handoff

Session Handoff Skill

Create structured documents that enable seamless continuity across Claude sessions.

When to Use

• Ending a work session for the day
• Before taking a break mid-task
• Switching to a different project temporarily
• When you want to capture state for a future session
• Before a context reset you know is coming

Handoff Process

Step 1: Assess Session State

Quickly assess:

1. What phase are we in? (exploration, planning, implementation, debugging, review)
2. What's the active task? (what we're trying to accomplish)
3. How far along are we? (just started, mid-way, almost done)

Step 2: Ask What Matters

Ask the user:

"I'll create a handoff document. Is there anything specific you want to make sure I capture? (Key decisions, code snippets, context about the problem, things you'll forget, etc.)"

Step 3: Generate Handoff Document

Create a structured document:

# Session Handoff: [Brief Description]

**Date:** [YYYY-MM-DD] **Project:** [project name/path] **Session Duration:**
[approximate]

## Current State

**Task:** [What we're working on] **Phase:**
[exploration/planning/implementation/debugging/review] **Progress:** [where we
are - percentage or milestone]

## What We Did

[2-3 sentence summary of the session's work]

## Decisions Made

- **[Decision]** — [Rationale]
- **[Decision]** — [Rationale]

## Code Changes

**Files modified:**

- `path/to/file.ts` — [what and why]
- `path/to/other.ts` — [what and why]

**Key code context:** [Critical snippets or patterns to remember]

## Open Questions

- [ ] [Question needing resolution]
- [ ] [Question needing resolution]

## Blockers / Issues

- [Issue] — [current status]

## Context to Remember

[Important background, constraints, user preferences, domain knowledge - things
that would take time to re-establish]

## Next Steps

1. [ ] [First thing to do next session]
2. [ ] [Second thing]
3. [ ] [Third thing]

## Files to Review on Resume

- `path/to/key/file.ts` — [why it matters]