ferry

name	ferry
description	Ferry a session's live state across a context reset — persist a waybill document and signal the next fresh session to resume from it. Use when the user types /ferry, says they want to hand off, checkpoint, wrap up, clear context, or start fresh while preserving state, or asks to carry work into a new session with clean optimised context. Captures everything a brand-new session needs — task, status, next steps, key files, decisions, gotchas, git state — writes it to disk as waybill.md, arms a one-shot signal, and tells the user to /clear so the next session auto-loads it.
argument-hint	repo, tmp, commit (optional target; default repo)
allowed-tools	Bash, Read, Write

Ferry - Clean-Context Session Handoff

When this skill is invoked, IMMEDIATELY output the banner below before doing anything else. Pick ONE tagline at random — vary your choice each time. CRITICAL: Reproduce the banner EXACTLY character-for-character, preserving all leading spaces.

{tagline}

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Taglines:

• 📋 Filing the waybill for the crossing...
• 🧳 All aboard — carrying the context across!
• 🤝 Passing the waybill to a fresh crew!
• 📋 Waybill stamped, casting off to a clean session!
• 🌊 Ferrying the thread over calm water!
• 🛟 Nobody's work goes overboard on my watch!
• 🌅 New session on the far shore, same voyage!

---

What this does

Ferry the live state of this session across a context reset: capture it into a waybill document (waybill.md), arm a one-shot signal, and hand the user off to a clean session that will automatically resume from the waybill. The point is to reset the context window without losing the thread — the next session starts lean but fully briefed.

Long sessions accumulate noise: dead ends, superseded plans, stale file reads. A fresh session is faster and sharper, but naively starting over loses hard-won context. /ferry distills only what the next session needs, persists it, and signals that session to pick it up — once. It will not re-read old waybill on unrelated future sessions, because the signal is consumed on first read.

Usage

/ferry            # default: waybill.md in repo root, kept OUT of git
/ferry repo       # same as default (explicit)
/ferry tmp        # write under /tmp — never touches the repo at all
/ferry commit     # write docs/ferry/waybill-<timestamp>.md, meant to be committed

Read the argument from what the user typed. If none given, use repo.

Pre-flight

Before starting, check dependencies:

Dependency	Type	Check	Required	Resolution	Detail
git	cli	git rev-parse --show-toplevel	no	fallback	Not in a git repo → use cwd for repo mode; skip .git/info/exclude step
jq	cli	command -v jq	no	fallback	Signal loader falls back to sed + raw-stdout injection; no behavior change

Resolve the plugin root once for the signal command:

PLUGIN_ROOT="${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT:-$HOME/.claude/plugins/marketplaces/slamb2k}"

What to do

Work through these steps in order. Don't skip the verification at the end.

1. Resolve the target path

First get the repo root and a timestamp:

git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null   # repo root, or empty if not a git repo
date +%Y-%m-%d-%H%M

Then pick the path based on the argument:

• repo (default): <repo_root>/waybill.md. If not inside a git repo, use the current working directory instead. After writing, keep it out of version control by appending waybill.md to <repo_root>/.git/info/exclude if it's a git repo and not already listed there. This is a local ignore — it never modifies the tracked .gitignore, so it won't show up in anyone else's checkout or your diffs.
• tmp: /tmp/claude-ferry/<key>/waybill.md where <key> is printf '%s' "$(pwd)" | cksum | cut -d' ' -f1. Create the directory first. Nothing is written inside the repo.
• commit: <repo_root>/docs/ferry/waybill-<timestamp>.md. Create the docs/ferry/ directory if needed. Do not ignore it — this variant exists precisely so the waybill lands in git history as a durable checkpoint. Mention to the user that they'll want to commit it.

2. Write the waybill document

This is the core of the skill — the document quality determines whether the next session is productive or lost. Follow the structure in references/waybill-template.md. Read that file now if you haven't.

Fill it from the actual conversation and repo state, not generic boilerplate. Be concrete: real file paths, real function names, real commands, real decisions. Write for a competent engineer who has zero memory of this session — every assumption in your head right now is invisible to them unless you write it down.

Gather git state to embed in the document:

git -C <repo_root> branch --show-current
git -C <repo_root> status --short
git -C <repo_root> log --oneline -8

Optimise for their context budget: include what unblocks action, link to files rather than pasting large code, and cut the narrative of how you got here unless a dead end is a genuine landmine worth a warning.

3. Arm the one-shot signal

After the document is written, run (using the PLUGIN_ROOT resolved in pre-flight):

bash "$PLUGIN_ROOT/skills/ferry/scripts/ferry.sh" signal "<absolute_path_to_waybill>"

This drops a signal keyed to the current project directory. The next session's SessionStart hook — shipped with this plugin in hooks/hooks.json — detects it, injects the waybill as context, and deletes the signal so it fires exactly once. Use the absolute path.

4. Hand off to a fresh session

Tell the user plainly that the waybill is ready and they should start the fresh session themselves. You cannot trigger /clear programmatically — it is a user-only command — so the final step is theirs. Say something like:

Waybill written to <path> and the next session is armed. Type /clear (or /new) now — the fresh session will automatically load this waybill and pick up where we left off. Nothing else gets auto-loaded; the signal is consumed on first read.

Keep this final message short. The work is done; don't bury the one action they need to take.

Important constraints

• /clear is the user's to type. No skill, hook, or command can clear the context window automatically. Always end by asking them to do it.
• The signal is one-shot and project-scoped. It's keyed to the working directory and deleted on first read, so waybill never leaks into unrelated sessions. A waybill.md left sitting in a repo is inert unless re-armed.
• Don't pollute git by default. Only the commit variant is meant to be tracked. repo mode relies on .git/info/exclude; tmp mode stays entirely outside the repo.
• If /ferry is run again later, overwrite the existing document and re-arm the signal — the latest state wins.