# Handoff > Capture a bounded subject from the current conversation as a frozen, self-contained snapshot in `.handoff/` — context a different work session can pick up cold. Written once, indexed nowhere, acted on only by a human. Use when a conversation surfaces something that belongs to a different piece of work. - Skill: `tandregbg/handoff` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add tandregbg/handoff` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/tandregbg/handoff/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Coding & Dev Tools - Author: tandregbg (https://skillmd.com/u/tandregbg) - Updated: 2026-09-21 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/tandregbg/handoff --- # /handoff -- Frozen Context Snapshots (CR-033) A conversation often surfaces a **bounded subject that belongs to different work**: a topic a colleague should hear about, a positioning question that belongs to a company document, a commitment whose execution is a separate job. `/handoff` writes that subject to `/.handoff/` as a **frozen, self-contained snapshot** — everything the receiving session needs, and nothing else. **The defining property: nothing picks it up.** No skill parses, indexes, summarises, sweeps or lints it. It generates no task, appears in no dashboard, and is never auto-archived. **A human opens it and starts new work from it.** That is the only way it moves. Isolation is the feature. The receiving session gets exactly one subject with no surrounding context — no links to chase, no adjacent threads bleeding in, no inherited assumptions. --- ## When to use it Write a snapshot when **all** of these hold: - The subject is **bounded** — it can be stated without the rest of the conversation - It belongs to **different work** than the session that produced it - Someone will **act on it later**, in a separate session or a separate head - It benefits from **arriving clean** — without the source conversation's context ### When NOT to use it | Situation | Use instead | |---|---| | Material going out to a named person, with a send event | `_outbox/` + `/outbox` | | A line of intent with an owner and a date | `_tasks.yaml` + `/tasks` | | Working material with no destiny | `.ephemeral/` (allowed to die, CR-024) | | A record of what a meeting covered | The meeting summary (`/transcript`, `/ops`) | | Durable knowledge worth synthesising across sources | `.knowledge/` via `/insights synthesize` | A snapshot that would need updating next week is the wrong artefact — that is a living document. --- ## Contract Six rules. They are the skill. 1. **Frozen.** Written once. Never updated as the world changes; it records what was true when captured. If the situation moves materially, write a **new** snapshot — do not edit the old one. 2. **Self-contained.** No wikilinks, no relative paths, no references to vault files. A reader with no vault access must be able to act on it. 3. **Bounded.** One subject per snapshot. Three separable subjects yield three snapshots. 4. **Not indexed.** No CHANGELOG entry, no README index, no `_insights.yaml`, no task generated. 5. **Read on explicit request only.** Opened because the user asked for it by name — never as part of a scan. 6. **Not archived.** Already frozen; archiving is a no-op. **For all other skills, `.handoff/` does not exist.** `/ops`, `/ops sweep`, `/ops lint`, `/ops normalize`, `/insights`, `/analytics` and `/daily-dashboard` must skip it the way they skip `.archive/` — regardless of urgency, sensitivity, or what the file says. --- ## Naming ``` .handoff/YYMMDD-handoff-.md ``` Slug rules follow the vault's general naming contract: `YYMMDD-` prefix always, the `handoff` role keyword always, Swedish characters preserved (`förberedelse`, not `forberedelse`). The subject slug names **the subject**, not the source meeting — the receiving session searches by topic. Good: `260828-handoff-medtech-transkribering-journalskrivning.md` Bad: `260828-handoff-marc-motet.md` (names the source, not the subject) --- ## Document structure ```markdown # Handoff snapshot: [subject] **{strings.handoff.captured}:** YYYY-MM-DD · **{strings.handoff.source}:** [conversation, date, duration] **{strings.handoff.scope}:** [what this covers -- and explicitly, what it does not] > **{strings.handoff.frozen_marker}** Self-contained by design: no links into the vault, > not indexed anywhere, not referenced by any living document. What is written here is what > was true on the day -- it is not maintained and does not track later changes. --- ## 1. [First substantive section] ## 2. [Second] ## N. [What was still open / undecided at capture time] ``` **Numbered sections.** A receiving session refers to "section 4" without ambiguity. **Close with what was open.** The most useful final section is what had *not* been decided when the snapshot was taken — it tells the receiving session where its work begins. **Write for a cold reader.** Assume no knowledge of the source conversation, the people in it, or the vault. Spell out roles on first mention. Where a figure came from a specific claim, say so. --- ## Confidentiality boundary Where the content came from a confidential conversation, the snapshot carries an explicit boundary block **at the top, before any content**: ```markdown > ## {strings.handoff.confidentiality_header} -- READ BEFORE USE > > [Where this came from, in one sentence.] > > **May be shared onward:** [the general signal -- market state, category movement, > a regulatory fact -- that the receiver should know regardless of source.] > > **May NOT be shared onward:** [the counterpart's own business -- terms, timing, > commercial arrangements, and that they were the source.] > > **Naming:** [whether the source may be named, and what to do if the receiver wants > to be connected.] ``` This is where the snapshot outperforms every other home: **the constraint travels with the content**, written while the source is still clear. A receiving session has the boundary in front of it instead of inferring it. Anonymise inside the body too — write "a market-leading vendor" rather than the name when the name is the restricted part. A snapshot that needs a boundary block *and* leaks the identity in section 3 has failed. --- ## Subcommands ### `/handoff ` (default) Capture the named subject from the current conversation. 1. **Bound the subject.** Identify what belongs and — explicitly — what does not. State the boundary back to the user before writing. 2. **Check the confidentiality question.** Did any of this come from a confidential source? If yes, draft the boundary block and **ask the user to confirm it** before writing. Never guess where the line falls. 3. **Draft self-contained.** Strip every vault link. Expand every reference that assumed the source conversation. 4. **Write** to `.handoff/YYMMDD-handoff-.md`. 5. **Report the path and nothing else.** No CHANGELOG, no task, no index entry. If the conversation yields several separable subjects, say so and offer one snapshot each — do not merge them. ### `/handoff list` List snapshots: filename, capture date, subject line. **Filenames and headings only** — never open or summarise contents. ### `/handoff read ` Open a named snapshot. This is the explicit request the read-lock requires. Partial name matching is fine; if ambiguous, list matches and ask. ### `/handoff help` Show subcommands and the six contract rules. --- ## Behaviour rules - **Never write a snapshot unasked.** Offering is fine ("this looks like it belongs to different work — snapshot it?"); writing without being asked is not. - **Never update an existing snapshot.** Correcting a typo is acceptable. Adding new information is not — that is a new snapshot. - **Never link a snapshot from a living document.** If a living document needs to point at the subject, it states the subject in its own words. - **Never generate a task from a snapshot.** The user decides whether the subject becomes work. A snapshot that silently spawns a task has broken the non-delivery property. - **Never read `.handoff/` during a scan.** Not for context gathering, not for cross-references (`/preparation` Step 2.5), not for insight extraction, not for sweeps. --- ## Out of scope - **Automation.** Nothing schedules, chases or reminds. A deadline belongs in a task that names the subject; the snapshot stays inert. - **Dashboards.** Surfacing handoffs in a daily view re-couples them to the flow they were extracted from. - **Synthesis.** `.knowledge/` (CR-027) synthesises across the corpus and is maintained. Handoffs are point-in-time and are not. - **Delivery.** A snapshot is never sent. If material is going to a person, that is `_outbox/`. --- ## String Resolution Template strings marked `{strings.handoff.*}` resolve per the standard order: org config `strings` -> language-matched defaults -> hardcoded fallback. | Key | English | Swedish | |---|---|---| | `strings.handoff.captured` | Captured | Fångad | | `strings.handoff.source` | Source conversation | Källsamtal | | `strings.handoff.scope` | Scope | Omfattning | | `strings.handoff.frozen_marker` | **Frozen snapshot.** | **Fryst ögonblicksbild.** | | `strings.handoff.confidentiality_header` | CONFIDENTIALITY BOUNDARY | SEKRETESSGRÄNS | Swedish output follows the vault's `swedish_chars: strict` rule — å, ä and ö in every word that needs them, in headings, body and filename slug alike.