About hand-off
hand-off is an agent skill for recording work so a fresh agent can resume it in a different harness without the skill installed. It follows a prescribed handoff format and links the new document through AGENTS.md.
Key features
- 01Create structured handoff documents
- 02Continue or fork handoff threads
- 03Track local or shared handoffs
- 04Update AGENTS.md pointers
- 05Verify files against the format
Use cases
- 01Pass ongoing work to a new agent
- 02Record a side task as a separate thread
- 03Prepare a repository for a later session
Install
Copy the command and run it in a terminal.
$
npx skills add https:/ / github.com/ dyrits/ skills --skill hand-offAfter installing, type/hand-offin Claude Code to confirm it loaded.
Bundled files
References and scripts installed along with SKILL.md.
apm.ymlagents/openai.yamlreferences/handoff-format.mdDetails
From the project READMEWrite a handoff document so a fresh agent, in any harness and with no skill installed, can continue the work. Read handoff-format.md first and follow it exactly.
Steps
- Settle local or shared. The repository already answers it when
.agents/handoffs/is listed in.gitignore(local-only), earlier handoffs are tracked (shared), or anAGENTS.mdnote says so; follow that without asking. Otherwise ask once: add.agents/handoffs/to.gitignorefor local-only history, or commit handoffs for shared history. - Place it in its thread. List
.agents/handoffs/. If this session continues a thread that already has a handoff (the one it was resumed from, or an earlier one it wrote), supersede the newest handoff of that thread. A side task forked off the current work starts a thread forked from it. Anything else starts a new thread. - Write a new file with the template's sections, in order, under its headings, including the "To resume" paragraph. Before marking a claim in State as verified, check it now (read the file, run the command); otherwise mark it assumed. If the user passed arguments, they describe the next session's focus: write Goal and Next for that focus.
- Update the pointer in the nearest
AGENTS.md, following the format's Pointer section: replace this thread's line, or add one, saying whether handoffs are shared or local. CreateAGENTS.mdwith that line if none exists. - Check both files against the format: every section present and in order, the "To resume" paragraph intact, the supersedes line names a file that exists, nothing copied that a source already records, nothing secret, and exactly one
AGENTS.mdline for this thread naming the new file. - Print the full path, and tell the user the next session finds it through
AGENTS.md, or can be pointed at the path directly.
Comments
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