/handoff-auto sessions and accounts

Install

Install just this, from a clone of the repo. Anything it needs comes with it.

./scripts/install-skills.sh --skill handoff-auto   # bash, Git Bash, macOS, Linux
.\scripts\install-skills.ps1 -Skill handoff-auto   # Windows PowerShell

Works on its own.

What it does

Same handoff document as handoff, but Claude (or a skill or subagent) can call it without you typing a command.

• Prints the document's absolute path as the very last line, so orchestrators can read it.

When to use

• A skill or subagent must end a session unattended (e.g. session-handoff, the implementer and manager agents).
• You rarely call it directly; use /handoff for manual handoffs.

How to invoke

Claude can call it: another skill uses the Skill tool with handoff-auto. The optional argument says what the next session will focus on.

• You can also type /handoff-auto [focus].

How it works

1. Summarises the conversation into a document under the repo's skilleddocs/handoffs/ (OS temp dir only when there is no repo).
   • Committed or left untracked per TRACKING.md.
   • Committed only if the repo already tracks skilleddocs/ (or the handoff folder AGENTS.md sets), or its AGENTS.md/CLAUDE.md opts in. Never on a fork.
2. Adds a "suggested skills" section and records the git state:
   • Branch.
   • Base SHA (git merge-base <default> HEAD; on the default branch itself, the upstream or the parent of the session's first commit).
   • Head SHA.
   • If the tree is dirty, git status --short.
3. References existing artifacts by path/URL instead of duplicating them.
4. Redacts secrets and personal data.
5. Tailors to the argument if one was given.
6. Prints the file's absolute path (native OS form) on its own line, last.

Design principles

• An ending a program can read. The absolute path is always the very last line, so a calling skill or orchestrator never has to guess.
• Same document as handoff. Only five things differ from the original: the frontmatter, the save location, the tracking sentence, a git-state line (branch, base SHA, head SHA) and the final path line. So a manual and an unattended handoff read the same.
• Shared tracking rule. Commit or not comes from TRACKING.md, the single source for every file under skilleddocs/.

Shared context for these principles: Matt Pocock's video.

Use cases

• session-handoff ending an implementation session from an issue.
• An implementer or manager agent wrapping up, or running low on turns or context.
• Any skill that must close a session with nobody at the keyboard.

Tips

• Call /handoff yourself for manual handoffs; this variant exists so skills and agents can call it.
• Pass the next session's focus (an issue number or a sentence) as the argument to tailor the doc.
• If a script reads its output, it should read only the last line: that is the file path.
• On a fork the file is never committed: it stays untracked and skilleddocs/ is added to the git exclude file.

Example

/home/you/code/myrepo/skilleddocs/handoffs/2026-10-15-csv-export.md

Related

• handoff — user-only original.
• session-handoff — calls this, then adds board status.
• Agents implementer and manager preload it (see agents/README.md).

Prereqs

None. Uses gh for the fork check in TRACKING.md when available; without it, an upstream remote counts as a fork.

Sample workflows

• Check before closing the terminal
  you → sitrep → remind → you → handoff-auto → you
  Install just this one: ./scripts/install-skills.sh --workflow safe-to-close or .\scripts\install-skills.ps1 -Workflow safe-to-close
• Push a score up until it plateaus
  score-loop → you → spend-gate → you → you → switch → remind → handoff-auto → you
  Install just this one: ./scripts/install-skills.sh --workflow climb-a-score or .\scripts\install-skills.ps1 -Workflow climb-a-score

Source

• handoff-auto/SKILL.md
• handoff-auto/README.md