Guide · Agent skill
How to use the On-Call Handoff Patterns agent skill
Updated · written with AI from the project's own documentation and checked against our catalogue data
The on-call-handoff-patterns skill is a set of written guidance that an AI agent can use when on-call duty moves from one engineer to another. It covers what a handoff should contain, how to time the overlap between shifts, and how to fix common problems such as incomplete notes or taking over in the middle of an incident. After reading this guide you will know how to install the skill, how to ask for help with a request that triggers it, and what it can and cannot do.
On-Call Handoff Patternswshobson/agents · MIT Download the skill Quick start
- 1Download the ZIP. Get the on-call-handoff-patterns ZIP from this page.
- 2Unzip into a skills folder. Extract it into ~/.claude/skills/ for personal use, or into a project's .claude/skills/ folder to share it with that project.
- 3Or upload it in the Claude apps. In the Claude apps, go to Settings → Capabilities → Skills and upload the ZIP.
- 4Describe your situation. Ask in plain words, for example for a shift summary or a mid-incident takeover, and include who is outgoing and what is still open.
- 5Review the output. Check names, contacts and tool steps against your real setup, since the agent cannot see your alerting or on-call systems.
What does the on-call-handoff-patterns skill make the agent do?
Agent skills are folders of instructions that Claude loads when a request matches the skill's description. This one is about on-call shift transitions. When it applies, the agent works from a defined set of handoff components: active incidents, ongoing investigations, recent changes, known issues and upcoming events.
It can help you write a shift summary that covers those components, draft onboarding material for someone joining the rotation, and audit or tighten an existing handoff process. For fuller templates and worked examples, the skill points to a separate reference file, references/details.md.
- Active incidents: what is currently broken
- Ongoing investigations: issues being debugged
- Recent changes: deployments and configuration changes
- Known issues: workarounds in place
- Upcoming events: maintenance and releases
Install the skill from the ZIP download
Download the ZIP for the skill from this page. You can install it in one of two ways.
For a personal install, unzip the file into ~/.claude/skills/. To share it with one project, unzip it into that project's .claude/skills/ folder. Either way, the skill's files, including SKILL.md and references/details.md, should sit in their own folder inside skills/.
If you use the Claude apps instead, upload the ZIP under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
- Personal install: ~/.claude/skills/
- Project install: .claude/skills/ inside your project
- Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills
How do you trigger the skill with a natural request?
You do not need a special command. Describe the situation in plain words and the agent will match it against the skill's description. The skill's description lists five situations: handing over on-call responsibilities, writing a shift summary, handing off mid-incident, onboarding a new engineer to the rotation for the first time, and auditing handoff processes across teams.
Include the details the agent needs, such as who is outgoing and incoming, what is still open, and which tools your team uses. The source troubleshooting steps assume PagerDuty and Slack, so mention those if your team uses them.
- Write a shift handoff summary for my on-call shift. Active incident: API latency is elevated, and I have a rollback in progress.
- Help me take over an incident mid-response so I can become incident commander without losing context.
- Draft onboarding notes for a new engineer joining our on-call rotation.
- Review our team's handoff template and suggest gaps in what it covers.
What timing plan does the skill suggest for a handoff?
The skill recommends a 30-minute overlap between shifts. The outgoing engineer writes the handoff document and joins a sync call. The incoming engineer reviews the document, joins the same call, and checks that their alerting works before the overlap ends.
Recommended: 30 min overlap between shifts
Outgoing:
├── 15 min: Write handoff document
└── 15 min: Sync call with incoming
Incoming:
├── 15 min: Review handoff document
├── 15 min: Sync call with outgoing
└── 5 min: Verify alerting setupHow does the skill handle common handoff problems?
The skill's troubleshooting section covers five situations. Each has a suggested fix:
- Incomplete handoff document: treat each section as a gate, with at least one entry or an explicit 'none', and log incomplete handoffs as a blameless postmortem action item.
- Timezone gap prevents a sync call: use the async quick handoff template (Template 2), add a short recorded walkthrough of the watch list, and give the incoming engineer a direct contact method.
- Incoming engineer overwhelmed mid-incident: use the incident handoff template (Template 3) and keep the outgoing engineer reachable on Slack for 15 minutes after handoff.
- Inconsistent formatting across teams: adopt one shift handoff template and store completed handoffs in a shared location.
- Alerting not verified: the outgoing engineer fires a test alert and confirms the incoming engineer receives it before the overlap ends.
Safety notes: scripts, network and what the skill cannot see
According to the skill's listing, it runs no scripts and uses no network connection. It is written guidance only. It does not connect to paging or monitoring systems, and it cannot see your real alerting or on-call setup, so it cannot confirm that alerts are configured correctly.
Check any names, contacts, links or tool steps the agent produces before you rely on them. The reference templates contain example names and dates, which you should replace with your own.
- Runs scripts: no
- Uses network: no
- Requires: nothing listed
What people use it for
- Writing a shift summary that lists active incidents, open investigations and recent deployments before going off call.
- Taking over an ongoing incident quickly and getting a clear summary to act as incident commander.
- Drafting onboarding notes so a new engineer knows what a handoff should contain.
- Auditing a team's handoff template to find missing sections such as known issues or upcoming events.
Frequently asked questions
How do I install the on-call-handoff-patterns skill?
Download the ZIP from this page and unzip it into ~/.claude/skills/ for personal use, or into a project's .claude/skills/ folder. You can also upload the ZIP in the Claude apps under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
Does the on-call-handoff-patterns skill require anything else?
The listing says it requires nothing. It runs no scripts and uses no network connection, so there is no setup beyond installing the files.
Is the on-call-handoff-patterns skill free to use?
The skill is published under the MIT licence, as stated on this page. Check the licence terms in the source repository if you plan to redistribute it.
Will the skill connect to PagerDuty or Slack and check my alerts?
No. The skill gives written guidance only and does not connect to paging or monitoring systems. Its troubleshooting steps assume tools like PagerDuty and Slack, but it cannot see or verify your actual setup.
What should I do if the agent does not use the skill?
Make your request more specific by naming the situation, such as a shift handoff, a mid-incident takeover or onboarding. Check that the folder is in the right location and that the skill's files are inside their own folder.
How does this compare with writing handoff notes by hand?
The skill gives you a structure and checklist to start from, along with a reference file of templates. It does not replace your team's own process, and it cannot know your systems, so you still need to review and adapt the output.
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Our verdict
This skill suits engineers who rotate on-call and want a consistent handoff routine, team leads standardising handoff documents, and anyone taking over an incident who needs a fast summary. It is not a live incident tool and cannot check your alerting or paging setup, so teams that need that should use their monitoring or paging platform directly.
Download the skill