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Claude Handoff

Hand the current chat to a fresh background Claude agent that continues the work.

Source Download skill
Repository
mattpocock/skills
Stars
309,658
Licence
MIT
Files
2 files

What it does

When invoked, the agent writes a summary of the current conversation (with redactions for secrets and personal data), saves it to a temporary file, and launches a separate background Claude Code agent seeded with that summary as its starting prompt. The new agent runs in the same working directory, returns control immediately, and can be managed with the claude agents command. The summary also lists which other skills the next agent should use.

Great for

  • Developers who want to continue a long coding session in a clean context window
  • Users who want to start follow-up work in the background while keeping the current session free

Skip it if

  • Anyone who hasn't installed Claude Code, since the handoff relies on its claude --bg command; the background agent also edits files in the working directory, so it is risky in a repo with uncommitted work you don't want touched
  • Sensitive projects where the summary might still leak data it failed to redact, because the summary becomes the new agent's prompt and is saved to a temp file

Try asking

  • “Hand this conversation off to a background agent to keep fixing the login bug”
  • “Start a fresh agent for the next session on the billing refactor, focusing on the failing tests”
  • “Continue this work in the background and name it Migrate auth tables”
Step-by-step guide: how to use Claude HandoffInstall, first run, examples, tips and FAQs

Install in 3 steps

  1. 1

    Download the skill

    The ZIP contains the 2 original files, the MIT licence and an attribution note.

    claude-handoff.zip
  2. 2

    Add it to your agent

    Claude Code (all projects)

    mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && unzip claude-handoff.zip -d ~/.claude/skills/

    Claude Code / Agent SDK (this project only)

    mkdir -p .claude/skills && unzip claude-handoff.zip -d .claude/skills/

    Claude apps (web/desktop): Settings → Capabilities → Skills → Upload skill, and choose the ZIP.

  3. 3

    Ask for the task

    No special command needed — the agent reads the skill's description and loads it when your request matches. Try one of the prompts above.

Get better results

  • Pass a clear focus argument, such as the next task, so the summary is tailored to what the new agent should do
  • Review the saved summary in the temp directory before relying on it, especially if the conversation contained credentials or personal data
  • Commit or stash work first so the background agent starts from a known state

What's inside

  • agents/openai.yaml
  • SKILL.md

Redistributed unmodified from mattpocock/skills under the MIT licence. The assessment was drafted with AI from the skill's files on 2026-10-29. Skills can instruct your agent to run code — read SKILL.md and any scripts before installing.