Loop Gauntlet

Version: 1.6.1 | Created: 2026-09-09 | Last updated: 2026-10-10 | Status: public-safe (no studio paths; the run evidence lives in the workspace session log) Version history: reference/version_history.md.

A gauntlet loop is a builder that keeps going until an authored quality bar says stop. The pattern comes from the "builder plus fresh-eyes critic" idea and from this workspace's fine-tune lane C, whose first lesson is the whole skill in one line: the checks are authored by the human before the loop starts; the builder never invents its own. A builder that writes its own rubric grades itself against whatever it happened to do.

First run (2026-09-09, GPT-6 Astra in Codex driving a live Blender 5.1 through MCP, six matched views of a three-zone museum environment): seven reviewed iterations, 42 loop renders plus six finals, visible progress every iteration, and an honest stop under the stall rule with the target NOT met. The lessons from that run are folded in below and in reference/first_run_lessons.md.