agent-handoff-receiver

name	agent-handoff-receiver
description	Read and operationalize handoff artifacts created for a future AI agent, including operational handoff md files and compact conversation-context md files. Use when asked to take over, resume, continue from handoff docs, read AgentHandoff outputs, verify current state before acting, or prepare a safe next-step plan from prior agent documentation.

Agent Handoff Receiver

Overview

Use this skill when inheriting work from another agent. The goal is to become operationally safe before acting: understand the objective, recover recent user intent, verify live state, and identify the next low-risk step.

For a reusable checklist and response skeleton, read references/receiver-checklist.md when taking over a substantial project.

Core Workflow

1. Locate the artifacts the user provided or named. Prefer an operational handoff first, then a conversation context file, then linked project docs.
2. Read for hazards before plans: running jobs, services not to kill, GPUs/nodes to avoid, files not to overwrite, network/storage constraints, and destructive commands to avoid.
3. Extract the current objective, newest user request, latest successful artifact, latest failure, and immediate next action.
4. Verify live state before acting. Treat handoffs as potentially stale; check processes, jobs, logs, GPUs, branches, and file existence with targeted commands.
5. Reconcile conflicts in this order: newest user message, current live state, operational handoff, conversation context, older summaries.
6. Produce or internalize a ready-to-work brief: objective, hazards, current state, verification result, next command or edit, and open questions.
7. Continue the work only after the safety-critical facts are verified. Ask the user only for ambiguity that cannot be resolved locally and would create meaningful risk.

Reading Order

Use this order unless the user gives a different one:

1. Operational handoff md: current executable state and next steps.
2. Conversation context md: compressed earlier history and full recent dialogue.
3. Linked docs/scripts/configs: only the files needed for the next action.
4. Logs: use tail, rg, or bounded reads. Do not load huge logs wholesale.
5. Live environment: verify running services and resources before changing anything.

Conflict Handling

When artifacts disagree, state the conflict briefly and follow the most recent reliable source. Do not silently choose a risky interpretation.

Use these labels:

• confirmed: verified from live state or direct file/log evidence.
• stale: artifact says it, but live state has changed.
• unknown: not yet verified.
• assumption: reasonable but not proven.

Do Not

• Do not blindly rerun destructive commands, cleanup scripts, or broad process kills.
• Do not kill unknown jobs or services because an old handoff says they are stale.
• Do not read entire huge logs when targeted search is enough.
• Do not overwrite user changes or generated artifacts without checking.
• Do not treat compressed conversation summaries as exact quotes.
• Do not proceed with cluster or production changes until the relevant node/container/path is verified.