Session Handoff Skill
Create structured documents that enable seamless continuity across Claude sessions.
When to Use
- Ending a work session for the day
- Before taking a break mid-task
- Switching to a different project temporarily
- When you want to capture state for a future session
- Before a context reset you know is coming
Handoff Process
Step 1: Assess Session State
Quickly assess:
- What phase are we in? (exploration, planning, implementation, debugging, review)
- What's the active task? (what we're trying to accomplish)
- How far along are we? (just started, mid-way, almost done)
Step 2: Ask What Matters
Ask the user:
"I'll create a handoff document. Is there anything specific you want to make sure I capture? (Key decisions, code snippets, context about the problem, things you'll forget, etc.)"
Step 3: Generate Handoff Document
Create a structured document:
# Session Handoff: [Brief Description]
**Date:** [YYYY-MM-DD] **Project:** [project name/path] **Session Duration:**
[approximate]
## Current State
**Task:** [What we're working on] **Phase:**
[exploration/planning/implementation/debugging/review] **Progress:** [where we
are - percentage or milestone]
## What We Did
[2-3 sentence summary of the session's work]
## Decisions Made
- **[Decision]** — [Rationale]
- **[Decision]** — [Rationale]
## Code Changes
**Files modified:**
- `path/to/file.ts` — [what and why]
- `path/to/other.ts` — [what and why]
**Key code context:** [Critical snippets or patterns to remember]
## Open Questions
- [ ] [Question needing resolution]
- [ ] [Question needing resolution]
## Blockers / Issues
- [Issue] — [current status]
## Context to Remember
[Important background, constraints, user preferences, domain knowledge - things
that would take time to re-establish]
## Next Steps
1. [ ] [First thing to do next session]
2. [ ] [Second thing]
3. [ ] [Third thing]
## Files to Review on Resume
- `path/to/key/file.ts` — [why it matters]Step 4: Write the File
Write to: .claude/handoffs/[YYYY-MM-DD]-[brief-description].md
Confirm location with user:
"I'll save this to .claude/handoffs/[filename].md. Want a different location?"What to Capture
Always Include
- Decisions with reasoning — The "why" is often more valuable than the "what"
- Code changes — File paths, what changed, the intent
- Current progress — Where in the task we stopped
- Next steps — Clear, actionable items to resume with
- User context — Constraints, preferences, domain knowledge they shared
Include When Relevant
- Errors encountered — And how they were (or weren't) resolved
- Dead ends — Approaches tried that didn't work (saves re-exploration)
- Key files — Files to read to get back up to speed
- External dependencies — APIs, services, tools involved
Skip
- Verbose tool output (file listings, grep results)
- Intermediate reasoning that reached conclusions
- Repeated similar operations
- Information that's obvious from the code
Format Guidelines
- Bullet points — Scannable over narrative
- File paths —
src/foo.ts:42not "that function" - Checkboxes for actions —
- []for next steps and open questions - Specifics — "Added retry logic to fetchUser()" not "made improvements"
Quality Check
Before saving, verify:
- Could a fresh Claude pick up from this? — Enough context to continue?
- Are decisions traceable? — Clear why things were decided?
- Are next steps actionable? — Know exactly what to do first?
- Is code work clear? — Know which files matter?
Using a Handoff Document
When starting a new session, the user can:
- Share the handoff file at session start
- Say "Resume from this handoff: [paste or path]"
- Reference it with @ mention if supported
The handoff should let you hit the ground running without lengthy re-explanation.
Example Handoff
# Session Handoff: Auth System Implementation
**Date:** 2025-01-15 **Project:** /Users/robert/projects/my-api **Session
Duration:** ~2 hours
## Current State
**Task:** Implementing user authentication for the API **Phase:** Implementation
**Progress:** ~60% - basic flow works, need refresh tokens
## What We Did
Built the core JWT authentication flow including token generation, validation
middleware, and login/logout endpoints. Hit an issue with key rotation that we
resolved by moving to config-based key paths.
## Decisions Made
- **JWT with RS256** — Stateless auth, works with distributed setup
- **Redis for refresh tokens** — Need revocation capability
- **15-min access token expiry** — Balance security/UX for mobile app
## Code Changes
**Files modified:**
- `src/auth/jwt.ts` — Token generation and validation logic
- `src/middleware/auth.ts` — Request authentication middleware
- `src/routes/auth.ts` — Login/logout endpoints
- `config/keys/` — RSA key pair storage
**Key code context:** Token validation uses RS256. Keys loaded from
`config/keys/` based on NODE_ENV.
## Open Questions
- [ ] Automatic vs opt-in refresh token rotation?
- [ ] Rate limit for login attempts? (User mentioned 10k DAU)
## Context to Remember
- Client is a mobile app - tokens need offline capability
- User has 10k daily active users - scale matters
- Using PostgreSQL for user storage
- User prefers explicit error messages over generic ones
## Next Steps
1. [ ] Implement `/auth/refresh` endpoint
2. [ ] Add rate limiting to `/auth/login`
3. [ ] Write tests for token expiry edge cases
4. [ ] Update API docs with auth flow
## Files to Review on Resume
- `src/auth/jwt.ts` — Core token logic
- `src/routes/auth.ts` — Current endpoint implementationKey Reminders
- Ask what matters to the user before generating
- Decisions need reasoning — capture the "why"
- File paths anchor the work — always include them
- Next steps should be immediately actionable
- Better slightly longer and useful than short and vague