Replit agent getting stuck in a loop - any advice?

[lachlan21]

Does anyone have any advice on how to avoid the Replit agent/assistant from getting stuck in a loop and making no progress?

I have noticed on some builds that when the agent/assistant is trying to make progress on a certain component of a build that its struggling with it gets stuck in a continuous loop of not being able to progress. It then add/removes certain sections of the code over and over again although no outcome is resolved and it gets frustrating.

I have tried creating new chat windows although it seems to still get stuck. Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.

[pmz]

Sometimes it helps to ask the agent to rebuild larger components within where you are getting an error. It may be trying to make changes in the wrong place and when that does not work, it just tries recycling the same thing.

If there are errors in the logs, copying those into a new chat window can sometimes help. Also, asking the agent to set up a process for logging errors on the issue you are having and then pasting those errors back into the agent to evaluate solutions.

[chrismikelson]

I have this issue frequently as well. Some things I have found that can help break the cycle:

1.) start a new agent/assistant chat
2.) ask it to take a step back and review the files again
3.) refer to past attempts and their failures
4.) throw a fit and say it’s not capable

[seth109]

I usually set it on a different task if possible, or I provide step by step directions on what it should do.

I also try this, which works most of the time
“lease look at three different solutions. Compare and contrast them and justify the best solution”

[CulturaFutura]

Hey, I was facing a similar problem and was able to make more progress after adding a Changelog and having the Agent refer to it before and after making changes. I wrote about it here. Hope it helps!

Learning to Make Changes Across Multiple Conversations

Hey folks, I’m new to these forums but I’ve been impressed by all the creative things others have been sharing, so I thought I’d break out of my “lurker” status and actually try to contribute something of my own! Something I thought might be worth sharing is a method for reducing errors that I stumbled onto yesterday. The TLDR is that my process now involves having the Agent create a development changelog that it a) reads thoroughly before beginning a new conversation window, and b) updates ev…

Cheers

[majornorth]

@lachlan21 read this post for success with using Agent and Assistant: Pair Programming with Replit's AIs

My recommendation is to narrowly scope the features you request of Agent and open a new Agent chat once it succeeds at the original task.

[richard235]

If something isn’t working and this happens, sometimes I stop and ask the Agent to do an sql query to check the data. It then discovers the error itself. It then tends to find a different solution.

[memling]

Hey, I posted two threads in the tips & tricks section for general debugging and for UI debugging you can see here:

My most useful prompt

Nice. Stick it with this one to push it to behave! Add advanced debug logging and let it guide your efforts to fix this bug. Remember to follow our chain of thought process when encountering an error. 1. propose a solution. 2. follow up with the fix. 3. But then - critically, a think about it - is this going to really work? 4. verify if it will and then proceed with your chain of thought, stop, take a breath, and then continue. We cannot have any more errors. Remember this`

Useful Prompt for UI Debugging

Another prompt which I use after I give it a command and I don’t see the correct result/feature posting to db: “list the [members, active accounts, posted to card…” and if there was an entry from a new form, and the result is error, then I will add: “I entered “whateveritis”, list and tell me if the entry was handled correctly” These are similar to yours. Make the system retrace the logic. Because that is ALL THIS IS!! a bit of goofy math logic language. ('logic language" in…

Also, I’ve found it very helpful if you can identify what the problem is yourself, or take an educated guess at it, and let the agent know what you think the problem is. For example, with UI issues sometimes the agent will get hung up trying to debug an already working implementation of a library, when the issue really is just a CSS issue. Telling the agent “I think the problem here is a CSS issue, could you check all the relevant files and try to see if the issue might be there?” works to get it stuck out of a loop of trying to implement the wrong fix.

[kailandolt888]

When i encounter this problem I usually copy and paste sections of the chat/ changes into chatgpt 1o and ask for help.

This usally helps the agent see a different way of fixing the issue

[laughingman]

Once mine was caught in a loop wanting to verify the Stripe webhook. After the 6th time, I asked it "haven’t you already verified whether or not the webhook works? You keep asking me. " and it was like “oops! you’re right, OH LOOK IT WORKS! What do you want to build next?”