| name | sybra-handoff |
| description | Hand a researched, already-decided task off to Sybra for autonomous implementation or cross-provider review/testing. Use after you have explored a problem in an Orca (or any) git worktree, agreed on the approach, and want Sybra to skip its own planning and start at the right stage — reusing this exact worktree. Triggers on "hand this off to Sybra", "let Sybra implement this", "ship this to Sybra", "handoff to sybra". Works under Claude Code, Codex, and Copilot. |
| allowed-tools | Bash |
| user-invocable | true |
| argument-hint | [--stage STAGE | --status STATUS] [--title "..."] [--plan-file PATH] [--worktree-dir DIR] [--source-provider claude|codex|copilot|opencode] [--pr N] |
Sybra Handoff
Hand the current worktree's task to Sybra for autonomous implementation. The
human did the research and chose the approach here; Sybra takes the agreed plan
and implements it without re-planning, running its agents in this same
worktree so the work lands where you were just looking.
This is the Orca -> Sybra handoff point: Orca is the research/planning phase,
Sybra is the autonomous execution phase.
When to use
Hand off at whatever stage you have reached — Sybra picks up from there:
- You have a plan but have not implemented →
--stage implement (default).
- You have implemented locally and want cross-provider agentic review + PR →
--stage review
(aliases: ready-review, agentic-review).
- You have implemented and reviewed locally and want the testing gate →
--stage testing with a different provider.
- You have implemented, reviewed, and tested locally and want Sybra to open
or update the PR from this worktree →
--stage ready-pr. If the PR already
exists for this same worktree branch, pass --pr N with --stage ready-pr so
Sybra links and pushes the internal task rather than creating a duplicate PR.
In all cases the approach is decided and you want Sybra to carry it the rest of
the way autonomously. Do not use for exploratory work that still needs human
direction — keep that in Orca.
Use --status STATUS only when you explicitly want raw board placement with no
workflow dispatch. For agentic handoff, prefer --stage; stage aliases are
workflow entry points, not just column names.
What it does
sybra-cli handoff creates a task that skips straight to the requested stage —
no triage, no planning gate — and always reuses this git
worktree (--worktree-dir, default: cwd) instead of creating a fresh one: no
rebase, no force-push, and Sybra never deletes it.
Handoff only creates internal Sybra tasks. It must not route work into the
inbound/external PR-review lane (the lane for reviewing someone else's PR). Do
not use external PR stages such as --stage pr, --stage in-review, or
--stage pull-request; the CLI rejects those stages. Extra tags such as
review/handoff-pr are legacy external-lane markers and should not be passed
with handoffs.
sybra-cli handoff --status <status> creates the task directly in that status
with a handoff-manual tag and does not start any workflow. This is for
manual board placement only.
Stages:
- implement (default): flips to
in-progress; the implementation agent runs
now with your plan as context, then review → PR.
- review: flips to
ready-review; Sybra reviews your existing commits in the
worktree with a different provider and opens the PR (no implementation step).
- testing: flips to
testing; Sybra runs the adversarial testing gate in the
adopted worktree with a different provider and opens the PR if tests pass.
- ready-pr: flips to
ready-pr; Sybra opens or updates the PR from the
adopted worktree (no implementation, review, or testing step). With --pr N,
it links/pushes the existing PR for this same branch while staying an internal
Sybra task.
Workflow entry context
Pick the stage by the next workflow Sybra should run, not only by the visible
column label:
| CLI stage | Aliases | Workflow entry | Use when |
|---|
implement | in-progress | simple-task-handoff -> simple-task-implement | The approach is decided but code is not written. |
review | ready-review, agentic-review | simple-task-handoff-review -> simple-task-review | Code exists in this worktree and needs Sybra's review/test/PR flow. |
testing | test | simple-task-handoff-testing -> testing-task | Code has already had the review you want and only needs Sybra's test/PR flow. |
ready-pr | open-pr, create-pr | simple-task-handoff-ready-pr -> simple-task-pr | Code has already been reviewed and tested, and Sybra should open/update the PR from this worktree. Pass --pr N only here to link an existing same-branch PR. |
Important status distinction:
ready-review / agentic-review means "start Sybra's review workflow".ready-pr means "open or update a PR from this adopted worktree".--status in-review means "place this task in the in-review column without
starting any review workflow"; use this only when a human or another system is
handling the next action.
If unsure, inspect internal/workflow/builtin/*.yaml and choose the entry point
whose trigger matches the next agentic step. Do not add broad workflow-lane tags
such as review; handoff tasks must stay in the internal simple-task workflow.
Procedure
-
Confirm the worktree and branch. Run from the worktree root:
pwd && git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD && git remote get-url origin
The branch must not be the default branch (Sybra commits + opens a PR on it).
The origin remote must be a GitHub repo registered as a Sybra project.
-
Write the approved plan to a file. Synthesize the decision reached in this
session into a concrete, file-level plan (name the files and symbols to
change, the ordered steps, and how to verify each), then write it to a file
in the worktree — e.g. via a heredoc so this works with shell-only tools:
cat > ./.sybra-handoff-plan.md <<'PLAN'
... your file-level plan here ...
PLAN
A plan that names verify_jwt_token at auth/middleware.go:42 has been
thought through; one that says "update the auth code" has not. Write the
former.
-
Pick a clear title (type(scope): summary, ≤50 chars), e.g.
feat(auth): add jwt refresh middleware. Non-PR handoff stages keep the
worktree's existing branch — the title only names the task.
-
Run the handoff from the worktree root:
sybra-cli handoff \
--title "feat(auth): add jwt refresh middleware" \
--body "One-paragraph problem statement + the research context Sybra needs." \
--source-provider "<claude|codex|copilot|opencode>" \
--plan-file ./.sybra-handoff-plan.md
Set --source-provider to the provider running this skill: Claude Code uses
claude, Codex uses codex, and Copilot uses copilot. It is required for
--stage review and --stage testing, and recommended for --stage implement
and --stage ready-pr so provenance is visible on the task.
--stage review / ready-review / agentic-review to skip implementation
(you already coded it); --stage testing to skip implementation and
review; --stage ready-pr to skip directly to PR creation/update. Default
is --stage implement.--pr N is valid only with --stage ready-pr, where it links an existing
PR for the adopted worktree branch. Never use PR handoff as a review lane.--status STATUS is mutually exclusive with --stage and creates a manual
task in that exact status without workflow dispatch.--plan-file matters most for --stage implement; for later stages it is
optional context.--worktree-dir defaults to the current directory; pass it explicitly if you
run the command from elsewhere.--project is derived from the origin remote; pass --project owner/repo
only if derivation fails (the command will tell you).
-
Report back the printed task id and that Sybra is now implementing in this
worktree. The user can watch the changes land here live (e.g. in Orca's diff
view).
Failure handling
Notes
- Nothing about the handoff modifies your working tree — Sybra's agent does the
editing once it starts. Commit or stash anything you want preserved as-is first
if it matters.
- The handoff is one-directional. To stop it, manage the task in Sybra
(
sybra-cli update <id> --status cancelled).
