README

Laravel package that wraps the Ralph Wiggum technique into Artisan commands and Laravel-grade UX. Define requirements, plan implementation, build — through a specs-driven workflow with Claude Code doing the work in agentic loops.

What is the Ralph Wiggum Technique?

The Ralph Wiggum technique is a development methodology where Claude runs in an agentic loop: given a prompt, it reads your codebase, reasons about what to do, writes code, runs tests, and iterates until the task is complete. Each iteration gets a fresh context window. The implementation plan file on disk acts as shared state between iterations.

The core idea: three phases, two prompts, one loop.

Define requirements — human + Claude conversation produces specs
Plan — Claude analyzes specs vs existing code (gap analysis), produces a prioritized task list
Build — Claude picks one task per iteration, implements, tests, commits, loop restarts with fresh context

Workflow

 claude /prd            artisan ralph:plan         artisan ralph:build
      │                         │                           │
      ▼                         ▼                           ▼
    PRD.md ──────────► IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md ──────────► Code
(requirements)         (prioritized checklist)     (one task at a time)

Specs Directory

The package manages a specs/ directory in your project root:

specs/
├── backlog/
│   └── 2026-01-15-user-notifications/
│       ├── PRD.md                    # Functional requirements (created by `claude /prd`)
│       ├── IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md    # Prioritized task list (created by `artisan ralph:plan`)
│       └── logs/                     # Agent loop JSON + text logs
└── complete/
    └── 2026-01-14-old-feature/       # Moved here when done

claude /prd creates a timestamped folder in specs/backlog/ with PRD.md
artisan ralph:plan reads PRD.md + existing codebase, produces IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md
artisan ralph:build picks the highest-priority unchecked task, implements it, runs tests, commits — one task per loop iteration
Finished specs move to specs/complete/

Requirements

PHP 8.4+, Laravel 11+
Node.js installed
Claude Code CLI

Installation

composer require satoved/lararalph

Publish config, specs directory, and Claude skill:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag="lararalph-config" --tag="lararalph-specs" --tag="lararalph-claude"

Usage

1. Define Requirements

Inside Claude Code, use the /prd skill:

claude "/prd user notifications"

Claude asks clarifying questions about the feature, then writes specs/backlog/2026-01-15-user-notifications/PRD.md. The PRD focuses on what (functional requirements, acceptance criteria, user stories) — no implementation details.

2. Plan

# Interactive: choose from backlog specs
php artisan ralph:plan

# Or specify directly:
php artisan ralph:plan 2026-01-15-user-notifications

Claude studies your codebase against the PRD using subagents, performs gap analysis, and produces IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md — a prioritized bullet-point checklist of tasks to implement.

The plan is disposable. If it's wrong, regenerate it with --force. One planning loop is cheap compared to building from a bad plan.

3. Build

# Interactive: choose from backlog specs
php artisan ralph:build

# Or specify directly:
php artisan ralph:build 2026-01-15-user-notifications

Each loop iteration: Claude reads the plan, picks the most important unchecked task, implements it, runs tests, updates the plan, and commits. Then the loop restarts with a fresh context window and Claude picks the next task.

Worktrees

Use --create-worktree on ralph:plan or ralph:build to run in an isolated git worktree:

php artisan ralph:plan 2026-01-15-user-notifications --create-worktree
php artisan ralph:build 2026-01-15-user-notifications --create-worktree

This creates a sibling directory (e.g., ../myapp-2026-01-15-user-notifications/), copies .env with adjusted URLs, and runs setup commands (composer install, etc).

# Clean up worktrees
php artisan ralph:finish

Configuration

php artisan vendor:publish --tag="lararalph-config"

config/lararalph.php:

return [
    'worktree_setup' => [
        CopyEnvFile::class,
        RunInstallComposer::class,
        RunInstallNpm::class,
        RunHerdSecure::class,
        OpenInPHPStorm::class,
    ],
];

Customizing Prompts

Planning and building prompts are Blade templates. Publish them:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag="lararalph-views"

Edit resources/views/vendor/lararalph/prompts/plan.blade.php and build.blade.php to adjust how Claude approaches planning and building. This is where you steer Ralph — add guardrails, change subagent counts, adjust backpressure instructions.

Customizing the PRD Skill

Published to .claude/skills/prd/SKILL.md. Edit to match your team's PRD template.

Commands

Command	Description
`ralph:plan {spec?}`	Gap analysis: specs vs codebase → `IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md`
`ralph:build {spec?}`	Pick task, implement, test, commit, loop
`ralph:finish`	List and remove git worktrees

Testing

composer test

Credits

Geoffrey Huntley — the Ralph Wiggum technique
Oleg Makedonsky
All Contributors

License

The MIT License (MIT). Please see License File for more information.

satoved / lararalph

Maintainers

Package info

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