4 ms·

Recently I came across the /handoff skill, which I've been using a lot. I find it much better than /compact. Basically: - /handoff file creates a short docume

Recently I came across the /handoff skill, which I've been using a lot. I find it much better than /compact. Basically: - /handoff file creates a short document with the important context from your current session and maybe next steps as checklist. - You can then start a fresh session with /continue file - You can also hand the work from Claude to ChatGPT, or the other way around. Very useful at time of session limits. - Plus your handoff files becomes a useful piece of project memory that you can reference later. I find this much more useful than /compact or /clear because the context is saved in something portable instead of being tied to one session and i've seen better results doing this every 20 messages or so than running long sessions.

ls612 2mo ago
I have been doing this a lot even without a skill, having Fable write a planning document, then spawning an Opus subagent with instructions to strictly follow the plan and report any deviance at the end. It also helps that then the plan is always saved in an md file so any future agent can look at it and see what happened.
- CBLT 2mo ago
  Interestingly, this was tackled in this blog post[0] a month ago. They claim that plan files aren't token-efficient, because after reading the plan the workhorse model then reads all the relevant files anyways. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48916512 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48916512
  - hombre_fatal 2mo ago
    That link just says the planning stage should vet the idea concretely so that the plan focuses on a solution that won’t immediately have to pivot. And I think plan files should focus on general ideas and invariants, not do “implementation as prose”. That way they perform as mini-ADRs that are useful historically, especially to mine why the system is the way it is.
  - inopinatus 2mo ago
    The trick is to delete all the relevant files after the plan is written.
  - subscribed 2mo ago
    My plan and implementation files are task specific (so specific workhorse reads only its own slice), and the workhorse itself is spawned from an orchestrator with a very specific small prompt. I managed even the orchestrator to NOT read the plan whole, at once, but in sections. The most useful thing is the task ledger the task agent leaves behind, which alongside its structured status message makes a very resilient handoff between all stages.
sjanes 2mo ago
/handoff is the skill I use when I plainly are about to run out of token budget to give to a different harness system. Using this to avoid long sessions is something I will need to try, plus maybe "caveman" mode to cull the verbosity.
3371 2mo ago
> Plus your handoff files becomes a useful piece of project memory that you can reference later. I've been doing this since I started agentic development, and have a whole framework based on this; Simply put I define workflow s that output templated files for everytype of tasks that happens in development. It's a powerful pattern I'd recommend everyone.
- ulimn 2mo ago
  I started doing this and then a colleague of mine recommended me OpenSpec. It might be overkill for small projects but it’s pretty clean and if you have goldfish memory like me, it helps to track changes.
  - 3371 2mo ago
    Yes it's just another (but my own) impl of SDD
- poseva 2mo ago
  Can you please add more details? Thank you in advance!
  - pixelsort 2mo ago
    I've been using my own variant docset driven development since late last year. It emerged organically for me by adapting to the limits of the agents. - Prefix-numbered sets of documents, keeping them clustered visually and easily referenced by humans and agents. (124.5 = docset 125, phase 5) - Each doc gets a suffix. Most of the time STRATEGY is the first doc. Sometimes NOTES, DISCUSSION, or HANDOFF though. - Once the strategy doc is comprehensive, the multi-phase checklist PLAN doc can emerge. - During execution, the agent drives the PLAN while purposefully expanding lightly scaffolded phases before entry. - As the user, I drive a PROGRESS doc during the PLAN execution. This tracks the progression of my own questions and the important work summaries that I need for tracking the current work trajectory and for historic analysis over past decision-making. - Any concern that exceed the scope of the active docset numbers calls for a new one. - A "docs/archive" folder is kept where I sweep docsets into numbered eras. I have aliases and templates too, but DDD is so simple that it's overkill. Any modern reasoning agent can take the plain explanation above and understand you effortlessly when you say "open a new docset strategy" or "read docset 125 and proceed".
devoidfury 2mo ago
I like the handoff flow so much I built it into my agent as a native tool; and going to add it as a auto compaction strategy as well.
xpct 2mo ago
Ah I've been doing handoff manually by asking the model to do it. If Claude's handoff includes better context than its summaries, it's probably worth checking out.
- dboreham 2mo ago
  I prefer to avoid its internal magic mechanisms. The LLM can read documents like a human (actually better since...no ADD) so I ask it to create documents. This also has the benefit that you can change to a different AI tool and the information is still usable.
kxrm 2mo ago
You can also do this with memories. I've been asking Claude to remember important points from our session, or future tasks. Then /clear and continue.
bombcar 2mo ago
I've been doing handoffs manually, but maybe the command is a better way. It's a great way to keep track of work, remove useless context, and more importantly, it's an enforced "what is the agent doing" line - you immediately notice if the handoff writing is missing something or confused. Commit each and every one (git is the unsung hero of AI).
skybrian 2mo ago
I do something similar but without using a skill. It might be even better if the harness were to automatically write a handoff note under some circumstances? If the user is away and the cache is going to expire, that would be a good time to do it.
alfonsobuilds 2mo ago
[flagged]
tarekabi 2mo ago
[flagged]
charlietran 2mo ago
Would you please link to the specific /handoff and /continue skills you're using? I do not see them as built-in skills.

ls612 2mo ago

I have been doing this a lot even without a skill, having Fable write a planning document, then spawning an Opus subagent with instructions to strictly follow the plan and report any deviance at the end. It also helps that then the plan is always saved in an md file so any future agent can look at it and see what happened.

CBLT 2mo ago
Interestingly, this was tackled in this blog post[0] a month ago. They claim that plan files aren't token-efficient, because after reading the plan the workhorse model then reads all the relevant files anyways. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48916512 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48916512
- hombre_fatal 2mo ago
  That link just says the planning stage should vet the idea concretely so that the plan focuses on a solution that won’t immediately have to pivot. And I think plan files should focus on general ideas and invariants, not do “implementation as prose”. That way they perform as mini-ADRs that are useful historically, especially to mine why the system is the way it is.
- inopinatus 2mo ago
  The trick is to delete all the relevant files after the plan is written.
- subscribed 2mo ago
  My plan and implementation files are task specific (so specific workhorse reads only its own slice), and the workhorse itself is spawned from an orchestrator with a very specific small prompt. I managed even the orchestrator to NOT read the plan whole, at once, but in sections. The most useful thing is the task ledger the task agent leaves behind, which alongside its structured status message makes a very resilient handoff between all stages.

sjanes 2mo ago

/handoff is the skill I use when I plainly are about to run out of token budget to give to a different harness system. Using this to avoid long sessions is something I will need to try, plus maybe "caveman" mode to cull the verbosity.

3371 2mo ago

> Plus your handoff files becomes a useful piece of project memory that you can reference later. I've been doing this since I started agentic development, and have a whole framework based on this; Simply put I define workflow s that output templated files for everytype of tasks that happens in development. It's a powerful pattern I'd recommend everyone.

ulimn 2mo ago
I started doing this and then a colleague of mine recommended me OpenSpec. It might be overkill for small projects but it’s pretty clean and if you have goldfish memory like me, it helps to track changes.
- 3371 2mo ago
  Yes it's just another (but my own) impl of SDD
poseva 2mo ago
Can you please add more details? Thank you in advance!
- pixelsort 2mo ago
  I've been using my own variant docset driven development since late last year. It emerged organically for me by adapting to the limits of the agents. - Prefix-numbered sets of documents, keeping them clustered visually and easily referenced by humans and agents. (124.5 = docset 125, phase 5) - Each doc gets a suffix. Most of the time STRATEGY is the first doc. Sometimes NOTES, DISCUSSION, or HANDOFF though. - Once the strategy doc is comprehensive, the multi-phase checklist PLAN doc can emerge. - During execution, the agent drives the PLAN while purposefully expanding lightly scaffolded phases before entry. - As the user, I drive a PROGRESS doc during the PLAN execution. This tracks the progression of my own questions and the important work summaries that I need for tracking the current work trajectory and for historic analysis over past decision-making. - Any concern that exceed the scope of the active docset numbers calls for a new one. - A "docs/archive" folder is kept where I sweep docsets into numbered eras. I have aliases and templates too, but DDD is so simple that it's overkill. Any modern reasoning agent can take the plain explanation above and understand you effortlessly when you say "open a new docset strategy" or "read docset 125 and proceed".

devoidfury 2mo ago

I like the handoff flow so much I built it into my agent as a native tool; and going to add it as a auto compaction strategy as well.

xpct 2mo ago

Ah I've been doing handoff manually by asking the model to do it. If Claude's handoff includes better context than its summaries, it's probably worth checking out.

dboreham 2mo ago
I prefer to avoid its internal magic mechanisms. The LLM can read documents like a human (actually better since...no ADD) so I ask it to create documents. This also has the benefit that you can change to a different AI tool and the information is still usable.

kxrm 2mo ago

You can also do this with memories. I've been asking Claude to remember important points from our session, or future tasks. Then /clear and continue.

bombcar 2mo ago

I've been doing handoffs manually, but maybe the command is a better way. It's a great way to keep track of work, remove useless context, and more importantly, it's an enforced "what is the agent doing" line - you immediately notice if the handoff writing is missing something or confused. Commit each and every one (git is the unsung hero of AI).

skybrian 2mo ago

I do something similar but without using a skill. It might be even better if the harness were to automatically write a handoff note under some circumstances? If the user is away and the cache is going to expire, that would be a good time to do it.

alfonsobuilds 2mo ago

[flagged]

tarekabi 2mo ago

[flagged]

charlietran 2mo ago

Would you please link to the specific /handoff and /continue skills you're using? I do not see them as built-in skills.