# Session Handoff > Use when the user says "session handoff", "wrap up session", "hand off", "handoff summary", "let's wrap up", or wants a structured summary before switching tools or starting a fresh session. Produces a chat-only handoff of a marketing, research, or automation session (across Chat, Cowork, or Code) covering decisions, key files/links, automations set up, and open questions, so a fresh session can continue without re-explaining everything. Manual trigger only — never runs proactively. - Skill: `chadjardine/session-handoff` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add chadjardine/session-handoff` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/chadjardine/session-handoff/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Marketing & Growth - Author: chadjardine (https://skillmd.com/u/chadjardine) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/chadjardine/session-handoff --- # Session Handoff Produce a repeatable end-of-session summary so the user can start a fresh session (in Chat, Cowork, or Code) without losing continuity. The next session should be able to pick up by reading this summary alone — plus whatever files/links it points to. This is a **context-handoff artifact**, not a status report and not a retrospective. The audience is a future instance of you (or a colleague), not a client or stakeholder. The user's work is typically marketing, research, or automation — buyer personas, positioning, campaigns, SEO audits, briefs, decks, spreadsheets, scheduled tasks, connector-driven lookups. It is usually NOT software engineering. Do not assume git, code, or a dev environment. If a session genuinely did involve code (e.g. in Claude Code), fold that in using the "Key files & links" and "Automations & running state" sections below — don't force it into engineering-specific structure. ## When to invoke Only when the user asks. Trigger phrases: "session handoff", "wrap up session", "hand off", "handoff summary", "let's wrap up", "summarize before I switch", "summarize before I clear/reset". Do not invoke proactively — do not offer it unprompted, even if the conversation is long or the user mentions starting fresh. Wait to be asked. ## How to produce the summary 1. **Review the full conversation**, not just the last few turns. Handoffs miss things when they only summarize recent exchanges — pull from the whole session. 2. **Pull state from what actually happened this session:** - Decisions made and why (persona chosen, positioning locked, channel prioritized, budget set, etc.) - Content or documents produced — decks, docs, spreadsheets, briefs, posts, audits — with their actual titles and locations (file path, artifact name, or URL) - Any connector or tool actions taken that changed something outside the chat: emails drafted, CRM records touched, calendar events created, scheduled tasks set up, artifacts created, files saved to a connected folder - Skills used this session (e.g. problem-usp-builder, seo-audit, watering-hole-analysis) and what they produced - Questions the user was asked that never got a clear answer, or things the user asked that got deflected or left unresolved - What surface this happened in (Chat, Cowork, or Code) if it affects what continuity means — e.g. a scheduled task or connector action only persists in Cowork; a Chat conversation has no files or connectors at all 3. **Do not audit outside the conversation.** This is synthesis of what happened in THIS session. Don't re-research, don't re-run tools to "double check," don't go digging through unrelated files. 4. **Produce the output in chat only.** Do not write a file. Do not create an artifact. Do not save to memory or as a skill. Chat-only, every time. ## Output template — use exactly this structure, every time ``` # Session Handoff — ## Where it started <2-3 sentences: what the user asked for, key framing, constraints, or audience that emerged> ## Decisions made + what was produced - — - ... ## Key files & links for next session - `` — - ... (or "none" if nothing was produced) ## Automations & running state - Scheduled tasks created: — or "none" - Connector actions taken (emails drafted, CRM/records touched, calendar events, etc.): — or "none" - Live artifacts created: — or "none" ## Open questions - — - ... (or "none") ## Where things stand <1-3 sentences, purely factual: what's done, what's mid-flight, what was left untouched. No recommendation on what to do next — that's for the next session to decide.> ``` ## Hard rules 1. **Chat output only.** Never write the handoff to a file, artifact, or memory. 2. **Never invent state.** If a section has nothing to report, write "none" — do not omit the section. A stable structure is the whole point. 3. **Use real names and locations, not vague references.** "The positioning doc" is not good enough — name the actual file, artifact, or URL. 4. **No recommendations.** Do not suggest what the next session should do, and do not recommend which skill to use next. State facts and open questions only; let the next session (or the user) decide. 5. **No retrospective.** No "what went well," no praise, no self-assessment. Terse and concrete. 6. **Note the surface (Chat / Cowork / Code) when it matters** — e.g. flag that a scheduled task or connector action only exists because this was a Cowork session, so the next session knows it doesn't need to recreate it. ## Anti-patterns — do not do these - Summarizing only the last few turns and calling it a handoff. - Vague file/doc references instead of actual names, paths, or links. - Recommending next steps or naming a skill the next session "should" use. - Skipping a section because it's empty — write "none" instead of omitting it. - Writing the summary to a file, artifact, or memory. This is chat-only by design. - Adding a "what went well / what went poorly" retrospective. This isn't a retro.