ralph-skill_skill

Overview

This skill automates PRD-driven development using the RALPH BUILD LOOP and Claude Code. It creates structured PRDs, manages prioritized tasks, runs tests, and performs git commits so a project can be developed automatically and audibly tracked. Use it to bootstrap new projects and keep development aligned with acceptance criteria and security-first defaults.

How this skill works

Ralph initializes a PRD.json and project baseline (.gitignore, .env.example, ralph.config.json) then starts Claude Code with the PRD to execute an automated 8-step build loop. It reads project files, implements tasks per acceptance criteria, runs tests, commits changes with task IDs, updates task status in the PRD, and repeats until completion. A background monitor reports session status, file changes, recent activity, and alerts if the session stops unexpectedly.

When to use it

• Starting a new project and you want structured, PRD-driven automation.
• Bootstrapping a repository with security-first defaults (.gitignore, .env.example).
• Delegating iterative implementation, testing, and committing to Claude Code.
• Tracking task progress and dependencies automatically during development.
• Running language-specific test suites after each implemented task.

Best practices

• Edit the generated PRD.json to reflect your exact acceptance criteria before running a build.
• Keep sensitive operations guarded; allow Ralph to manage safe approvals but review prompts when unsure.
• Use --auto-commit for reproducible history and clear task-based commit messages.
• Start with the default security section and confirm .env.example and .gitignore are correct.
• Configure test_command in ralph.config.json for non-standard test setups.

Example use cases

• Initialize a Python API project: ralph init --name "Todo API" --language python then ralph build --auto-commit.
• Monitor a long-running Claude Code session: ralph monitor --session <session_id> --dir <project_dir> --interval 60.
• Create CI/CD and GitHub integration during setup: ralph init --name "Project" --github.
• Resume work from a specific section after fixing tests: ralph build --section 04_test.
• Enforce task dependencies so database setup waits for core infra tasks to complete.