{
  "schema_version": "newruntime-agent-readable-v0.1",
  "type": "trend_pattern",
  "slug": "goal-scoped-loops-replace-manual-continuation",
  "title": "Goal-scoped loops replace manual continuation",
  "description": "Long-running agent work is moving from repeated continue prompts toward explicit goals, stopping conditions, schedules, task state, and evaluator-driven retries.",
  "thesis": "An autonomous loop becomes operationally useful when completion is an external contract rather than a model's subjective decision to stop.",
  "status": "published",
  "confidence": "high",
  "first_seen": "2026-05-14",
  "last_verified": "2026-07-07",
  "supporting_signals": [
    "tg-2338",
    "tg-2434",
    "tg-2480",
    "tg-2554",
    "tg-2622",
    "tg-2628"
  ],
  "related_posts": [
    "claude-code-long-running-loops",
    "linear-loops-agent-workflows",
    "sierra-horizon-long-running-agent"
  ],
  "counter_evidence": [
    "Open-ended research and product judgment often lack a machine-checkable completion condition and still require interactive steering.",
    "A measurable target can be gamed or optimized at the expense of unmeasured quality, safety, and maintainability."
  ],
  "revision_trigger": "Revise the thesis if unsupervised continuation prompts match goal contracts on completion quality, budget control, recovery, auditability, and operator effort.",
  "topics": [
    "agent-loops",
    "goals",
    "automation"
  ],
  "source_urls": [
    "https://code.claude.com/docs/en/goal",
    "https://github.com/steipete/agent-scripts",
    "https://cursor.com/changelog/06-18-26",
    "https://github.blog/changelog/2026-06-17-github-copilot-app-generally-available"
  ],
  "routes": {
    "html": "https://newruntime.com/patterns/goal-scoped-loops-replace-manual-continuation/",
    "markdown": "https://newruntime.com/patterns/goal-scoped-loops-replace-manual-continuation.md",
    "json": "https://newruntime.com/patterns/goal-scoped-loops-replace-manual-continuation.json"
  },
  "source_format": "markdown"
}