Loop Template

A copy-paste template for authoring your own marketing loop. Fill every one of the nine parts — a loop missing its state/idempotency, self-check, or stop/bail-out isn't a system, it's a way to do the wrong thing on a schedule.

Before you start, sanity-check that this should be a loop at all (see "When NOT to loop" in SKILL.md): it's recurring, signal-driven, and doesn't require human judgment to set strategy or creative direction each run.

Blank template (copy this)

B0

Fill-in prompts (answer these, in order)

1. What outcome does this protect or grow? (rankings, ad efficiency, activation, retention, revenue, referrals) → Purpose
2. How fast does that signal actually change? (hours / days / weeks / months) → Check cadence
3. What has to be true before it's worth acting? (a threshold crossed, a new item appeared, a regression vs. baseline) → Acts when
4. What data does it read and what does it produce each run? → Loop body + Output
5. What would make it act on a false signal? (noise, seasonality, a tracking break, too-small a sample) → Self-check
6. What must it remember so it doesn't repeat itself? (dedupe key, cooldown, last-run marker) → State / idempotency
7. When should it stop, skip, or hand off to a human? (no action needed, error, spend/publish decision, N failed attempts) → Stop / bail-out

If you can't answer 5, 6, and 7 concretely, the loop isn't ready to run.

Worked example (blank → filled)

Say you sell a freemium API tool and want to stop losing signups who never make their first API call.

B1

Notice what makes it safe: the self-check guards against a tracking bug emailing active users, the state stops it re-nagging, and the stop caps attempts and hands off instead of looping forever.

Ship checklist

Before you schedule a new loop, confirm:

• [ ] All nine parts are filled — especially self-check, state, and stop.
• [ ] Cadence matches signal speed (you're not checking daily for a weekly-moving signal).
• [ ] It's designed so most runs do nothing — it acts only on a real condition.
• [ ] Anything that spends money or publishes has a human checkpoint (unless caps + an allowlist are explicitly authorized).
• [ ] State prevents double-acting and re-nagging the same people.
• [ ] There's an error path (stale data → report "stale," don't fabricate movement) and a manual off switch.
• [ ] For scheduling mechanics, see the "Scheduling a loop" section in SKILL.md.

Once it runs, give it a few cycles and ask the "is this a vanity loop?" question: if nobody acts on the output, delete it.