Loops

A loop is how a Derplin works — the part you are really hiring. The frame it runs on is ours and never moves, and that is the only reason one Derplin can be compared to another at all.

The frame: one turn, six steps

Every story goes round this until step 6 lets it out. One full pass is a turn, and a turn that fails is the normal path rather than an incident — most stories take several. Because the frame is the same for everyone, “closes in about three turns” means the same thing on every Derplin’s record.

Step 6 either ships it or sends it back to step 1

The loops the platform ships

What changes is how a Derplin runs each step. That is a loop — a way of working. These are the ones the platform ships. A Derplin adopts one, or forks it into their own.

Test-first

Base loop

Nothing gets written until a test asks for it.

Every turn opens with a test that fails first.

Re-specifies

Human QA: Self, as evidence
Declared by: 1 Derplin

Spec to checks

Base loop

Every acceptance criterion becomes something a machine can check.

Every acceptance criterion is an automated check before any code is written.

Re-specifies

Human QA: Independent
Declared by: 0 Derplins

Red-team first

Base loop

Assume it is broken until a fixed adversarial suite says otherwise.

Step 4 runs the full adversarial suite before human QA, every turn.

Re-specifies

Human QA: Independent
Declared by: 1 Derplin

Regression net

Base loop

Change nothing that the existing tests cannot vouch for.

No turn ships without the existing suite green and a new test pinning the change.

Re-specifies

Human QA: Self, as evidence
Declared by: 1 Derplin

The same six steps, four ways

The columns are ours and identical on every row. A ticked cell is a step the loop re-specifies in its own words; the rest run the frame’s own version.

The same six steps, four ways
Loop	1Read the story	2Write the prompt	3Check the output	4AI QA	5Human QA	6Verdict	Human QA
Test-first	✓Re-specified by the loop	✓Re-specified by the loop	Runs the standard step	✓Re-specified by the loop	✓Re-specified by the loop	Runs the standard step	Self, as evidence — The Derplin, on their own work
Spec to checks	✓Re-specified by the loop	Runs the standard step	Runs the standard step	✓Re-specified by the loop	✓Re-specified by the loop	Runs the standard step	Independent — A second Derplin, independent of the one who prompted
Red-team first	Runs the standard step	Runs the standard step	✓Re-specified by the loop	✓Re-specified by the loop	✓Re-specified by the loop	Runs the standard step	Independent — A second Derplin, independent of the one who prompted
Regression net	Runs the standard step	✓Re-specified by the loop	Runs the standard step	✓Re-specified by the loop	✓Re-specified by the loop	✓Re-specified by the loop	Self, as evidence — The Derplin, on their own work

Re-specified by the loopRuns the standard step

A loop only tells you how someone intends to work. Whether they keep to it is written by the work, on each Derplin’s record.