Handoff Agent Skill

Writes this session's state into a handoff file.

Context cost
625 tokensestimated from the bundle, loaded when it triggers
Bundle
2 files · 2.5 kBtext throughout, nothing executable
Licence
MITthe author’s own terms
Last change
—no release on file
Servers it uses
Noneruns standalone

What it does

Writes this session's state into a handoff file. A fresh session can read the file and continue the work.

What this skill changes about the agent has not been set out here as a list. Its SKILL.md, shown below, says it in the author’s own words.

productivity

The skill itself

A skill is instructions the model reads, and here they are in full: the front matter loads with every session, and the body below it loads when the skill triggers. The other files in the bundle are listed further down.

SKILL.md2.3 kB
--- name: handoff argument-hint: "optional: the purpose of the next session" disable-model-invocation: true ---
8# Handoff
9
10Write the handoff for a stranger. The next session has no memory of this conversation. The handoff file is the only input that the next session gets.
11
12## Steps
13
141. **Write the handoff file.** The path is ${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/handoffs/{{repo-dirname}}/YYYY-MM-DD-{{slug}}.md. Create the folder if it does not exist. Handoffs are disposable. For this reason they go in the OS temp folder, not in the repository. Adjust the content to the purpose that the argument gives. If there is no argument, write for the most probable continuation of this session's work. Use exactly these sections:
15 - **Task and state** — the goal, the completed work, the work in progress, and the exact next action.
16 - **Decisions and why** — only decisions that are recorded nowhere else. If a decision is in a spec, an ADR, an issue, or a commit, give the path or the reference. Do not copy the content. A copy drifts from its source.
17 - **Pointers** — spec issue references, other issue references, the branch, and the key files.
18 - **Gotchas** — the dead ends that this session explored, and why they failed. This prevents the next session from an exploration of the same dead ends.
19 - **Commands** — exact commands: run the tests, start the application, and each command that this session had to discover.
20 - **Suggested skills** — the skills that the next session must invoke, in sequence.
21
22 Close the file with this line: *"This handoff is disposable — the temp folder cleans it up on its own."* Remove the secrets: keys, tokens, and personal data. This step is complete when a stranger can continue from the file alone, and the file has approximately 100 lines or fewer.
23
242. **Give the handoff to the user.** Show the full path. Show the first instruction for the next session, for example: Read /tmp/handoffs/{{repo}}/{{file}}, then invoke the implement skill. Tell the user that the system clears the temp folder at reboot. If a handoff must stay available longer, put it in a tracker note on the applicable issue. This step is complete when the user has the path and the first instruction.
25
This is the whole of SKILL.md. Install the skill to get it and everything beside it.
In the file
SKILL.md387 words
Files2
LicenceMIT
Why you can read it

Nothing in a skill executes. The client loads the text and the model follows it, so a skill can be audited the way a runbook is — by reading it.

What it costs in context

Skills are not billed by the call. They are paid for in context: every token the instructions occupy is a token your code, your diff and your conversation cannot use. Here is what this one takes and when it takes it.

≈60
always loaded
The name and description, so the model knows the skill exists and when to reach for it.
565
on trigger
The instruction body and 1 supporting file, read only when the skill fires.
0.31%
of a 200k window
Ten skills this size would take about 3% of the window before you open a file.
050k100k150k200k context window

625 tokens, estimated from the bundle at four bytes to the token, held for the rest of the session once it triggers. Small enough to keep loaded permanently without thinking about it.

Servers bill, skills cost

A server charges by the month. A skill charges once per session, in context, and then keeps charging it for as long as the session lives.

Before and after

The same question, put to the same model twice: once as it comes, and once with these instructions loaded.

No worked example has been published for this skill yet.

The procedure it runs

The procedure has not been set out here step by step. It is in the body of its SKILL.md, shown in full above.

Prose, not code

These steps are written for a model to follow, not executed by a runtime. It can still be told to skip one, and it will say so when it does.

Servers it uses

None. This skill calls no MCP servers at all.

Everything it needs is in the instructions, so it works in a project with nothing connected — the model reads the file and changes how it works with what it can already reach.

Its SKILL.md does not declare which tools it asks the agent for, so what it touches is whatever the instructions themselves ask for — read them before you install it.

What it asks for
Writes filesnot declared
Network accessnot declared

This SKILL.md carries no allowed-tools line, so neither is declared. A skill grants no permissions of its own — it can only ask for tools your client already has.

What it will not do

Every skill is narrow, and the useful ones say where they stop. These are the jobs this one is the wrong tool for.

What this skill is not for has not been published here. Nothing is implied by that: it is a section the author has not filled in.

What is in the bundle

2 files, 2.5 kB on disk. A bundle is text throughout: the instructions the model reads, plus the templates it fills in.

  • SKILL.md2.3 kB
  • agents/openai.yaml0.2 kB
What is not in it

No dependencies and nothing executable: a skill is text the agent reads, so the bundle is 2 files you can review in full before installing. The MIT licence covers the templates and examples as well as the instructions.

Install

Installing copies the bundle into your project. Nothing runs at install time — the files sit on disk until the model reads them.

# Handoff · 625 tokens when loaded · macOS, Linux mkdir -p .claude/skills && t=$(mktemp -d) && curl -fsSL -o "$t/bundle.tar.gz" https://mcprush.com/api/skills/builtbystef-handoff/bundle.tar.gz && tar -xzf "$t/bundle.tar.gz" -C "$t" && [ -d "$t/handoff" ] && { [ ! -e .claude/skills/handoff ] || { mv .claude/skills/handoff "$t/.previous" && echo "Previous copy moved to $t/.previous"; }; } && mv "$t/handoff" .claude/skills/ && echo "Installed .claude/skills/handoff"
On Windows, or any OS with Node 20+
npx mcprush@latest skill add builtbystef/handoff

Windows PowerShell says 'running scripts is disabled on this system'? Run Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser RemoteSigned once, or type npx.cmd instead of npx (codex.cmd, gemini.cmd, grok.cmd likewise). PowerShell 7 needs neither. Writes to .claude/skills/handoff/ in the current project. For every project instead, run mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && t=$(mktemp -d) && curl -fsSL -o "$t/bundle.tar.gz" https://mcprush.com/api/skills/builtbystef-handoff/bundle.tar.gz && tar -xzf "$t/bundle.tar.gz" -C "$t" && [ -d "$t/handoff" ] && { [ ! -e ~/.claude/skills/handoff ] || { mv ~/.claude/skills/handoff "$t/.previous" && echo "Previous copy moved to $t/.previous"; }; } && mv "$t/handoff" ~/.claude/skills/ && echo "Installed ~/.claude/skills/handoff" (macOS, Linux) — or add --global to the npx line. The curl line replaces .claude/skills/handoff/ only after the download succeeds, so files left there by another skill of the same name, or by an older release, do not mix in. A copy already there is moved aside, not deleted, and the line prints where.

Which clients pick it up on their own

A skill is a folder of text. Most of these read a skills folder and pick it up without being told; the rest take the same folder another way — an upload in the app, a parameter on an API call — and then choose it by its description just the same.

Claude Code.claude/skills/
Claude DesktopCustomize › Skills
ChatGPTSkills › Create › Upload
Cursor.cursor/skills/
VS Code.github/skills/
Codex CLI.agents/skills/
Gemini CLI.gemini/skills/
Grok Build.grok/skills/
Microsoft CopilotSkills › Upload a skill
PerplexityComputer › Skills › Upload a skill
DeepSeek Harness.dsh/skills/
Zed.agents/skills/
Devin Desktop.devin/skills/
Windsurf (legacy).windsurf/skills/
OpenAI Agents SDKInstructions or sandbox Skills
HTTP / APIa request parameter
This release
Versionnot versioned
Publishedno release date on file
PriceFree
Referencebuiltbystef/handoff

Versions

Its author publishes no version number, so there is nothing here to pin to: what you install is the folder as it stands today. Instructions change more often than APIs do — a skill can be rewritten entirely without anything it depends on moving.

Pinning

Nothing to pin to: this skill carries no version number of its own. What you install is what the folder holds on the day you install it.

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