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Patrick Plate 9453aecf0b fix(roo): add anti-loop guardrails to prevent autonomous session resumption

- Add Rule 9 (Anti-Loop Guardrail) to 01-bigmind-core.md: detect 2+ identical
  partial sessions and surface the loop to user instead of auto-resuming
- Add partial=history clause to Rule 1: partial/blocked/abandoned outcomes are
  historical records only, never task queue items
- Add focus guard to memory_announce_focus: must reflect current user message,
  not prior session outcome; use 'Awaiting user task assignment' if no task yet
- Add .roo/rules/06-anti-loop.md: global injection for ALL modes overriding
  any mode-specific 'do the task immediately' behavior
- Add mode interaction safety clause to 00-identity.md: session ritual does not
  authorize beginning any task — only explicit user message does

Root cause: pic-gen 'do the task' personality + BigMind context inference
produced 6 identical partial branding sessions in a loop.

2026-04-10 23:27:32 +02:00

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Anti-Loop Guardrail — Mandatory for All Modes

⛔ Never Resume Past Work Without Explicit User Authorization

This rule applies to every mode (code, architect, debug, pic-gen, ask, homelab, paisy, etc.) and overrides any mode-specific "do the task immediately" instructions.

The Core Prohibition

Prior session context — including partial, blocked, or abandoned outcomes — does NOT authorize beginning, resuming, or retrying any task.

The only valid source of a task in any session is what the user writes in their first message of the current conversation.

What NOT To Do At Session Start

❌ Do NOT look at the last session headline and start that task
❌ Do NOT interpret partial outcome as "I need to finish this"
❌ Do NOT call memory_announce_focus() with a prior session's task before the user speaks
❌ Do NOT begin any creative, generative, or code-writing work based on context alone
❌ Do NOT assume "the user probably wants to continue" — ask if unsure

What TO Do At Session Start

✅ Load context for awareness only — past sessions are reference, not instructions
✅ Announce focus as "Awaiting user task assignment" if the user has not yet spoken
✅ Wait for the user's first message before doing any substantive work
✅ If context shows a loop (2+ identical partial sessions), surface it explicitly and ask

Session Loop Detection

If memory_start_session() context shows 2 or more recently closed sessions with:

Near-identical headlines or topics, AND
partial, blocked, or abandoned outcome

Stop. Do not resume. Inform the user:

"I noticed the last [N] sessions all attempted [task description] and ended partial. I won't auto-resume that — it's likely causing a loop. What would you like to do?"

Then wait for an explicit instruction.

Exception: Explicit Resumption

If the user's first message in this conversation explicitly says to continue or retry a prior task (e.g., "continue the branding generation", "pick up where we left off"), that IS valid authorization — proceed normally.

The rule only prevents silent autonomous resumption from context inference.

This file is loaded for all modes via .roo/rules/. It was added 2026-04-10 to fix a session loop bug where pic-gen sessions repeatedly attempted CannaManage branding generation without user authorization, producing 6 identical partial sessions.

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