takeover

name	takeover
description	Recover from a forgotten handover by analyzing a closed session's transcript. Use when you start a new session and realize the previous one didn't run /handover.
user-invocable	true

Takeover Skill

Recover context from a previous session that ended without running /handover. This skill reads the transcript from a closed session and creates the handover document retroactively.

When to Use

• You started a new session and realized the last one didn't handover
• You want to recover learnings from an old session
• The previous agent crashed or was terminated unexpectedly

Instructions

When this skill is invoked:

Phase 1: Find Recent Sessions

1. List recent session transcripts:

   ls -lt ~/.claude/projects/*//*.jsonl | head -20
   

2. Show the user a list of recent sessions with:

   • Session ID (first 8 chars)
   • Project path
   • Last modified time
   • File size (rough indicator of session length)

3. Ask the user which session to recover:

   • "Which session would you like to recover? (enter number or session ID prefix)"
   • Default to the most recent one that's NOT the current session

Phase 2: Analyze the Transcript

1. Read the selected transcript file (the .jsonl file)

2. Extract all messages (both user and assistant) and parse them:

   // Each line is a JSON object
   // Look for j.message.role === "user" or "assistant"
   // Extract text content from j.message.content
   

3. From the transcript, identify:

   • What was being worked on
   • Which files were modified (look for Edit/Write tool calls)
   • Any test failures mentioned
   • Any learnings or discoveries
   • Any suppressed issues (tests skipped, code commented out)
   • Any unresolved questions or decisions
   • Active tasks (look for TaskCreate/TaskUpdate calls)

Phase 3: Generate Handover Document

Follow the same structure as the regular handover skill, but note that this is a retroactive takeover:

1. Read existing .claude/handover.md if it exists

2. Create/update the handover document with:

   • All the standard sections (see handover skill)
   • Mark this as a takeover in the Generation Log: [date] Gen N (takeover): recovered from session XXXXXXXX — {summary}

3. Do NOT create a WIP commit — the files may have changed since that session

Phase 4: Output Summary

Show the user:

1. What was recovered from the old session
2. The updated .claude/handover.md content
3. Any warnings (e.g., "Files may have changed since that session")
4. Reminder: "Review the handover document and verify the state is accurate"

Notes

• This skill reads transcript files directly, it doesn't have the live conversation context
• The recovered information may be incomplete compared to a live handover
• Always verify the recovered state against the current codebase
• If the project has changed significantly since the old session, some learnings may be stale

Transcript File Location

Session transcripts are stored at:

~/.claude/projects/{project-path-hash}/{session-id}.jsonl

The project path hash is the project directory with slashes replaced by dashes, e.g.: -Users-marc-bude-deepkit-framework