---
name: loop-run-log
description: Record a standardized run log after any recurring agent loop or multi-step workflow: trigger, inputs, actions, evidence, blockers, next trigger. Use when designing, running, reviewing, or debugging recurring automations, outreach loops, publishing loops, or refresh loops. Not for validating that the work itself succeeded: use behavior-validator. Not for planning the day's loop stack: use morning.
license: MIT
metadata:
  author: TechTide AI (Alex Cinovoj)
  provenance: original
  category: Agent Ops & Meta
---

# Loop Run Log

Every serious loop needs an audit trail. A run without a record is a run that cannot improve, and a loop that only reports "done" is drifting whether you can see it or not.

## When to log

Any recurring workflow: scheduled automations, lead discovery and outreach loops, publishing loops (newsletter, social, content), SEO or data refresh loops, coding and deployment loops, recurring client workflows. One-off debugging can live in a chat summary unless the loop will repeat. If it repeats, it logs.

## The run record

Write this after every run, in the loop's project folder or wherever the loop's artifacts live:

```yaml
run_id: <loop-name>-YYYY-MM-DD-HHMM
loop_name: <name>
trigger: <manual | schedule | webhook | user request | file change>
window_checked: <date/time range or source scope>
inputs:
  - <source checked>
skill_stack:
  - <skill used>
actions_taken:
  - <specific action>
outputs_written:
  - <file, URL, record, draft, post, PR, issue>
verification_evidence:
  - <command output, record ID, URL, API response, log excerpt>
blockers:
  - <none, or a concrete blocker>
risks:
  - <residual uncertainty>
next_trigger: <date/time/event>
next_action: <one concrete next move>
external_actions: <none | drafts only | sent | published | deleted | purchased>
```

Rules:

1. **Evidence is external.** A record ID, a URL, a command output. "It worked" is not evidence. Use behavior-validator to generate the evidence when possible.
2. **`external_actions` is never omitted.** It is the one field a reviewer checks first: did this run touch the outside world, and with what permission.
3. **`next_trigger` and `next_action` are always concrete.** A loop without a scheduled next step is a loop that silently died.
4. **No secrets, no raw private transcripts, no inbox dumps, no unneeded personal data.** Reference sources by name and scope, not by content.

## Quality bar

A good run log answers six questions: what caused this run, what was checked, what changed, how do we know it worked, what is unresolved, what happens next. A bad run log says "completed", "done", or "no updates". If a reviewer cannot reconstruct the run from the log alone, the log failed.

## Good vs bad

**Bad:** `actions_taken: ran the outreach loop. outputs: done. blockers: none.` Three weeks later nobody knows which prospects were contacted, whether sends happened, or why replies dried up.

**Good:** `window_checked: prospects added <DATE_RANGE>`, `actions_taken: drafted 8 connection notes`, `outputs_written: drafts in <CRM_RECORD_IDS>`, `external_actions: drafts only`, `next_trigger: <NEXT_RUN_DATE>`, `next_action: human review of 8 drafts before send`. A reviewer reconstructs the run in one read.

## Verification

After writing the record, run the reconstruction test: read only the log and state what the run did, what evidence backs it, and what happens next. Expect a complete answer with no memory required. If any of the six quality-bar questions is unanswerable, the log is incomplete, fill the missing field now while the run is fresh.

## Completion checklist

- [ ] All fields present, none deleted for convenience
- [ ] Every claim in actions_taken backed by an entry in verification_evidence
- [ ] external_actions filled accurately
- [ ] next_trigger and next_action concrete
- [ ] No secrets or raw private data in the record
- [ ] Stored with the loop's project artifacts

Any box unchecked: not done. Fix or say so.

## Footguns

- **Post-hoc logging.** Writing the record hours later from memory drops the failures and keeps the wins. Fix: record actions as they happen, finalize immediately after the run.
- **Evidence-free claims.** "Published successfully" with no URL. Fix: every action that changed something external gets an ID, URL, or output excerpt.
- **Sensitive data creep.** Convenience-pasting a full email thread into the log. Fix: reference by record ID and scope, redact before storing.