handoff

Write the document your next agent opens before it works. A handoff compacts everything that matters about a long-running task into one structured markdown file, so an agent with an empty context window resumes exactly where you left off — without re-reading the conversation.

When to use

Manual — the user asked: a handoff / state save / "next plan of action". Write the file. Automatic checkpoint — when the host requests a context handoff, write the file and append the auto-continue note (step 7). A file-edit count alone is not a reason to interrupt authorized work.

Pipeline (summary)

gather → structure → write → verify → resume. Full detail in ref/pipeline.md.