Handoff

An Encoded-Preference skill: it shifts behaviour (durable state capture), not capability.

When to use

• Approaching a context-budget limit mid-work-item (before a strategic compaction).
• Handing a partially-complete unit to the develop flow's successor band, a resume, or the operator.
• Any point where losing the in-flight reasoning would force expensive re-derivation.

What it does

Write a single, greppable transfer document capturing only what cannot be recovered from the
code and git history:

• Goal + current status — what this unit is delivering and where it stands.
• Decisions made — the non-obvious choices and why (so they are not re-litigated).
• Open threads — what is unresolved, with the next concrete action for each.
• Landmines — anything tried that failed, so the next agent does not repeat it.
• Context consumed — which files/artifacts have been read, so the resume is targeted.

Omit anything inferable from reading the code. Keep it tight — brevity is the signal.

Output

HANDOFF.md (or the cycle's scratch state file) at the worktree root. Preserve code, error
strings, and paths byte-faithfully.

Sources

Matt Pocock — "Handoff" / obra/superpowers. Adapted to forge's worktree + resume model
(ADR 019; complements superpowers:strategic-compact).