Repeat a task with /loop

/loop keeps re-running a task in the current session without you re-prompting each time, by having the model schedule its own next turn.

/loop 5m check the deploy
/loop keep refining the draft until it reads cleanly

The text after /loop is [interval] <task>:

• An interval given (/loop 5m …, /loop 30s …, /loop 2h …) — interval mode: the task runs on that fixed cadence until stopped.
• No interval (/loop keep polling until the build is green) — dynamic mode: the model picks the cadence itself each turn, and decides on its own when the loop is done.

Under the hood both modes use the same schedule_wakeup tool: after a turn ends and the session goes idle, the system re-runs the task as a fresh user turn once the delay elapses. Delays are clamped to 60 seconds – 1 hour per tick.

It coexists with the conversation

A loop doesn’t block you out of the session — you can talk to the model mid-loop (ask a question, give a side instruction) and the loop keeps ticking; a plain message does not stop it.

Stopping a loop

• Dynamic mode stops itself: once the model decides the task is done (or stuck), it simply doesn’t schedule another wakeup and tells you why.
• Interval mode re-arms on every tick, so ask explicitly (“stop the loop”) to end it.
• Ctrl+C in the TUI, or /stop in an IM channel, hard-stops any loop immediately.
• Every loop auto-stops after a safety cap of roughly 12 hours of total runtime regardless — a backstop for a forgotten loop, not something to rely on instead of stopping it yourself.

/loop vs. a cron task

/loop lives inside one conversation: it’s cheap to start, ends when you say so or when you close the session, and has no persistence of its own. For a schedule that needs to survive a restart or fire while nobody is watching — a daily report, a recurring health check — use a scheduled cron task instead; it’s a separate, durable mechanism run by octo serve, not a /loop running unattended.

Next: session goals build on the same underlying wakeup machinery, applied to a single durable objective instead of a recurring prompt.