Handoff

Create structured session handoff documents for continuity across Claude sessions.

The Problem

Claude sessions don't persist. When you end a session and start a new one, you lose:

• The decisions you made and why
• The context of what you were building
• Where you left off in the task
• The nuances and constraints you'd established

Starting fresh means re-explaining everything, often losing important context in the translation.

The Solution

The /handoff skill creates structured documents that capture everything a future session needs to pick up where you left off:

• Current task state and progress
• Decisions made with their reasoning
• Code changes with intent
• Open questions and blockers
• User-provided context that took time to establish
• Clear next steps

When to Use

• Ending a work session — Capture state before signing off
• Before a break — Even mid-task, if you might lose context
• Switching projects — Save state before context-switching
• Before known resets — When you know compaction or reset is coming

How It Works

Step 1: Claude assesses the current session state

Step 2: Asks what you want to capture:

"I'll create a handoff document. Is there anything specific you want to make sure I capture?"

Step 3: Generates a structured handoff document

Step 4: Saves to .claude/handoffs/[date]-[description].md

Handoff Document Structure

# Session Handoff: [Brief Description]

**Date:** 2025-01-15 **Project:** /path/to/project **Session Duration:** ~2
hours

## Current State

Task, phase, and progress

## What We Did

2-3 sentence summary

## Decisions Made

- Decision — Rationale
- Decision — Rationale

## Code Changes

Files modified with what and why

## Open Questions

Unresolved items needing attention

## Context to Remember

Important background, constraints, preferences

## Next Steps

Clear, actionable items to resume with

## Files to Review on Resume

Key files to read to get back up to speed

Using a Handoff Document

When starting a new session:

1. Share the handoff file at session start
2. Say "Resume from this handoff" and paste or reference the file
3. Use @ mention if supported

The handoff lets Claude hit the ground running without lengthy re-explanation.

Related: Compaction Hook

For in-session continuity (when context compacts but session continues), see the compaction-hook. It automatically improves what gets preserved during compaction.

Use both for complete coverage.