handoff

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• SKILL.md

SKILL.md (first lines)

<!-- Generated from skills/sw-handoff/SKILL.md by scripts/build/generate-skills.mjs. Edit the source, then npm run build. -->

# sw-handoff: "hand off" here, "pick up" there

The user should never have to copy a prompt. Two words each way.

## Hand off

When the user says "hand off", "handoff", "I'm out of tokens", "switching to Codex" or
"switching accounts", run:

```bash
specweave handoff --reason "<their words>"
```

It releases your task claims, records the handoff in the ledger, writes `handoff.md`
next to the increment, pushes the branch, and pushes a snapshot of your uncommitted
edits to the `specweave-handoff` branch (and `wip/<branch>`). Your working tree,
index and branch are untouched. Relay its two or three lines as they are, then tell
the user: say "pick up" in the other tool.

Before handing off, make sure your last `task claim` / `task done` carried `--line`
(the card text) and, for done work, `--link` (PR, report or artifact); the next agent
reads the checklist, not your transcript.

Add `--next "<exact next step>"`, `--gotcha "..."` or `--decision "..."` only for what
the files cannot tell the next agent. No Git remote and another machine:
`--inline` prints a prompt to paste instead. `--no-push` keeps it local.

## Hand off everything (switching accounts with many threads)

When the user switches accounts or tools with several increments in flight ("hand off
all", "switching subscriptions"), run:

```bash
specweave handoff --all --reason "<their words>"
```

It writes `.specweave/handoffs/<date>-INDEX.md` and `index.json`: one row per active
increment (tasks done/total, open ACs, last activity, what it waits on, a paste-ready
resume prompt) and every nested checkout (`repositories/<org>/<repo>` or any folder
up to three levels down with its own `.git`, and their worktrees) with uncommitted files, unpushed
commits or a branch with no remote, with its open PR when `gh` is installed. It is
read-only toward everything else: no claims released, nothing committed or pushed in
the umbrella or the nested repos. Commit and push the local-only work it lists, or say
so in your reply. `--dry-run` prints the index without writing it.

A wait is a ledger line `{"t":"*","e":"wait","by":"<you>","at":"<ISO time>","note":"Anton: typed go for the cutover"}`
or a `Waits on: ...` line in the increment's `handoff.md`; a `wait` with the note
`resolved` clears the earlier ones.

On the other side, "pick up all" is `specweave pickup --all`: the newest index,
actionable increments first, then the ones waiting on a person. Start each topic with
its resume prompt, then `specweave pickup <id>` and sw-do, which closes each one
whose tasks all end up done.

## Your hand-written handoff is kept

`specweave handoff` never overwrites a `handoff.md` that a person wrote (one without the
`<!-- Doc format v2 -->` marker); the generated doc goes to `handoff.auto.md` beside it.
Text between `<!-- keep -->` and `<!-- /keep -->` in a generated doc survives the next
`handoff`.

## Hand off by itself

The user runs `specweave auto-handoff on` once (Claude Code, Codex and Grok Build, on
their own machine; not in cloud sessions). By default (`--mode suggest`) a session that
reaches 95% of the 5-hour or weekly limit gets a heads-up from the Stop hook: tell the
user in one line that they can say "hand off", and keep working. Do not hand off on a
heads-up. With `--mode enforce` the Stop hook instead asks you to hand off: run the
handoff it names and stop. Neither happens when the full windows reset within 30 minutes
(`--wait-under`), since waiting is cheaper. In both modes a Claude Code or Grok turn that
hits the limit outright hands off from a hook. `auto-handoff status` shows the mode, the
hooks and the last usage reading.

Claude Code also warns the model itself near and at the 5-hour limit, with a note that
starts "[Usage limit approaching" or "[Usage limit reached". "Approaching" is a
heads-up: mention it in one line and keep working. "Reached" is the handoff moment
unless auto-handoff is in checkpoint mode (`--mode checkpoint` / `--checkpoint-only`) or
you are inside SpecWithCode; then mention it in one line and keep working. Otherwise
finish the current edit, run `specweave handoff --reason "usage limit"` (one command; it
needs no summary from you) and stop.

Between handoffs every hook also saves a local checkpoint under
`~/.specweave/checkpoints/` (no model, network, push or claim change; `pickup` does
not apply it). `auto-handoff on --checkpoint-only` keeps only those checkpoints, for
plans where credits or a proxy keep working past the limit, and never hands off on a
usage note. Inside SpecWithCode
(`SPECWEAVE_STUDIO_THREAD_ID` is set) do not hand off on a usage note: SpecWithCode switches
the thread to another provider between turns, and a handoff would release its claims.

## Pick up

When the user says "pick up", "pick up here", "continue" or "continue from the other
account", run `specweave pickup`. It fetches the last handoff, moves this branch
forward to it and applies the handed-off edits (only on a clean tree), then prints the
increment's card checklist, the next task with its acceptance criteria and any notes.
For a status at any time, `specweave cards --md` prints the same checklist. If it reports
uncommitted changes or a diverged branch, do what it says; never discard the user's
edits. Then continue with sw-do, which closes the increment through sw-done once its
last task is done.

Several sessions can hand off in one project (each increment's handoff, and a session
that hit the limit in a worktree or with several increments active). `specweave handoff
list` shows them, newest first, with short ids: an increment's number such as `0874`,
or the worktree's folder name. When the user names one ("pick up 0874", "pick up the
studio release"), run `specweave pickup <what they named>`. With none named, `pickup`
takes the newest and lists the others; say in one line which one you took. If the name
matches several, it lists them and changes nothing: ask which one, or take the one the
conversation makes clear. A session handoff's edits are still in its own checkout:
work there.

## Notes and the record

- `specweave note "<text>"` leaves a message for whoever works on the increment next.
- `specweave report` writes an HTML timeline of who did what: tools, sessions,
  handoffs, pickups, evidence.

## Manual path (no CLI)

From anton-abyzov/specweave, MIT.

More from anton-abyzov/specweave