pi-autoresearch-loop

What this skill does

```markdown
---
name: pi-autoresearch-loop
description: Autonomous experiment loop for pi that continuously tries optimizations, measures results, and keeps what works
triggers:
  - autoresearch
  - autonomous experiment loop
  - optimize automatically
  - run experiment loop
  - continuous optimization
  - benchmark and improve
  - start autoresearch session
  - keep what works discard what doesnt
---

# pi-autoresearch — Autonomous Experiment Loop

> Skill by [ara.so](https://ara.so) — Daily 2026 Skills collection

Autonomous experiment loop extension for [pi](https://github.com/antiwork/pi). Continuously proposes changes, benchmarks them, commits wins, reverts losses, and repeats — forever. Works for any measurable target: test speed, bundle size, build time, LLM training loss, Lighthouse scores.

---

## Installation

```bash
pi install https://github.com/davebcn87/pi-autoresearch
```

**Manual install:**

```bash
cp -r extensions/pi-autoresearch ~/.pi/agent/extensions/
cp -r skills/autoresearch-create ~/.pi/agent/skills/
```

Then `/reload` in pi.

---

## Quick Start

```
/skill:autoresearch-create
```

The agent will:
1. Ask about your goal, command, metric, and files in scope (or infer from context)
2. Create a branch
3. Write `autoresearch.md` and `autoresearch.sh`
4. Run the baseline
5. Start looping immediately — no further input needed

---

## Core Concepts

### Two-file persistence model

Every session is fully recoverable from two files:

| File | Purpose |
|------|---------|
| `autoresearch.jsonl` | Append-only log — one JSON line per run (metric, status, commit, description) |
| `autoresearch.md` | Living document — objective, what's been tried, dead ends, key wins |

A fresh agent with zero memory can read these two files and continue exactly where the previous session left off.

### Session files written by the skill

| File | Purpose |
|------|---------|
| `autoresearch.md` | Session document — objective, metrics, files in scope, experiment history |
| `autoresearch.sh` | Benchmark script — pre-checks, runs the workload, outputs `METRIC name=number` lines |
| `autoresearch.checks.sh` | *(optional)* Backpressure checks — tests, types, lint. Failures block `keep` |

---

## Extension Tools

### `init_experiment`

One-time session configuration. Call once at session start.

```typescript
await init_experiment({
  name: "vitest-speed",
  metric: "seconds",
  unit: "s",
  direction: "lower", // "lower" | "higher"
});
```

### `run_experiment`

Runs any shell command, times wall-clock duration, captures stdout/stderr.

```typescript
const result = await run_experiment({
  command: "pnpm test --run",
  timeout_seconds: 120,           // optional, default 300
  checks_timeout_seconds: 300,    // optional, for checks script
});
// result: { exit_code, duration_seconds, stdout, stderr }
```

### `log_experiment`

Records result, auto-commits on `keep`, updates the status widget and dashboard.

```typescript
await log_experiment({
  metric_value: 42.3,
  status: "keep",          // "keep" | "discard" | "crash" | "checks_failed"
  description: "Enable parallel test workers in vitest config",
  commit_message: "perf: parallel vitest workers → 42.3s (-18%)",
});
```

---

## The Autonomous Loop

Once started, the agent runs this cycle indefinitely:

```
propose change → edit files → run_experiment → measure metric
       ↓
  metric improved?
    YES → log_experiment(keep) → auto-commit → update autoresearch.md
    NO  → log_experiment(discard) → git revert → try next idea
       ↓
  repeat forever (until interrupted)
```

**Interrupt anytime** with `Escape`, then ask for a summary of what was tried.

---

## Benchmark Script Format

`autoresearch.sh` must output at least one `METRIC` line:

```bash
#!/bin/bash
set -euo pipefail

# Pre-checks
[ -f package.json ] || { echo "No package.json"; exit 1; }

# Run workload
pnpm test --run

# Output metric — required format
echo "METRIC seconds=$SECONDS"
```

Multiple metrics are supported:

```bash
echo "METRIC duration_seconds=42.3"
echo "METRIC test_count=847"
echo "METRIC memory_mb=512"
```

The primary metric (set in `init_experiment`) drives keep/discard decisions. Others are recorded for analysis.

---

## Backpressure Checks (Optional)

Create `autoresearch.checks.sh` to guard correctness after every passing benchmark:

```bash
#!/bin/bash
set -euo pipefail

pnpm test --run          # full test suite
pnpm typecheck           # TypeScript
pnpm lint                # ESLint / Biome
```

**Behavior:**
- File absent → loop runs exactly as before, no change
- File present → runs automatically after every benchmark that exits 0
- Checks time does **not** count toward the primary metric
- Checks failure → logged as `checks_failed`, changes reverted (same as crash)
- Dashboard shows `checks_failed` separately from `crash` so you can distinguish correctness failures from benchmark errors

---

## UI

### Status Widget

Always visible above the editor:

```
🔬 autoresearch 12 runs 8 kept │ best: 42.3s
```

### Dashboard

Open with `/autoresearch` — full results table with status, metric values, descriptions, and best run highlighted.

- `Ctrl+X` — toggle dashboard
- `Escape` — close dashboard / interrupt loop

---

## Example Domains

```typescript
// Test speed
{
  command: "pnpm test --run",
  metric: "seconds",
  direction: "lower",
  scope: ["vitest.config.ts", "src/**/*.test.ts"],
}

// Bundle size
{
  command: "pnpm build && du -sb dist | cut -f1",
  metric: "bytes",
  direction: "lower",
  scope: ["vite.config.ts", "src/index.ts"],
}

// LLM training loss
{
  command: "uv run train.py --epochs 1",
  metric: "val_bpb",
  direction: "lower",
  scope: ["train.py", "model.py", "config.yaml"],
}

// Build speed
{
  command: "pnpm build",
  metric: "seconds",
  direction: "lower",
  scope: ["tsconfig.json", "vite.config.ts"],
}

// Lighthouse performance
{
  command: "lighthouse http://localhost:3000 --output=json | jq '.categories.performance.score'",
  metric: "score",
  direction: "higher",
  scope: ["src/pages/index.tsx", "public/"],
}
```

---

## autoresearch.md Structure

The skill writes and maintains this file throughout the session:

```markdown
# autoresearch: vitest-speed

## Objective
Reduce test suite wall-clock time. Baseline: 51.7s.

## Metric
- Name: seconds
- Direction: lower is better
- Baseline: 51.7s
- Best so far: 42.3s (run 8)

## Files in scope
- vitest.config.ts
- src/**/*.test.ts

## What's been tried
- [kept] Run 8: Enable parallel workers → 42.3s (-18%)
- [discarded] Run 5: Increase pool size to 16 → 53.1s (+3%)
- [kept] Run 3: Disable coverage in CI → 47.8s (-8%)

## Dead ends
- Increasing pool beyond 8 causes memory pressure, net negative

## Next ideas
- [ ] Try forks pool instead of threads
- [ ] Investigate slow test files with --reporter=verbose
```

---

## autoresearch.jsonl Format

One JSON object per line:

```jsonl
{"run":1,"metric_value":51.7,"status":"keep","description":"baseline","commit":"a1b2c3d","timestamp":"2025-01-15T10:00:00Z"}
{"run":2,"metric_value":49.2,"status":"keep","description":"disable coverage","commit":"e4f5g6h","timestamp":"2025-01-15T10:03:21Z"}
{"run":3,"metric_value":53.1,"status":"discard","description":"increase pool to 16","commit":null,"timestamp":"2025-01-15T10:07:45Z"}
{"run":4,"metric_value":null,"status":"crash","description":"invalid vitest config syntax","commit":null,"timestamp":"2025-01-15T10:09:12Z"}
```

Read the log programmatically:

```typescript
import { readFileSync } from "fs";

const runs = readFileSync("autoresearch.jsonl", "utf-8")
  .trim()
  .split("\n")
  .map((line) => JSON.parse(line));

const kept = runs.filter((r) => r.status === "keep");
const best = kept.reduce((a, b) =>
  a.metric_value < b.metric_value ? a : b
);

console.log(`Best: ${best.metric_value} — ${best.description}`);
```

---

## Resuming a Session

The agent can resume from either file. Recommended resume prompt:

```
Read autoresearch.jsonl and