# Design Handoff

> Prepare and deliver design handoffs that give engineering everything needed to implement accurately — specs, states, assets, and intent. Use when transitioning designs into development, reducing implementation ambiguity, or improving design-dev collaboration.

- Skill: `itsual/design-handoff` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add itsual/design-handoff`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/itsual/design-handoff/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: itsual (https://skillmd.com/u/itsual)
- Updated: 2026-09-21
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/itsual/design-handoff

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# Design Handoff

## Overview

Handoff is where design intent meets implementation reality. Clear handoffs reduce back-and-forth, bugs, and “that’s not what I designed” moments.

## When to Use

- Preparing approved designs for engineering
- Supporting implementation of complex interactions
- Improving design-dev workflow quality
- Documenting edge cases and responsive behavior

## What Good Handoffs Include

- Final (or clearly versioned) designs
- All relevant states (default, hover, active, disabled, error, empty, loading)
- Responsive / breakpoint behavior
- Interaction notes and motion specs
- Accessibility requirements
- Assets and redlines or token references
- Open questions and known constraints

## Principles

- Handoff is a conversation, not only a file drop
- Annotate intent, especially where visuals under-specify behavior
- Prefer design system components over one-off inventions
- Stay available during implementation for clarification
- Close the loop when implementation differs and why

## Verification

- [ ] Engineers can implement without guessing critical behavior
- [ ] States and edge cases are covered
- [ ] Accessibility and responsive expectations are explicit