Agent skill

Session Handoff

Synthesizes the current session into a structured HANDOFF block for context transfer between sessions.

Install Session Handoff

skills CLI

$ npx skills add SethGammon/Citadel --skill session-handoff -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install SethGammon/Citadel session-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/SethGammon/Citadel.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/session-handoff .claude/skills/session-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/

Paste into Claude Code

Install the "session-handoff" agent skill from https://github.com/SethGammon/Citadel/tree/main/skills/session-handoff into .claude/skills/session-handoff/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "session-handoff", then confirm the skill loads.

Claude Code copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

$skill-installer

$skill-installer install https://github.com/SethGammon/Citadel/tree/main/skills/session-handoff

Type this inside Codex. $skill-installer <name> installs a curated skill from openai/skills. The installer writes to $CODEX_HOME/skills (default ~/.codex/skills). Restart Codex if the skill does not show up.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add SethGammon/Citadel --skill session-handoff -a codex

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install SethGammon/Citadel session-handoff --agent codex

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/SethGammon/Citadel.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/session-handoff .agents/skills/session-handoff && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.

Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/

Paste into Codex

Install the "session-handoff" agent skill from https://github.com/SethGammon/Citadel/tree/main/skills/session-handoff into .agents/skills/session-handoff/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "session-handoff", then confirm the skill loads.

Codex copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add SethGammon/Citadel --skill session-handoff -a cursor

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install SethGammon/Citadel session-handoff --agent cursor

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/SethGammon/Citadel.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/session-handoff .cursor/skills/session-handoff && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.cursor/skills/ instead of .cursor/skills for a personal install.

Cursor skills documentation · loads skills from .cursor/skills/, .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/, .codex/skills/

Paste into Cursor

Install the "session-handoff" agent skill from https://github.com/SethGammon/Citadel/tree/main/skills/session-handoff into .cursor/skills/session-handoff/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "session-handoff", then confirm the skill loads.

Cursor copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

gemini skills install

$ gemini skills install https://github.com/SethGammon/Citadel.git --path skills/session-handoff

--scope user (default) or --scope workspace; --path is the subfolder of the repo that holds the skill; --consent skips the security confirmation prompt.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add SethGammon/Citadel --skill session-handoff -a gemini-cli

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install SethGammon/Citadel session-handoff --agent gemini-cli

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/SethGammon/Citadel.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/session-handoff .gemini/skills/session-handoff && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.gemini/skills/ instead of .gemini/skills for a personal install, then run /skills reload.

Gemini CLI skills documentation · loads skills from .gemini/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into Gemini CLI

Install the "session-handoff" agent skill from https://github.com/SethGammon/Citadel/tree/main/skills/session-handoff into .gemini/skills/session-handoff/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "session-handoff", then confirm the skill loads.

Gemini CLI copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install SethGammon/Citadel session-handoff

Installs for Copilot at project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Preview a skill first with gh skill preview. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

skills CLI

$ npx skills add SethGammon/Citadel --skill session-handoff -a github-copilot

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/SethGammon/Citadel.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/session-handoff .github/skills/session-handoff && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.copilot/skills/ instead of .github/skills for a personal install. Commit .github/skills so cloud agent and code review can use it.

GitHub Copilot skills documentation · loads skills from .github/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into GitHub Copilot

Install the "session-handoff" agent skill from https://github.com/SethGammon/Citadel/tree/main/skills/session-handoff into .github/skills/session-handoff/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "session-handoff", then confirm the skill loads.

GitHub Copilot copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add SethGammon/Citadel --skill session-handoff -a opencode

OpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install SethGammon/Citadel session-handoff --agent opencode

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/SethGammon/Citadel.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/session-handoff .opencode/skills/session-handoff && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.config/opencode/skills/ instead of .opencode/skills for a personal install.

OpenCode skills documentation · loads skills from .opencode/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into OpenCode

Install the "session-handoff" agent skill from https://github.com/SethGammon/Citadel/tree/main/skills/session-handoff into .opencode/skills/session-handoff/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "session-handoff", then confirm the skill loads.

OpenCode copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

Facts

Skill name: session-handoff
GitHub stars: 922
Token cost: ~942 tokens
SKILL.md length: 470 words
Files: 3
Skills in repo: 48
Repo updated: Oct 1, 2026
First seen: Oct 7, 2026
Licence: MIT

At a glance

Synthesizes the current session into a structured HANDOFF block for context transfer between sessions.

Works in 4 steps: Collect session data (run in parallel) → Identify the primary thread: If an… → Map data to HANDOFF fields → …
Tasks that involve Session handoff
SKILL.md covers Orientation, Protocol, Output Format and Quality Gates, plus 3 more sections
Calls git

What it does

Session Handoff is an agent skill from SethGammon/Citadel. Synthesizes the current session into a structured HANDOFF block for context transfer between sessions. Captures what was built, decisions made, and unresolved items.

Its SKILL.md is about 940 tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 3 other files (for example `__benchmarks__/mid-campaign.md` and `__benchmarks__/no-active-work.md`).

It sits in Agent Workflows, covering Session handoff. It works with Git. The repository describes itself as: The operating layer for Claude Code + OpenAI Codex: persistent project memory, intent routing, safety hooks, cost telemetry, and parallel agent fleets. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

Tasks that involve Session handoff

Example prompts

“Use the session-handoff skill to synthesiz the current session into a structured HANDOFF block for context transfer between sessions”
“/session-handoff”

Workflow steps

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

Collect session data (run in parallel)
Identify the primary thread: If an active campaign exists, use its current phase as the anchor. If multiple campaigns are active, list…
Map data to HANDOFF fields
Output the HANDOFF block.

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit e41ff1d. 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
Shell commands in SKILL.md call:
- git
From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.
Network
No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use git, which can reach the network depending on how they are called.
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.

Context cost

Session Handoff loads about 942 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 45 tokens; SKILL.md has 470 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it: ~45
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches: ~942

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 SethGammon/Citadel at commit e41ff1d, republished under its MIT licence (© SethGammon). 470 words, ~942 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/session-handoff/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 2 other files; get the full folder from GitHub.

name: session-handoff
description: Synthesizes the current session into a structured HANDOFF block for context transfer between sessions. Captures what was built, decisions made, and unresolved items.
license: MIT
user-invocable: true
auto-trigger: false
trigger_keywords: handoff, session summary
last-updated: 2026-03-20

/session-handoff — Context Transfer

Orientation

Use when ending a session and wanting to preserve context for the next one. Also used automatically by orchestrators (Archon, Fleet) at session boundaries.

Don't use when: You want to extract reusable patterns from a completed campaign (use /learn), write a structured postmortem for a failed campaign (use /postmortem), or produce documentation rather than a context transfer.

Protocol

Collect session data (run in parallel):
- git log --oneline -20 and git diff HEAD --stat
- Read .planning/campaigns/ for files with status: active
- Read .planning/fleet/ for files with status: active or needs-continue
Identify the primary thread: If an active campaign exists, use its current phase as the anchor. If multiple campaigns are active, list each. If no campaign, use the most recent git commits as the frame.
Map data to HANDOFF fields:
- What changed: campaign phase output if campaign active; otherwise commit subjects from this session
- Key decisions: commit messages with a tradeoff word ("instead", "because", "not"); or explicit statements from the conversation
- Unresolved items: campaign items marked blocked or parked; TODOs added this session; anything explicitly deferred
- Next steps: campaign's next phase if active; otherwise the top open item from above
Output the HANDOFF block.

Output Format

---HANDOFF---
- {what was built or changed — be specific}
- {key decisions and tradeoffs — include reasoning}
- {unresolved items — what's blocking}
- {next steps — what the next session should do first}
---

Keep it to 3-5 bullets, under 150 words. This is a context transfer, not a report.

Quality Gates

Every bullet must be actionable or informative
No vague statements ("made progress on X")
Specific file references where relevant
Decisions include reasoning, not just the choice

Show full SKILL.md (223 more words)Show less

Fringe Cases

.planning/ does not exist: Skip campaign and fleet checks. Treat as "no active campaigns" and proceed with git-only context.

Corrupted or unparseable campaign file (malformed frontmatter, invalid status, or truncated content in .planning/campaigns/): Skip that file and treat it as inactive. Output: "Campaign file at {path} could not be parsed — treating as inactive. Check the file manually if this is unexpected."

No active campaign and no git changes: If there is nothing to summarize, say so explicitly: "No active campaign or session changes found. Nothing to hand off." Do not fabricate a handoff.

No context to summarize (fresh session with no edits): Output a minimal handoff noting the session start state. At minimum, include what the user asked about and what was found.

Campaign is in a blocked/parked state: Include the block reason and the recommended next action in the handoff so the next session can resume immediately.

Contextual Gates

Reversibility: Green — this skill writes nothing to disk; the HANDOFF block is display-only. Cost: No cost actions — synthesis only; no agents spawned, no confirmation needed. Trust: No gates — safe at all trust levels.

Exit Protocol

Output the HANDOFF block and then wait for the next command. This skill does not write to disk — the HANDOFF block is the deliverable, for the user to copy into the next session or save manually.

Files

SKILL.md and 2 other files in skills/session-handoff of SethGammon/Citadel.

SKILL.md
__benchmarks__/mid-campaign.md
__benchmarks__/no-active-work.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit e41ff1d

Compare with similar skills

Session 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.

Session Handoff compared with similar skills
Skill	Stars	Used in	Tokens	Auto-check	Licence	Repo updated
Session Handoff this skillSethGammon/Citadel	922	—	~942	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	6 days ago
Beads Task Memorygastownhall/beads	28k	—	~1.2k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	today
Session History Searchslopus/happy	24k	—	~3.1k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	today
Codewhale Session Handoffcodewhale-hq/Codewhale	41k	—	~1.1k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	today
Auditopenwpm/OpenWPM	1.4k	—	~676	Automated safety check: Pass	Custom licence	2 days ago
MemorixAVIDS2/memorix	835	—	~516	Automated safety check: Pass	Apache-2.0	5 days ago

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Beads Task Memory
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Tracks multi-session work with dependencies in the bd issue tracker so the agent can find ready tasks and recover its context after conversation compaction.
28k GitHub stars~1.2k tokensUpdated today
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Audit
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Memorix
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Session Catchup and Handoff
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Questions about Session Handoff

What does Session Handoff do?

Synthesizes the current session into a structured HANDOFF block for context transfer between sessions. Session Handoff is an agent skill from SethGammon/Citadel. Synthesizes the current session into a structured HANDOFF block for context transfer between sessions.

When should I use Session Handoff?

Session Handoff fits situations like: tasks that involve Session handoff.

How do I install Session Handoff in Claude Code?

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

How do I install Session Handoff in Codex?

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

Can I use Session 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 SethGammon/Citadel --skill session-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/session-handoff, .gemini/skills/session-handoff, .github/skills/session-handoff and .opencode/skills/session-handoff in your project.

What does Session Handoff need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Session Handoff needs the command-line tools its instructions call (git).

Does Session Handoff access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Its commands use git, which can reach the network depending on how they are called. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Session 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 Session Handoff use?

Session Handoff is published under the MIT licence (declared in SKILL.md). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Session Handoff use?

About 942 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 3.8k 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 Session Handoff?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Session Handoff: Beads Task Memory (gastownhall/beads, 28k stars), Session History Search (slopus/happy, 24k stars), Codewhale Session Handoff (codewhale-hq/Codewhale, 41k stars) and Audit (openwpm/OpenWPM, 1.4k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Session Handoff?

SethGammon (a GitHub user) maintains it in SethGammon/Citadel, which has 922 GitHub stars. The repository holds 48 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 1, 2026.

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

Install Session Handoff

Facts

At a glance

What it does

When your agent uses it

Example prompts

Workflow steps

What it can do on your machine

Tool permissions

Runs code

Network

Credentials

Context cost

Safety

SKILL.md

/session-handoff — Context Transfer

Orientation

Protocol

Output Format

Quality Gates

Fringe Cases

Contextual Gates

Exit Protocol

Files

Compare with similar skills

Similar skills

More from SethGammon/Citadel

Related

Questions about Session Handoff