Agent keeps iterating? Set stopping conditions first
Give a text AI prototype requirements and time/cost limits to draft a bounded iteration and acceptance plan for human review. This is a drafting exercise; the source used GitHub Copilot.
Execution environment and usage
AI / software
General text chat (example: Claude)
Where to operate
A general text-AI conversation; for example, a new chat on the Claude website where available. This is a text exercise, not an agent run.
Getting started
- Open an authorized text-chat tool; Claude’s web entry is claude.ai.
- Paste the relevant text from prototype requirements and time/cost limits and the prompt below; request a bounded iteration and acceptance plan.
Setup and plan requirements
Prepare shareable, de-identified prototype requirements and time/cost limits; paste only relevant excerpts. An available chat account and allowance are needed; Claude also has location and age requirements. This exercise needs no connector or execution permission from the original source workflow. The chat can produce the text draft. Any later checks of actual files, screens, audio or test results require a person, suitable software and existing outputs. Mark checks unverified when those outputs are absent.
Prompt portability limits
Questions and supplied text can be adapted to another capable chat tool. This produces a draft, not file access, code execution, account connections or the original operational outcome.
Usage limitations
The source reports GitHub Copilot. This page adapts it into a bounded iteration and acceptance plan, not a completed automated workflow in that product. Follow the checks below; source outcomes do not establish this exercise’s results.
Environment sources
適用情境 / When to use
Give a text AI prototype requirements and time/cost limits to draft a bounded iteration and acceptance plan for human review. This is a drafting exercise; the source used GitHub Copilot. He prefers smaller batches for production development.
步驟 / Steps
- Choose a non-production prototype and specify time, cost and allowed actions.
- Define verifiable completion and stop conditions before planning parallel or iterative work.
- Log changes, actual tests and unresolved issues after each iteration; stop when stuck.
提示詞 / Prompt
Plan bounded iteration for [sandbox prototype] using [time/cost/iteration limits] and [acceptance criteria]. Explain which work is genuinely independent and the coordination overhead. Ask about missing requirements; stop and report repeated failures or approaching limits. Preserve action approvals, do not push or deploy, and never describe unrun tests as passed.
留意事項 / Cautions
- Keep permission checks and existing access boundaries.
- Parallel work is not necessarily faster or cheaper.
來源限制 / Evidence limits
Personal experience is not a benchmark or proof of reliable unattended completion.
流程說明 / Workflow note
These steps and prompts are original, untested exercises by this site, not the author’s verbatim workflow. Reported results do not guarantee exercise outcomes.
原始工具組合 / Original tool stack
GitHub Copilot CLI; autopilot; fleet
Source publication date: 2026-05-21
Source checked: 2026-10-19