any fix, we write a test that fails — proof the bug's real.
- Then we press a wax seal on that test: a frozen fingerprint.
- Fix comes back green? We check the seal.
- Seal intact → the only way to green was the real fix.
- Seal broken → the test was tampered with. Fix tossed. No override.
pinned failing testfrozen fingerprint
The seal / proof the AI can't fake
Failing testProves the bug is real
a3f1…9c
Fingerprint
Accepted — greenSeal intact · the only green is a real fix
RejectedSeal broken · thrown out
08 / The Evidence
The Evidence
One proof record per branch — then a second opinion you can't buy.
- Every branch builds one evidence bundle before a PR can open.
- Red on old code → green with the fix → seal intact → suite passes → lint, build clean.
- Anything short of all-green — no PR opens.
- A fresh AI on a different model reads the change and the proof.
- It can block. It can't merge, and it can't touch a line.
evidence bundleindependent review gate
Evidence / one proof record per branch
Deterministic checks
Evidence bundle
Independent reviewDifferent model · can block, can't merge
Pull requestOpens only when all-green
09 / The Human Decision
The Human Decision
There is no merge button for the machine.
- Confirmed, fixed, proven, reviewed — and still can't ship.
- The engine can't merge. Not a setting — it was never built in.
- A person reads the proof and makes one merge call, per PR.
human merge
The last door / authority never transfers
PR 01
PR 02
Human decisionApprove or hold — one PR at a time
Merge to staging
10 / Refine & Learn
Refine & Learn
The loop improves the product — and itself.
- Visual-only tweaks ship on their own — same proof, same human merge.
- A short retro looks back — honest about the run.
- Real, repeatable failures route through skill-forge to sharpen the engine.
- Then it starts again. Endless, by design.
polishretroskill-forge
Every lap / improve the product and the system
Staging
PolishVisual-only · its own PR + human merge
RetroLook back honestly
Skill ForgeSharpen the engine itself