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Loops & gates

A loop lets a team repeat work until it's good enough — the review→fix cycle, the test→fix cycle, the challenge→refine cycle.

Anatomy​

- loop:
    until: reviewer approves        # the exit condition (human-readable)
    max_rounds: 3                   # hard cap — the loop can't run forever
    steps:
      - member: reviewer            # the GATE (first inner member)
        skills: [github-comment]
      - member: coder               # runs only if the gate asks for changes
        skills: [github-pr]

How the gate decides​

The first inner member is the gate. Each round it ends its output with exactly one of:

  • VERDICT: APPROVE → the loop exits (remaining inner members are skipped — not needed).
  • VERDICT: CHANGES + the specifics → the other inner members run (e.g. the coder fixes), then the next round starts.

The loop stops on approval or when it hits max_rounds.

:::tip The gate is chosen by name, not position The gate is the member referenced in until (e.g. reviewer approves), so a [coder, reviewer] ordering still gates on the reviewer. Keep the until clause pointing at your reviewing member. :::

Where loops shine​

  • Ship code: [reviewer → coder] until approved.
  • Harden: [qa → coder] until tests pass.
  • Sharpen a spec: [challenger → writer] until there's enough context to build first-try.

Tune the rounds​

max_rounds is a default (3), set per team and editable:

mmt edit spec-to-prod "make the review loop max 5 rounds"

You see the current round live while a run executes (loop round 2/3), and each round's verdict in the run report.