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Agent skill

Handoff

by PromptPartner in PromptPartner/agentsmith

Checkpoint work for recovery — fires on "handoff", "wrap up", context pressure, a closed phase, or before a long external wait or irreversible gate.

MITAuto-check passed

Install Handoff

skills CLI
$ npx skills add PromptPartner/agentsmith --skill handoff -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install PromptPartner/agentsmith handoff --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/PromptPartner/agentsmith.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/handoff .claude/skills/handoff && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
handoff
GitHub stars
177
Token cost
~702 tokens
SKILL.md length
329 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
10
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Checkpoint work for recovery — fires on "handoff", "wrap up", context pressure, a closed phase, or before a long external wait or irreversible gate.

  • Works in 2 steps: Run agentsmith handoff [item-id] — use… → Fill the scaffolded sections (below),…
  • SKILL.md covers When this fires, Runtime neutrality, Fast path — if the Agentsmith… and Fallback — no CLI, plus 1 more section
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Handoff is an agent skill from PromptPartner/agentsmith. Checkpoint work for recovery — fires on "handoff", "wrap up", context pressure, a closed phase, or before a long external wait or irreversible gate. Part of the Agentsmith harness; writes durable state plus a paste-ready kickoff block so a fresh session loses nothing.

Its SKILL.md is about 700 tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts. Compatibility notes: Requires filesystem access and git; the fast path requires the cross-platform Agentsmith CLI.

The repository describes itself as: Universal, model-agnostic operating harness for AI agents (Claude, Codex, Gemini, …) — a lean core + work-type profiles assembled by one setup script. The licence is MIT.

Example prompts

  • “handoff”
  • “wrap up”
  • “/handoff”

Requirements

  • Compatibility (from SKILL.md): Requires filesystem access and git; the fast path requires the cross-platform Agentsmith CLI.

Workflow steps

2 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. Run agentsmith handoff [item-id] — use .agentsmith/agentsmith on macOS/Linux or
  2. Fill the scaffolded sections (below), then emit the kickoff block as your final message.

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit b293c3a. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md.

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

  • Compatibility

    Requires filesystem access and git; the fast path requires the cross-platform Agentsmith CLI.

    From compatibility in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

Context cost

Handoff loads about 702 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 69 tokens; SKILL.md has 329 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~69
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~702

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from PromptPartner/agentsmith at commit b293c3a, republished under its MIT licence (© PromptPartner). 329 words, ~702 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/handoff/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
handoff
description
Checkpoint work for recovery — fires on "handoff", "wrap up", context pressure, a closed phase, or before a long external wait or irreversible gate. Part of the Agentsmith harness; writes durable state plus a paste-ready kickoff block so a fresh session loses nothing.
compatibility
Requires filesystem access and git; the fast path requires the cross-platform Agentsmith CLI.

Handoff — memory first, then the kickoff

A fresh session has zero memory of this one; the handoff note is the only bridge. Run this whenever work winds down — even if no one asked (core/50).

When this fires

"handoff" / "wrap up" / "let's stop here" / context pressure / a closed phase / before a long external wait, merge, release, deployment, or other irreversible external gate.

Runtime neutrality

This workflow is identical in every client. Never infer the active agent from this skill's install path: portable canonical content may be copied into a required client adapter such as .claude/skills. Use “fresh chat” rather than a runtime-specific reset command so the note remains portable.

Fast path — if the Agentsmith CLI is available

  1. Run agentsmith handoff [item-id] — use .agentsmith/agentsmith on macOS/Linux or .agentsmith\\agentsmith.cmd on Windows when the command is not on PATH. It pre-fills branch/HEAD/dirty count and scaffolds .harness/handoffs/handoff-<stamp>.md with the standard sections.
  2. Fill the scaffolded sections (below), then emit the kickoff block as your final message.

Fallback — no CLI

  1. Safe state FIRST (core/50 step 1): commit or stash so nothing half-edited is lost. Never hand off a dirty tree silently.
  2. Write .harness/handoffs/handoff-<stamp>.md with these sections:
    • Recovery checkpoint — exact objective; repository/worktree; protected-state hashes; branch/commit and external identifiers; completed/skipped verification; active operation; next read-only recovery command; remaining authorized writes; stop conditions.
    • What shipped this session — with commit SHAs / PR links.
    • What is still pending.
    • Deviations / decisions made (so they're not re-litigated).
    • Exact next step — the single first action for the next session.
    • Gotchas a fresh session would otherwise re-derive.
  3. Emit a fenced "Kickoff prompt for a fresh chat" block: 3–6 sentences of self-contained prose (not bullets — they paste it straight in) covering the item id, branch + HEAD, what's done, the single next step, decisions already made, and the handoff note path.

Report

Name the handoff file, then end your message with the fenced kickoff block. If you notice mid-wrap that you haven't written the note yet, stop and write it before continuing.

© PromptPartner, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in skills/handoff of PromptPartner/agentsmith.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit b293c3a

Compare with similar skills

Handoff next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Handoff compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Handoff this skillPromptPartner/agentsmith177—~702Automated safety check: PassMIT
Session Handoff Documentthedotmack/claude-mem98k—~1.4kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Handoffnexu-io/open-design100k—~547Automated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Handoffalirezarezvani/claude-skills28k—~2.5kAutomated safety check: NotesMIT
Handoffalirezarezvani/claude-skills28k—~532Automated safety check: PassMIT
Session Handoff Writercodewhale-hq/Codewhale41k—~1.2kAutomated safety check: PassMIT

Similar skills

  • Session Handoff Document

    thedotmack/claude-mem

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  • Handoff

    nexu-io/open-design

    Push the run's accepted artifact to a downstream collaboration surface (cli, other code agents, cloud, desktop) and stamp the artifact manifest with the export target.

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  • Handoff

    alirezarezvani/claude-skills

    Compact the current conversation into a handoff document for another agent to pick up.

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    alirezarezvani/claude-skills

    Compact the current conversation into a handoff document for another agent to pick up.

    28k GitHub stars~532 tokensUpdated 1 mo ago
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  • Session Handoff Writer

    codewhale-hq/Codewhale

    Writes a compact handoff note from real git and CI state so the next session or a teammate can pick up the work without rebuilding the context.

    41k GitHub stars~1.2k tokensUpdated today
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  • Session Handoff

    sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills

    A skill your agent uses when context approaches capacity, before /clear or /compact, when switching tasks, or when ending a coding session: produces a structured handoff artifact for the next session.

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Questions about Handoff

What does Handoff do?

Checkpoint work for recovery — fires on "handoff", "wrap up", context pressure, a closed phase, or before a long external wait or irreversible gate. Handoff is an agent skill from PromptPartner/agentsmith. Checkpoint work for recovery — fires on "handoff", "wrap up", context pressure, a closed phase, or before a long external wait or irreversible gate.

How do I install Handoff in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add PromptPartner/agentsmith --skill handoff -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/handoff in PromptPartner/agentsmith) into .claude/skills/handoff in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Handoff in Codex?

Run `npx skills add PromptPartner/agentsmith --skill handoff -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/handoff in PromptPartner/agentsmith) into .agents/skills/handoff in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Handoff in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add PromptPartner/agentsmith --skill handoff -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/handoff, .gemini/skills/handoff, .github/skills/handoff and .opencode/skills/handoff in your project.

What does Handoff need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Handoff is instructions for the agent only. Compatibility (from SKILL.md): Requires filesystem access and git; the fast path requires the cross-platform Agentsmith CLI..

Does Handoff access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Handoff safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Handoff use?

Handoff is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Handoff use?

About 702 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 2.8k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Handoff?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Handoff: Session Handoff Document (thedotmack/claude-mem, 98k stars), Handoff (nexu-io/open-design, 100k stars), Handoff (alirezarezvani/claude-skills, 28k stars) and Handoff (alirezarezvani/claude-skills, 28k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Handoff?

PromptPartner (a GitHub user) maintains it in PromptPartner/agentsmith, which has 177 GitHub stars. The repository holds 10 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 7, 2026.

Source: PromptPartner/agentsmith on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.