profitable-expert-advisor/self-coding-agent

Self-coding agent (MQL5 + MT5 + Ollama, long-running)

This is a local, long-running loop that calls Ollama on your machine, lets the model read/write allowed paths in this repo (including MQL5 under frontline/ and lab/), fetch documentation over HTTP, and optionally run the Python MT5 backtest harness in backtesting/MT5/. It keeps a journal and a small evolution memory so each iteration can build on the last.

It does not embed inside MetaTrader as an EA. For Strategy Tester on .mq5 files, MT5’s terminal still has to compile and run tests; this agent automates the Python side and file edits. MQL5 compile verification can be added later via MetaEditor CLI if you want strict compile checks.

What “indefinite” means here

main.py runs until you press Ctrl+C (or the process is stopped by your supervisor). For true daemon operation, run it under Windows Task Scheduler, NSSM, systemd, or a container restart policy.

Set loop.max_iterations to 0 in config.yaml for unlimited iterations (default in config.example.yaml).

Requirements

• Python 3.10+
• Ollama running locally (ollama serve) with a model pulled (see ollama list; config.example.yaml defaults to qwen2.5-coder:7b).
• Optional: MetaTrader 5 installed and logged in for run_backtest / MetaTrader5 Python package (see backtesting/MT5/README.md)

Quick start

cd d:\profitable-expert-advisor\self-coding-agent
python -m venv .venv
.\.venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
copy config.example.yaml config.yaml
# Edit config.yaml: set ollama.model, mission, allowed_path_prefixes if needed
python main.py

CLI overrides (good for smoke tests)

python main.py --max-iterations 2 --model qwen2.5-coder:7b --no-mt5-backtest --sleep-seconds 0

Automated smoke tests (no Ollama)

python -m unittest discover -s tests -p "test_*.py" -v

On first failure to connect to Ollama, the loop backs off and retries (see loop.consecutive_error_limit).

Configuration

• config.yaml: optional; if missing, config.example.yaml is used as defaults.
• workspace_root: default .. resolves to the repository root (parent of self-coding-agent/).
• allowed_path_prefixes: hard sandbox for read_file / write_file / list_dir. Tighten this in production.
• mt5_backtest: toggles subprocess calls to backtesting/MT5/run_backtest.py.
• cursor.open_in_cursor_after_write: if true, tries cursor <file> on each write (requires cursor on PATH).

Cursor integration

• This script is not the Cursor IDE. It complements Cursor: you can leave it running while you work in Cursor on the same repo.
• Programmatic Cursor agents (outside this repo) use the Cursor TypeScript SDK; see the Cursor SDK skill in your environment if you want CI/agents that call Cursor Cloud APIs with credentials.
• Practical hybrid workflow: run this agent for breadth (many small iterations, local model cost = $0); use Cursor for focused refactors, reviews, and hard problems.

Self-evolve / self-improve (what is implemented)

• state/journal.jsonl: one JSON record per iteration (reflection, actions, errors).
• state/evolution.json: stores recent backtest stdout/stderr tails when run_backtest runs, so later prompts include a short “what happened last time” hint.

This is deliberately minimal: you can extend agent/memory.py to track numeric metrics, Pareto fronts, or mutation of parameters.

Safety notes

• The model can only touch paths under allowed_path_prefixes.
• There is no arbitrary shell tool; only run_backtest and run_python with an allowlisted script path under the repo.
• fetch_url is HTTP(S) only; responses are size-capped.

Ollama API

The client uses POST /api/chat with stream: false. Compatible with current Ollama HTTP API.

Troubleshooting

• json.JSONDecodeError: the agent now prints a truncated copy of the model output to the console. Try a coder-tuned model, lower temperature, or raise num_ctx in ollama.options.
• MT5 backtest fails: run python backtesting/MT5/test_setup.py from repo root with MT5 open; see backtesting/MT5/QUICKSTART.md. On Windows, avoid Unicode symbols in console scripts (this repo’s test_setup.py uses ASCII markers like [OK]).