Self-Correcting Loops: Handoff and Stop Templates

Building The Handoffs

BUILDER OUTPUT FORMAT
Deliverable: [the actual output]
Confidence: [high / medium / low]
Known uncertainties: [anything you are unsure about, stated explicitly]
Assumptions made: [anything you assumed without being told]

JUDGE VERDICT FORMAT
Verdict: [PASS / FAIL / NEEDS REVISION]
Checked against: [the specific standard used, e.g. the original brief,
the test suite, the source document]
Specific issues found: [exact problems, not a general impression]
Confidence in this verdict: [high / medium / low]

MANAGER ACTION
If PASS: mark complete, deliver to user.
If FAIL or NEEDS REVISION: send back to Builder with the Judge's
specific issues attached. Increment the revision counter.
If revision counter exceeds [N]: stop looping, escalate to human
with full history of what was tried and why it failed.

The Stop Condition Is Not Optional

STOP CONDITIONS
Maximum revisions: 3. On the 3rd failed verdict, stop and escalate
to a human with the full revision history attached, do not attempt
a 4th cycle automatically.

Quality threshold: all items on the Judge's checklist must show PASS,
not "mostly passing" or "close enough."

Budget ceiling: if this task has consumed more than [X] tokens or
[Y] minutes, stop immediately regardless of current state and report
what was completed versus what remains.