### Preflight Checklist - [x] I have searched [existing issues](https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues?q=is%3Aissue%20state%3Aopen%20label%3Abug) and this hasn't been reported yet - [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs) - [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code ### What's Wrong? The ralph-wiggum plugin's `/ralph-loop` command **silently ignores** `--max-iterations` when using the equals-sign syntax (`--max-iterations=5`), causing

[BUG] ralph-wiggum plugin / ralph-loop uses my whole usage because it doesn't respect --max-iterations=X

Resolved 💬 7 comments Opened Jan 16, 2026 by genesiscz Closed Apr 5, 2026

Preflight Checklist

[x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
[x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
[x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

The ralph-wiggum plugin's /ralph-loop command silently ignores --max-iterations when using the equals-sign syntax (--max-iterations=5), causing infinite loops instead of stopping after N iterations.

/ralph-loop:ralph-loop Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use 
planning-with-files and make sure everything is really migrated -  --max-iterations=3
 --completion-promise="EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY"

Root Cause: The argument parser in setup-ralph-loop.sh only handles space-separated arguments (--max-iterations 5), not equals-sign syntax (--max-iterations=5).

Technical Details

File: plugins/ralph-wiggum/scripts/setup-ralph-loop.sh
Lines: 62-86

The argument parser uses a case statement that only matches exact patterns:

case $1 in
  --max-iterations)
    MAX_ITERATIONS="$2"  # Expects value in NEXT argument
    shift 2
    ;;

When --max-iterations=5 is passed:

Bash treats it as a single argument: $1="--max-iterations=5"
This doesn't match the pattern --max-iterations)
Falls through to the wildcard *) case
Gets added to PROMPT_PARTS array as prompt text
MAX_ITERATIONS stays at default 0 (unlimited)

Affected Options

This bug affects both options:

--max-iterations=N → Silently ignored (defaults to unlimited)
--completion-promise="TEXT" → Silently ignored (defaults to null)

Suggested Fix

Add support for equals-sign syntax by splitting on =:

case $1 in
  --max-iterations)
    # Space-separated:  --max-iterations 5
    MAX_ITERATIONS="$2"
    shift 2
    ;;
  --max-iterations=*)
    # Equals-sign:  --max-iterations=5
    MAX_ITERATIONS="${1#*=}"  # Extract everything after =
    shift
    ;;
  --completion-promise)
    COMPLETION_PROMISE="$2"
    shift 2
    ;;
  --completion-promise=*)
    COMPLETION_PROMISE="${1#*=}"
    shift
    ;;
  # ... rest of cases
esac

Impact

Severity: Critical - eating most of the usage limit in one sleep session :-)

Users expect standard CLI argument syntax to work
Silent failure leads to unexpected infinite loops
Difficult to debug (no error message shown)
Wastes API credits from runaway loops

Additional Information

Example from documentation that might confuse users:

The plugin README shows examples like:

/ralph-loop "Build a REST API" --max-iterations 50

Many users familiar with standard CLI tools (git, npm, curl, etc.) would naturally try:

/ralph-loop "Build a REST API" --max-iterations=50

This is a common pattern in modern CLI tools and follows standard GNU/POSIX conventions.

Related issues:

#18086 - Max iterations not respected (different root cause)
#18044 - $ARGUMENTS variable not populated (related to argument parsing)

What Should Happen?

Both of these syntaxes should work identically:

/ralph-loop "Build API" --max-iterations 5      # ✅ Currently works
/ralph-loop "Build API" --max-iterations=5      # ❌ Currently broken

Error Messages/Logs

No error is shown.  The option is silently ignored and treated as part of the prompt text. It only reached the stack call limit and failed after 500 iterations.



⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 459 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 460 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 461 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 462 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 463 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 464 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 465 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 466 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 467 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 468 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 469 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 470 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 471 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 472 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 473 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 474 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 475 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 476 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 477 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 478 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 479 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 480 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 481 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 482 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 483 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 484 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 485 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 486 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 487 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 488 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 489 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 490 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 491 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 492 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 493 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

⏺ ✅ EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿ Stop says: 🔄 Ralph iteration 494 | No completion promise set - loop runs 
    infinitely

⏺ Ran 2 stop hooks
  ⎿  command: curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8765/hook -H 'Content-Type:
  application/json' -d "$(cat)" > /dev/null 2>&1 &
  ⎿  command: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/hooks/stop-hook.sh
  ⎿  Stop hook error:
  Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and
  make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3
  --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY
  ⎿  Interrupted · What should Claude do instead?

⏺ Stop hook failed: Maximum call stack size exceeded

⏺ Stop hook failed: Maximum call stack size exceeded

Steps to Reproduce

Enable the ralph-wiggum plugin
Run with equals-sign syntax:

``bash /ralph-loop "Test task" --max-iterations=2 --completion-promise "DONE"``

Observe: Loop runs indefinitely instead of stopping after 2 iterations
Check state file:

``bash head -10 .claude/ralph-loop. local.md``

Notice max_iterations: 0 instead of max_iterations: 2

---
active: true
iteration: 494
max_iterations: 0
completion_promise: null
started_at: "2026-01-16T02:44:10Z"
---

Do the whole migration acccording to the plan. use planning-with-files and make sure everything is really migrated - --max-iterations=3 --completion-promise=EVERYTHING MIGRATED TO TANSTACK/QUERY

Workaround: Use space-separated syntax instead:

/ralph-loop "Test task" --max-iterations 2 --completion-promise "DONE"  # ✅ Works

Claude Model

Opus

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.1.7 (Claude Code)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Warp

Additional Information

_No response_

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