# Detecting Stuck and Runaway Agents — Coding Agents & AI-Assisted Development

Source: https://www.geekswithgeeks.com/en/coding-agents/v-loop

> Stop loops early with step caps, repetition detection and budgets.

## Fail fast when progress stops

Agents sometimes repeat the same failing action, oscillate between two fixes, or wander without progress, burning money. Put **hard limits** in the harness: a **maximum number of steps**, a **token and cost budget**, and a **wall-clock timeout**. Add **progress checks**: detect the same action with the same arguments repeated several times, test failures that do not change across attempts, or edits that undo each other. When a check trips, **stop and report** (what was tried, what the last error was) so a human can redirect, rather than letting the agent continue. Also give the agent a way to say **"I'm blocked, here is why"** instead of forcing a guess. Log every step so that stuck runs can be diagnosed afterwards, often revealing missing instructions or a flaky test.

## Repetition detection, run

I ran this with plain Python 3 (standard library only), using a throwaway project created in a temporary folder. A healthy run repeats nothing more than twice. The looping run edits `a.py` three times within the last six actions and is flagged as stuck, which would stop the agent and ask a human.

```python
from collections import Counter

def stuck(history, window=6, repeat=3):
    """Flag an agent that keeps repeating the same action with the same arguments."""
    recent = history[-window:]
    counts = Counter(recent)
    action, n = counts.most_common(1)[0]
    return (n >= repeat), action, n

ok_run = [("read", "a.py"), ("edit", "a.py"), ("test", ""), ("read", "b.py"), ("edit", "b.py"), ("test", "")]
bad_run = [("read", "a.py"), ("edit", "a.py"), ("test", ""), ("edit", "a.py"), ("test", ""), ("edit", "a.py")]
for name, run in (("healthy", ok_run), ("looping", bad_run)):
    flag, action, n = stuck(run)
    print(f"{name:8} stuck={flag} (most repeated: {action} x{n})")

```

Output:

```
healthy  stuck=False (most repeated: ('test', '') x2)
looping  stuck=True (most repeated: ('edit', 'a.py') x3)
```

## Let the agent say it is blocked

Allow an explicit "blocked, because..." outcome so it does not guess to avoid failing.

**Quiz:** What should happen when a stuck-agent check trips?

- [x] Stop and report what was tried so a human can redirect
- [ ] Let it continue indefinitely
- [ ] Delete the tests
- [ ] Double the budget automatically

*Answer:* Stop and report what was tried so a human can redirect. Early stops save cost and surface the underlying problem.