Your first loop in 10 minutes

init, doctor, a dry-run tick and a first dispatch — with the real output of each step.

Ten minutes, four commands, nothing irreversible until the last one.

The doctor and dry-run outputs on this page are real captures, taken read-only on 2026-09-20 against a live pilot repository with the 0.15.0 build, with paths and the operator's name redacted. The loop init replay is reconstructed: the prompts are the ones init asks, the answers are invented.

ak-harness loop init --preset library

$ npx ak-harness loop init --preset library
? GitHub repository  acme/report
? Project name       report
? Linear team key    REP
? Whose queue does this machine drain?  jordan

wrote loop.config.yaml (preset: library)
  project.verifyCommand  pnpm lint && pnpm test
  schedule.tick          */5 * * * *
  schedule.deliver       */10 * * * *

next: ak-harness loop doctor

The file it writes contains what this project decided and nothing the preset already says — so the diff a reviewer reads is five lines, not five hundred.

`loop doctor`, for real

Captured read-only against a live pilot on 2026-09-20, trimmed to the checks and with paths and the operator's name redacted:

{
  "status": "failed",
  "orca": { "version": "1.4.205", "minVersion": "1.4.200" },
  "checks": [
    { "id": "orca.version",        "status": "passed",  "detail": "Orca 1.4.205 ≥ 1.4.200" },
    { "id": "provider.claude",     "status": "passed",  "detail": "available (session 0%, weekly 74%; remaining~26%)" },
    { "id": "provider.codex",      "status": "passed",  "detail": "available (weekly 4%; remaining~96%)" },
    { "id": "provider.opencode",   "status": "warning", "detail": "usage exhausted until 2026-09-22T13:16:45.013Z" },
    { "id": "routing.orchestrator","status": "passed",  "detail": "codex/gpt-5.6-sol · mode catalog · remaining 96%" },
    { "id": "routing.builder",     "status": "passed",  "detail": "codex/gpt-5.6-luna · mode catalog · remaining 96%" },
    { "id": "machine.slots",       "status": "warning", "detail": "0 free of 5 (running 6, cpus 10, load 60.87%, free RAM 8 GB)" },
    { "id": "linear.queue",        "status": "failed",  "detail": "orca linear list-issues failed: the runtime closed the connection" },
    { "id": "brief.skills",        "status": "passed",  "detail": "3 pinned skill file(s) present and readable" },
    { "id": "review.cli",          "status": "passed",  "detail": "found agentskit-review · transport headless · mode trusted-local" },
    { "id": "memory",              "status": "passed",  "detail": "enabled · backend file · preferOverDocBridge=true" }
  ]
}

Two useful things in one screen: one provider is out of quota and the loop already routed around it, and the tracker call failed — which is why status is failed and why nothing should be dispatched until it is fixed.

The rehearsal

npx ak-harness loop tick --dry-run --max 1

Real output, same machine, same moment:

{
  "generatedAt": "2026-09-20T21:41:47.994Z",
  "dryRun": true,
  "slots": { "maxAgents": 5, "running": 6, "free": 0, "reasons": [] },
  "routing": { "orchestrator": "codex/gpt-5.6-sol", "builder": "codex/gpt-5.6-luna" },
  "queue": {
    "total": 1,
    "busy": ["AGE-1402", "AGE-1691", "AGE-1692", "AGE-1696", "AGE-1702", "AGE-1719", "AGE-1718"],
    "candidates": ["AGE-1659"]
  },
  "status": "idle",
  "results": []
}

One candidate, seven issues already in flight, zero free slots — so idle, and nothing dispatched. A dry run that reports work it could not have done would be worse than no dry run.

The first dispatch

npx ak-harness loop tick --max 1
npx ak-harness loop watch --once

From here the schedule takes over: loop install, and the tick runs every five minutes whether or not you are at the machine. That is the whole point.

loop doctor, for real

The rehearsal

The first dispatch

On this page

`loop doctor`, for real