| name | start-from-handover |
| description | Open the current Claude session against a previously-written handover file and continue from the Outstanding section. Use at the start of a fresh session when a prior session was checkpointed via context-gate, handover, or handover-with-tasks. Triggers on "start from handover", "load handover", "resume from handover", "pick up where the last session left off", "continue from the plan". |
Start From Handover
The receiving end of the context-gate workflow. The previous session wrote a handover plan; this skill loads it, validates the format, summarises what's there, and shifts the new session into "continue from Outstanding" mode.
This skill matches the canonical handover format defined in references/handover-template.md (schema claude-rudder/handover/v1).
When to use
- The user just opened a new Claude session and references a handover file
- The user says "start from handover", "load handover", "resume from ", "pick up the plan"
- A previous session ended with
context-gate and the user is now in the spawned session
Inputs
--path <file> (optional) — path to the handover file. If omitted, discover.
Discovery
If no path is given, look for handover files in this order:
<repo-root>/planning/handovers/handover-*.md (sorted newest-first by mtime)<repo-root>/.claude/handovers/handover-*.md (legacy location, accept but warn)${CLAUDE_USER_DATA:-${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}/claude-plugins}/claude-rudder/handovers/handover-*.md
Where <repo-root> is git rev-parse --show-toplevel if cwd is in a git repo, else cwd.
If multiple handovers are found, list the top 5 (newest first) with their written_at timestamp and reason from the frontmatter:
1. handover-2026-04-27-1842.md (15min ago) — "context cluttered after migration debug"
2. handover-2026-04-25-0930.md (2 days ago) — "end of work session"
...
Ask the user to pick. If only one exists, default to it after confirming.
Steps
1. Read and validate
Read the picked handover file. Verify:
- Frontmatter is YAML and includes
schema: claude-rudder/handover/v1 (warn if absent or mismatched, but proceed)
- Required sections exist:
Why this checkpoint, Original ask, Done, Outstanding, Pointers
- The
repo in frontmatter matches the current repo (warn if mismatch — the user might be intentionally resuming in a different repo, but flag it)
2. Show a session-orientation summary
Print this to the user before doing any work:
=== Resuming from handover ===
File: <absolute path>
Written: <written_at> by <agent_model> (<harness>)
Reason: <Why this checkpoint section, first sentence>
Original ask:
<Original ask section, condensed to ~2 lines>
Done in prior session (<n> items):
- <first 3-5 bullets>
...
Outstanding (<n> items):
- [ ] <each open checkbox bullet>
Open questions for you:
- <each question, if any>
Gotchas to remember:
- <each, if any>
=============================
If Open questions is non-empty, do not proceed — answer them with the user first. The prior session deliberately deferred these.
3. Confirm and shift mode
Ask the user:
Pick up from the Outstanding list? (yes / pick specific items / start fresh)
- yes → treat the Outstanding list as the new TODO. Work through items in the listed order unless the user redirects.
- pick specific items → user names which Outstanding bullets to tackle. The rest stay open.
- start fresh → user wants context but a different focus. Ack the handover, drop the resume-mode, await new instructions.
4. Execute
Once the user confirms, work through the Outstanding items. As each completes:
- Optionally update the handover file: change
- [ ] to - [x] in the Outstanding section, append a one-line note to the bottom of the Done section.
- Don't rewrite the handover wholesale — append/checkbox-toggle only. The handover is a frozen snapshot of the prior session; this session's work belongs in its own future handover.
5. New decisions or scope changes
If during execution the user makes a new decision that contradicts something in Decisions made, surface it explicitly:
The handover noted: "". You're now choosing differently. Confirm I should proceed with the new approach?
Then update only this session's working notes — don't retroactively edit the handover.
Hard rules
- Treat the handover as authoritative for prior context. Don't second-guess the
Done list or re-do completed work.
- Surface Open questions before doing anything. That's the point of the field.
- Don't write to the handover file beyond checkbox toggles and Done-section appends. The frozen snapshot rule preserves audit trail.
- If validation fails (no schema, no Outstanding section, malformed frontmatter): show the file as-is and ask the user how to proceed. Don't try to "fix" the handover automatically.
Counterparts in claude-rudder
context-gate — orchestrates the handover-write side (mirror of this skill)handover — end-of-session menu, can also write the file consumed herehandover-with-tasks — task-list-heavy variant, also produces compatible filesreferences/handover-template.md — canonical format spec
