handoff

The Handoff skill is designed for developers and knowledge workers who need to maintain context across fragmented work sessions. It acts as a professional checkpoint system, allowing Claude to record the state of a project so that you or another agent can resume tasks without the "cold start" problem. By enforcing a consistent structure, it forces the documentation of decision logic rather than just outcomes, ensuring that future sessions are as productive as the one that preceded them. It is ideal for long-running software engineering tasks, complex research, or multi-phase implementation projects.

• Automatically assesses current task phase, project milestones, and progress percentages.

• Captures critical rationale behind specific technical decisions and architectural choices to prevent regression.

• Lists modified file paths and relevant code snippets to anchor the summary in the actual codebase.

• Maintains active todo lists, open questions, and identified blockers using standard markdown task lists.

• Saves documentation to a structured directory, typically under .claude/handoffs/, to preserve a historical project log.

• Includes user-specific context, such as domain constraints, preferences, and external service dependencies.

• Trigger the skill during natural transition points: end-of-day wrap-ups, unplanned mid-task breaks, or context switches to different project repositories.

• Provide specific details during the assessment phase to ensure key code patterns or sensitive constraints are documented.

• The output format is optimized for "resumption," providing a quick "Files to Review" list that helps you hit the ground running upon return.

• Avoid dumping verbose tool outputs; focus on high-level summaries, intentional code changes, and actionable next steps.

• Use the generated handoff file as your starting point in the next session by pasting its contents or referencing the path to instantly re-establish full project context.