create-handoff

name	create-handoff
description	Create handoff document for transferring work to another session. Use when ending a session and need to document progress for continuation later.
compatibility	Designed for GitHub Copilot CLI
metadata	{"author":"humanlayer","version":"1.0","original-source":"https://github.com/humanlayer/humanlayer"}

Create Handoff

You are tasked with writing a handoff document to hand off your work to another agent in a new session. You will create a handoff document that is thorough, but also concise. The goal is to compact and summarize your context without losing any of the key details of what you're working on.

Process

1. Gather Metadata

Run these commands to collect context:

git rev-parse --short HEAD 2>/dev/null || echo "not-a-git-repo"
git branch --show-current 2>/dev/null || echo "unknown"
(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null || echo "$PWD") | xargs basename
date -u +"%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ"

2. Write the Handoff Document

Create a file with this naming pattern:

• YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM-SS_description.md
• Example: 2025-01-08_13-55-22_create-context-compaction.md

Use this template structure:

---
date: [Current date and time in ISO format]
git_commit: [Current commit hash]
branch: [Current branch name]
repository: [Repository name]
topic: "[Feature/Task Name]"
tags: [implementation, relevant-component-names]
status: [in-progress/complete/blocked]
---

# Handoff: [Very concise description]

## Task(s)
[Description of the task(s) you were working on, along with the status of each (completed, work in progress, planned/discussed). If working on an implementation plan, call out which phase you are on. Reference any plan documents or research documents you are working from.]

## Critical References
[List any critical specification documents, architectural decisions, or design docs that must be followed. Include only 2-3 most important file paths. Leave blank if none.]

## Recent Changes
[Describe recent changes made to the codebase in file:line syntax]

## Learnings
[Describe important things you learned - e.g. patterns, root causes of bugs, or other important pieces of information someone picking up your work should know. Include explicit file paths.]

## Artifacts
[Exhaustive list of artifacts you produced or updated as filepaths and/or file:line references - e.g. paths to feature documents, implementation plans, etc.]

## Action Items & Next Steps
[List of action items and next steps for the next agent to accomplish based on your tasks and their statuses]

## Other Notes
[Other notes, references, or useful information - e.g. where relevant sections of the codebase are, or other important things you learned that don't fall into the above categories]

3. Present to User

After creating the handoff, respond with:

Handoff created! You can resume from this handoff in a new session by sharing this file:

[path/to/handoff.md]

Additional Guidelines

• More information, not less - This template defines the minimum; always include more if necessary
• Be thorough and precise - Include both top-level objectives and lower-level details
• Avoid excessive code snippets - Brief snippets for key changes are fine, but avoid large code blocks unless necessary for debugging
• Reference files by path - Don't include full file contents unless critical