# Handoff Work

> Safely persist in-progress state and write an actionable resumption brief for another machine, session, or developer. Use when handing off work, switching computers or workspaces, pausing mid-task, saving work-in-progress across environments, or transferring an unfinished objective. Do not use for routine status updates without environment transfer (use write-high-signal-update), fully completed deliverables ready to merge (use drive-to-delivery), or production cutovers (use execute-hard-cutover).

- Skill: `sylphxai/handoff-work` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add sylphxai/handoff-work`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/sylphxai/handoff-work/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Productivity
- Author: SylphxAI (https://skillmd.com/u/sylphxai)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/sylphxai/handoff-work

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# Handoff Work

A handoff transfers state across machines, sessions, or people without stranded work, leaked secrets, or missing context. An unfinished task on a remote branch is recoverable; work stranded on a local disk or in `git stash` is lost.

## State persistence and hygiene

Perfectionism that waits for tests to pass before committing strands work when switching environments. Commit in-progress work with a descriptive WIP message and push to a remote tracking branch.

`git stash` is host-local storage. It does not transfer across machines and creates false confidence that progress was saved.

Audit untracked files before staging (`git status -u`). Staging everything by reflex risks committing `.env`, local credential tokens, sqlite stores, or heavy build artifacts. Add newly introduced environment variable names to `.env.example` without secret values.

A commit without a successful `git push` leaves the successor stranded. Remote tracking confirmation is the completion proof of persistence.

## Environment and resumption

Document any non-committed prerequisite the successor needs to run: updated packages, new configuration flags, or background daemons.

Open [resumption brief template](references/resumption-brief-template.md) to format the handoff document or message.

Use `write-high-signal-update` for status updates without state transfer. Use `drive-to-delivery` when the deliverable is completed and ready to land.