---

name: handoff description: Session handoff for context continuity. USE WHEN ending a session, switching context, or user says /handoff. Generates structured summary and persists to project memory.

Handoff - Session Context Transfer

Generates a structured handoff and writes it to the project's auto-memory so the next session picks it up automatically.

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When to Use

• User invokes /handoff
• Before ending a long or complex session
• When switching to a different project mid-conversation

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Procedure

1. Review the Session

Look back through the conversation and identify:

• What the user asked for (the goal)
• What was actually accomplished
• Key decisions made and their rationale
• Anything still open, blocked, or partially done
• Gotchas, temporary hacks, or important context that would be lost

2. Generate the Handoff

Output a structured summary using this format:

## Session Handoff

**Goal**: [One sentence - what we set out to do]

**Done**:
- [Concrete accomplishment with file/location references]
- [Another accomplishment]

**Decisions**:
- [Choice made] — [why]

**Open**:
- [What's still pending or incomplete]

**Next**:
1. [First thing the next session should do]
2. [Second priority]

**Context**:
- [Gotchas, temp hacks, non-obvious things to know]

Guidelines:

• Be specific — reference files, functions, error messages
• "Done" means actually done, not "started working on"
• "Next" should be actionable first steps, not a roadmap
• "Context" is for things that would cause confusion without explanation
• Skip any section that's empty — don't pad

3. Persist to Project Memory

Write the handoff to the project's auto-memory file using the Write tool:

~/.claude/projects/{project-path}/memory/HANDOFF.md

The project path mirrors the working directory with - replacing / (e.g. -home-beau-src-nixos). This file auto-loads into the system prompt on the next session.

If a previous handoff exists, replace it — only the latest handoff matters.

4. Output Paste-Ready Handoff Text

ALWAYS output a fenced code block the user can copy-paste into the next session's first message. Memory auto-load is unreliable — the paste block is the real handoff.

Format it as a direct instruction to the next session:

```
Continuing from previous session:

[Paste the full handoff content here — Goal, Done, Decisions, Open, Next, Context sections.
Include specific file paths, function names, error messages — everything
the next session needs to hit the ground running without re-exploring.]
```

This block must be self-contained — a cold session reading only this text should have enough context to pick up where we left off.

5. Persist to Project Memory

Also write the handoff to memory as a backup (step 3 above). But the paste block in step 4 is the primary handoff mechanism.

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Anti-Patterns

• Don't pad — Empty sections should be omitted, not filled with "N/A"
• Don't be vague — "worked on stuff" is useless; "added volume.nix keybinds for wpctl" is useful
• Don't include the whole conversation — This is a summary, not a transcript
• Don't speculate — Only include things that actually happened or were actually decided