Handoff

Session Handoff

Owns: temporary session continuity artifacts.

This skill creates a short-lived pointer document. It is not scheduler state. It is not a ticket-autopilot checkpoint. It is not the channel that passes context to a leaf, a worker, or a subagent: that channel is the schema-3 leaf-result contract of ticket-autopilot resume --events. It never replaces a spec, ticket, commit, issue, PR, or other durable source of truth.

Boundaries

Use this skill when the user wants a temporary context bridge for a fresh session. Do not use this skill to resume an existing run, serialize ticket state, or create durable project documentation; use ticket-autopilot or the owning workflow instead. Do not use it to hand context to a leaf, worker, or subagent, and never route leaf context through a handoff document. Leaf context is carried by the leaf-result contract described in ticket-autopilot, which binds it to an exact CandidateRef; a handoff carries no such binding and expires.

For every invocation, never write the handoff into the project workspace, repository, or another synced folder; do not stage, commit, or upload it. Store it only in the operating-system temporary directory.

Process

1. Identify the next session's purpose from the user's request. If no focus was supplied, state the narrow continuation goal supported by the conversation.
2. Collect only durable pointers: path, URL, issue or PR number, commit, or digest. Do not copy durable content already held by those artifacts.
3. Redact before writing. Replace credentials, tokens, cookies, personal data, and other sensitive values with the exact marker <REDACTED>. Do not copy the conversation transcript. Do not retain unnecessary command output.
4. Create a private directory with mktemp -d under the operating-system temporary directory. Require directory mode 0700; create HANDOFF.md with file mode 0600.
5. Write the artifact using the exact section order below. Keep every section concise and make Remaining work begin with one concrete next action.
6. Set an explicit UTC expiry that expires within 24 hours. Include the exact deletion command for the private handoff directory.
7. Verify that the resolved path is outside the workspace, the file is untracked, every section is present, and no sensitive or duplicated durable content remains.
8. Return control to the user. In chat, confirm only the path and expiry; do not echo the handoff contents.

Output contract

Write the artifact with this shape:

# Session handoff

## Purpose
<one sentence describing the next session>

## Durable pointers
- <path, URL, issue or PR number, commit, or digest plus why it matters>

## Remaining work
1. <one concrete next action>

## Limitations
- <unknown, unresolved decision, or evidence boundary>

## Redacted context
- <only the minimum non-sensitive fact needed to interpret a pointer>

## Suggested skills
- <skill name and the reason to invoke it>

## Expiry and deletion
- Created UTC: <ISO-8601 timestamp>
- Expires UTC: <ISO-8601 timestamp within 24 hours>
- Delete: <exact deletion command for this private temp directory>

Do not copy durable content into the handoff. Omit empty pointer entries, but never omit a section; write None when a section has no safe content.

Examples

• Use this skill: "Create a temporary handoff so a fresh session can continue the design investigation from the linked spec and commit."
• Do not use this skill: "Resume an existing run and continue U-06." That belongs to ticket-autopilot, whose ledger and checkpoints remain authoritative.
• Do not use this skill: "Write an ADR for this decision." Create the durable artifact through its owning workflow and link to it from a later temporary handoff if needed.