Tip: Set Explicit Token Budgets and Auto-Stop Conditions on /loop to Prevent Runaway Agent Costs

r/ClaudeAI·high signal

After the viral $6K overnight burn, practitioners recommend three guardrails for autonomous loops: (1) set a max_turns or iteration limit before stepping away, (2) use ScheduleWakeup with bounded delaySeconds rather than unbounded infinite loops, and (3) add a pre-iteration hook that checks cumulative token usage and exits if a budget threshold is exceeded. The Ralph plugin provides circuit-breaker functionality with automatic error detection and exit for this purpose.