loop-budget

# Loop Budget Guard Run at the **start** and **end** of every loop iteration. ## Start of run 1. Read `loop-budget.md` for daily caps and kill-switch flags. 2. Read recent entries in `loop-run-log.md` (last 24h). 3. Sum `tokens_estimate` for the active pattern today. 4. If spend ≥ 80% of the pattern's daily cap → **report-only mode** (no sub-agents, no auto-fix). 5. If spend ≥ 90% and High Priority items remain in `STATE.md`, yield to the [budget-negotiator](../budget-negotiator/SKILL.md) skill (if installed). Otherwise, if spend ≥ 100% or `loop-pause-all` is set → **exit immediately** with a one-line note in STATE.md. 6. If watchlist/state has no actionable items → **exit in <5k tokens** (do not spawn sub-agents). ## End of run Append one JSON object to `loop-run-log.md`: ```json { "run_id": "<ISO8601>", "pattern": "<pattern-id>", "duration_s": <number>, "items_found": <number>, "actions_taken": <number>, "escalations": <number>, "tokens_estimate": <number>, "outcome": "no-op | report-only | fix-proposed | escalated" } ``` ## Rules - Never exceed `max sub-agent spawns/run` from `loop-budget.md`. - High-cadence patterns (CI Sweeper, PR Babysitter) **must** early-exit when nothing is actionable. - On self-throttle, append a line to `loop-budget.md` under **Alerts This Period**.