Dev Interrupted Inventing the Ralph Wiggum Loop | Creator Geoffrey Huntley
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Jan 13, 2026 
Geoffrey Huntley, the mind behind the 'Ralph' coding loop, discusses the transformation of software development into a more autonomous and efficient practice. He emphasizes the importance of deterministic context allocation and the implications for unit economics in coding. Huntley explores managing context rot and the concept of building personal 'Gas Towns' of coding agents. His insights on the future of engineering versus mere development push for a reevaluation of roles and encourage curiosity in adapting to the evolving landscape.
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Development Vs Engineering
- Geoffrey Huntley argues the profession of software development is largely dead while software engineering as a discipline is thriving.
- Autonomous agent loops change unit economics and redefine what engineering work matters.
The Origin Story Of Ralph
- Geoffrey describes his "oh fuck" moment in February when looping LLMs made him want to "Ralph"—to vomit—because of the implications.
- He named the technique "Ralph" after Ralph Wiggum and published it widely after a San Francisco meetup.
Engineer For Autonomous Safety
- Engineer safety and observability so autonomous loops can run without human babysitting.
- Add tests, change-data-capture, audit logs, and pre-commit hooks to capture failure modes.
