handoff

Imported from taekwondodev/skills (skills/handoff/SKILL.md). Install upstream with npx skills add taekwondodev/skills --skill handoff. Copyright stays with the author.

Steps

Read writing-for-agents before writing HANDOFF.md or its resume prompt. Its general writing rules govern the handoff; this skill adds only handoff-specific structure.

Use pause-safely as the suspension contract and this skill as the artifact writer. Use session-pickup in the next session to reconcile the handoff with live repository state. When conversation context is incomplete, retrieve the relevant prior conversation through the available session-history capability and reconcile it with live state. If required history access is unavailable, record the missing evidence instead of inventing it. When long or unattended work has a show-me-your-work log, point to it instead of copying it.

Apply the canonical principles where they change the artifact:

• principle-guard-the-context-window keeps the handoff context-lean and links large sources instead of embedding them.
• principle-prove-it-works requires current git, test, process, and artifact evidence before progress is called complete.
• principle-sequence-verifiable-units makes the next action singular and gives it an exact completion criterion.

1. Gather State

Run: git status && git diff HEAD && git log --oneline -10

2. Synthesize

Extract from conversation + git state:

• Task: goal in 1-3 sentences. If args given, weight toward that focus.
• Mode: current dev-cycle mode, phase, and active capabilities
• Progress: done items (file names, functions, decisions)
• What Didn't Work: failed approaches that the next agent should not repeat
• Pending: ordered, most critical first
• Decisions & Context: non-obvious choices, constraints, gotchas a fresh agent can't derive from code
• Files Changed: path: one-line description
• Blockers: stuck or unclear items
• Verification: tests, checks, measurements, and processes with their latest observed result
• Next Completion Criterion: the exact observable state the next session should reach
• Current phase: the procedure still needed and the artifacts it consumes
• Next skills: only skills needed for the next action, not every skill previously used

The handoff is a pointer, not a copy of another skill's procedure. Preserve the canonical owner of every rule and record which principles changed decisions.

Policies:

• Don't duplicate PRDs, plans, ADRs, issues, or commits. Reference them by path or URL
• Redact secrets, API keys, PII

3. Write & Output

Write to HANDOFF.md at the repository root.

Add ## Resume Prompt at bottom. It must be self-contained and copy-paste ready. Name the next procedure, its source, and its inputs. Include the skill bodies needed for the next action as explicit reads:

Read `HANDOFF.md`. We are working on <project>: <task goal>.
Load <next skill> from <retrievable source> and read <required inputs>.
Continue from the Pending section toward <next completion criterion>.

For a human-facing return, confirm the path, print the Resume Prompt in chat, and say "Open new session, paste prompt above."

Agent result

For an agent-facing return, load delivery/1. Return the handoff locator, verification, and next completion criterion without repeating the Resume Prompt or handoff body.