handoff

name	handoff
description	Compile session state into an authoritative kernel.handoff/v1 JSON manifest for bounded resume. Saves provenance, decisions, workflow phases, context policy, next steps. Triggers: handoff, save, pause, context, continue later.
user-invocable	true
allowed-tools	Read, Bash, Grep, Glob, Write
kernel	{"kind":"state_transition","version":2,"side_effects":"writes_meta","confirmation":"none","produces":["kernel.handoff/v1"]}

Compile the current task into an authoritative, resumable JSON manifest. The JSON file is CANONICAL. A markdown rendering may be generated for humans but is never a second source of truth.

Why manifest-first + bounded (EXP-L21): what a decision needs is flat (~50-70k tokens) regardless of session length; the accumulating transcript is almost pure decoration by late session. A handoff that says "read the conversation" recreates the waste. A handoff that pins exact selectors + phases lets the next session reconstruct ONLY the load-bearing state.

Reference: skills/context-mgmt/SKILL.md

<on_start>

agentdb read-start

</on_start>

Capture (these become manifest sections, not prose): - objective: goal, success_conditions (observable), non_goals - contract: governing _meta/contracts/ file if one exists, invariants, assumptions, decisions_accepted (+rationale), alternatives_rejected (+reason) — rejected paths are as valuable as accepted ones; they stop re-exploration - workflow.phases: name each phase of the work; status inherited (done, with evidence) | required (still to do). Add invalidation_rules: what live-state change would flip an inherited phase back to required. Rules use typed `when.event` plus optional `when.path_glob`; never prose trigger strings. - open_threads, warnings (failed approaches — never re-explore silently) - tier (1/2/3) in identity ```bash git branch --show-current && git rev-parse HEAD && git status --short git log --oneline -10 agentdb query "SELECT * FROM context WHERE type IN ('contract','checkpoint') ORDER BY ts DESC LIMIT 5" ``` Pin artifacts: for each file the next session must trust unchanged, `shasum -a 256 ` → provenance.artifacts[{path, sha256, purpose}]. uncommitted: commit with "wip: checkpoint before handoff" or stash (document it) push: push current branch to remote — a local-only handoff is stranded work Write `_meta/handoffs/{name}-{date}.json` conforming to schemas/kernel.handoff.v1.schema.json. ```bash "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT:-.}/orchestration/manifest/kernel-manifest" validate _meta/handoffs/{file}.json ``` A handoff that does not validate DOES NOT EXIST. Fix and re-validate before reporting done. Optional human rendering: a .md next to it, first line `# RENDERED FROM {file}.json — NOT AUTHORITATIVE`. 1. `kernel-manifest validate` passes (above) 2. Commit: "docs: handoff manifest for {name}" 3. Push to remote