Week 14: Ralphthon Execution

Phase 5Week 14RalphthonLecture: 2026-06-02

Ralphthon Execution Week

This week focuses on team development rather than lectures. The instructor will provide mentoring rounds to each team.

The Law of Ralphthon Success

Don’t aim for a perfect system. Build a working MVP first, then iterate. That is the Ralph Loop philosophy itself.

Implementation Checkpoints

1. Day 1: Foundation (Monday)

   • Finalize repository structure
   • Write PROMPT.md v1
   • Implement the basic harness script
   • Successfully run the first agent loop

2. Day 2–3: Core Features (Tuesday–Wednesday)

   • Connect the agent pipeline
   • Build the automated test suite
   • Verify the backpressure mechanism

3. Day 4: Integration and Stabilization (Thursday)

   • Run the full pipeline end-to-end
   • Handle edge cases
   • Use instruction tuning to fix recurring errors

4. Day 5: Documentation and Presentation Prep (Friday)

   • Write the README
   • Prepare the demo script
   • Submit the mid-progress report

Common Problems and Solutions

Problem	Cause	Solution
Agent infinite loop	No exit condition set	Add a hard limit on maximum iterations
Context contamination	Context Rot in progress	Immediately wipe + restore from state file
Conflict between agents	Simultaneous file modification	File locking mechanism
Cost explosion	Unlimited API calls	Set a token budget

Mentoring Appointments

Request instructor mentoring in the Slack #capstone-help channel. 30 minutes per team.

Assignment

Capstone: Mid-Progress Report

Submission deadline: 2026-06-09 23:59

Submission path: capstone/projects/[student-id]/progress-week14.md

Contents:

1. List of completed features
2. Incomplete features and resolution plan
3. The biggest lesson learned (technical challenge)
4. Final presentation demo plan