The /handoff Skill
Quickstart:
npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill=handoff
npx skills update handoff
What it does
handoff compacts the current conversation into a handoff document — a single write-up a fresh agent can read to pick up the work where you left off.
It does not re-state what already lives elsewhere. Anything captured in a spec, plan, ADR, issue, commit, or diff is referenced by path or URL, never copied. The document carries only the live thread — what you were doing, why, and what's next — and it's saved to your OS's temporary directory, not into the workspace, so it never becomes another artifact to maintain.
When to reach for it
You invoke this by typing /handoff — the agent won't reach for it on its own. Pass a note about what the next session is for and the document is tailored to it.
Reach for this when a conversation has gone long enough that its context is at risk — you're near a context limit, wrapping for the day, or deliberately handing the work to another agent — and you want the thread preserved without dragging the whole transcript along.
What the document carries
- The live thread — what's in flight and why, in the conversation's own terms, minus anything already written down elsewhere.
- Suggested skills — a pointer to the skills the next agent should reach for to continue.
- References, not copies — links and paths to the specs, plans, ADRs, issues, and diffs that hold the settled detail.
- Redacted secrets — API keys, passwords, and PII stripped before the document is written.
The idea to hold onto is compaction: a handoff is the conversation squeezed down to just its resumable core, so a fresh agent inherits the momentum, not the noise.
Where it fits
handoff is a reach-for-it-anytime standalone — it sits at the seam between two sessions rather than inside a build chain. It pairs naturally with the artifact-producing skills whose output it points at: to-spec, because a finished spec is exactly the kind of settled detail a handoff references instead of repeating. When you're unsure which skill fits the moment, ask-matt routes you.