# Resume Work

> Use when picking up prior or interrupted work — the user says "pick up where we left off", "continue the X project", "it crashed", "where did we leave off", "resume", "I can't find where I started this", or pastes a handoff note to continue from. Also use when the user asks to start a project that sounds like it may already exist.

- Skill: `danielonpurpose/resume-work` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add danielonpurpose/resume-work`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/danielonpurpose/resume-work/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: DanielOnPurpose (https://skillmd.com/u/danielonpurpose)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/danielonpurpose/resume-work

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# Resume Work

Counterpart to `wrap-session`. Crashed threads restarted from scratch, duplicate project folders, and blind handoffs all waste hours. This skill makes every resume start the same safe way: **find everything first, touch nothing until confirmed.**

**The iron rule: if prior artifacts exist, you never start fresh. "Start over" almost always means "I couldn't find it."**

## Step 1 — Hunt for ALL prior state (read-only)

Search in this order:
1. **Handoff notes** — `wrap-session` writes these. Check the project folder and any dashboards for `Handoff`, `RESUME`, `STATUS`, `checkpoint` files.
2. **Session history / transcripts** — search prior sessions for 2–3 keywords from the project name. They often contain the exact resume prompt.
3. **Disk** — search common work locations for the project folder, INCLUDING near-duplicate names (typos, `-2`, nested copies). List every match.
4. **Git** — if a repo, check `git log --oneline -10` and `git status` for uncommitted work.

## Step 2 — Inventory before touching

Produce a short state-of-the-work summary:
- What exists on disk (files, latest timestamps, which copy is canonical if duplicates)
- What was finished vs. mid-flight
- The recorded next action (from the handoff note or last transcript)
- How to launch/run it — state the exact command

## Step 3 — Confirm the resume point

Show the summary and the proposed next action. Wait for a yes before modifying anything. If the handoff came from another tool, flag anything that looks wrong or half-done rather than building on it silently.

**Never:**
- Rebuild something that exists because finding it was hard
- Create a new project folder without listing near-matches first
- Overwrite handoff files before reading them

## Step 4 — Work, then close the loop

Continue the work. When the session winds down, run `wrap-session` so the next resume starts from a handoff note instead of a hunt.