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name: handover description: Use when starting a session (resume previous work) or ending a session (create handover for next). Automatically detects mode based on conversation state. Handles dependency chains, key file overlap detection, self-healing via Repair mode, and auto-commits on completion.

Handover Skill

Context-aware handover management: resume previous work or create a handover for the next session.

Folder Structure

Handover files are stored locally in each repository at .claude/handovers/:

Create these folders if they don't exist when processing or creating handovers.

Mode Detection

Determine mode based on conversation state:

Process Mode

Resume from latest incomplete handover. Uses dual sort order (numbers LIFO, letters FIFO) to process dependency chains correctly.

Critical: Process mode handles ONE handover per session. After finding an unblocked handover, move to WIP and begin implementation.

Parallel Session Safety: Files are moved to WIP/ BEFORE processing begins, preventing other sessions from picking up the same handover. Key file overlap detection prevents merge conflicts with parallel sessions.

WIP Rule: NEVER touch files in WIP/ when queued/ has work. Assume WIP files are actively being worked on by another session. Only ask the user about WIP files when queued/ is completely empty before you moved any files to WIP/.

Repair Trigger: If a handover has malformed or missing YAML frontmatter, Process mode enters Repair mode to fix it.

Auto-Commit on Completion: When a handover is archived to completed/, an automated Git commit is triggered to version all implementation changes with a reference to the handover file.

See:

• reference/process-mode.md - Full workflow with dependency checks, overlap detection, and auto-commit
• reference/repair-mode.md - Self-healing for malformed handover files
• reference/human-decision-workflow.md - MANDATORY when handover requires human decisions with subagent recommendations

Create Mode

Generate handover from conversation for the next session.

Arguments:

• file - Write to file only, suppress chat output
• chat - Output to chat only, skip file creation
• (none) - Both file and chat (default)

See: reference/create-mode.md for full workflow including:

• Pre-creation analysis (task separation, dependencies)
• YAML frontmatter format with key_files and blocked_by
• Letter suffix dependencies for chains (005A → 005B → 005C)
• Insertion strategy (higher numbers run first, letters add to chains)
• Output format template