Cancel Development Loop

Stops the agentic development loop gracefully. The loop will complete its current atomic operation before stopping.

Usage

bash

# Cancel the loop (archives state to history)
/bkff:cancelloop

# Pause the loop (can be resumed later)
/bkff:cancelloop --pause

# Pause with a reason
/bkff:cancelloop --pause --reason="Need to review approach"

Behavior

Cancel (Default)

•Stops the loop immediately after current operation
•Archives loop state to .bkff/history/
•Removes active loop state file
•Current task remains in in_progress status in beads

Pause

•Sets loop status to paused
•Preserves all state for later resume
•Records pause reason if provided
•Can be resumed with /bkff:startloop --resume

Output

Cancelling Active Loop

code

Development Loop Status
─────────────────────────────────────
  Status:         running
  Started:        2026-01-24T10:30:00Z
  Completed:      5 tasks

Current Task
  Task ID:        T018
  Title:          Implement validation helpers
  Started:        2026-01-24T11:15:00Z

✓ Loop cancelled
Debug: Archived loop state to .bkff/history/2026-01-24T11-20-00Z.json

Pausing Loop

code

Development Loop Status
─────────────────────────────────────
  Status:         running
  Started:        2026-01-24T10:30:00Z
  Completed:      5 tasks

Info: Loop paused: Need to review approach

To resume: /bkff:startloop --resume

No Loop Running

code

Info: No loop running

State After Cancel

When cancelled, the loop state is archived to .bkff/history/:

json

{
  "status": "stopped",
  "started_at": "2026-01-24T10:30:00Z",
  "stopped_at": "2026-01-24T11:20:00Z",
  "current_task": {
    "beads_id": "beads-abc123",
    "task_id": "T018",
    "title": "Implement validation helpers",
    "started_at": "2026-01-24T11:15:00Z"
  },
  "completed_tasks": [
    {"beads_id": "beads-xyz789", "task_id": "T014", ...},
    {"beads_id": "beads-def456", "task_id": "T015", ...}
  ],
  "paused_reason": null,
  "retry_count": 0,
  "last_error": null
}

State After Pause

When paused, state remains in .bkff/loop-state.json:

json

{
  "status": "paused",
  "started_at": "2026-01-24T10:30:00Z",
  "current_task": {...},
  "completed_tasks": [...],
  "paused_reason": "Need to review approach",
  "retry_count": 0,
  "last_error": null
}

Handling In-Progress Tasks

When the loop is cancelled with an in-progress task:

•The task remains in_progress in beads
•
You can manually:
- •Complete it: bd close <id>
- •Reset it: bd update <id> --status=open
- •Continue working on it independently

Requirements

•Must be run inside a git repository
•.bkff/ directory must exist

Exit Codes

•0 - Loop cancelled/paused successfully or no loop running
•1 - Error during cancellation

Related Skills

•/bkff:startloop - Start or resume the development loop
•/bkff:startloop --resume - Resume a paused loop

Implementation

bash

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
PLUGIN_DIR="$(dirname "$(dirname "$SCRIPT_DIR")")"
source "$PLUGIN_DIR/lib/common.sh"
source "$PLUGIN_DIR/lib/loop-state.sh"

# Parse arguments
pause_mode=false
reason=""

for arg in "$@"; do
    case "$arg" in
        --pause) pause_mode=true ;;
        --reason=*) reason="${arg#--reason=}" ;;
    esac
done

# Validate prerequisites
require_worktree

# Check if loop exists
if ! has_loop; then
    info "No loop running"
    exit 0
fi

# Show current status
print_loop_status
echo ""

# Pause or cancel
if [[ "$pause_mode" == "true" ]]; then
    if [[ -z "$reason" ]]; then
        reason="Paused by user"
    fi
    pause_loop "$reason"
    echo ""
    echo "To resume: /bkff:startloop --resume"
else
    cancel_loop
fi