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Orienting to an Inherited Seat

Lets an agent take over a seat from a predecessor by verifying the handover packet and building a working model of its situation.

Source Download skill
Repository
mvschwarz/openrig
Stars
8,553
Licence
Apache-2.0
Files
2 files

What it does

This skill is for an AI agent that has been handed an existing working role (a "seat") by another agent who retired on purpose. It teaches the agent how a planned handover differs from a context-window compaction or a fresh start, and tells it to treat the handover packet as claims to verify rather than facts to trust. It also tells the agent to keep its own identity, ask its predecessor questions, and leave its own notes for the next occupant.

Great for

  • Developers running multi-agent workflows in OpenRig who hand off long-running agent roles
  • Teams that want agents to recover cleanly from planned transitions instead of relying on lossy summaries

Skip it if

  • Unplanned crashes or context-window compaction, where the separate compaction-restore skills apply instead (the skill itself says so)
  • Anyone looking for the handover mechanics for the retiring agent; the sibling retiring-and-inheriting-a-seat skill covers that side

Try asking

  • “You have just been primed into this seat from a handover packet. Build your world model before acting.”
  • “Read the handover packet and verify its claims against the seat's artifacts before changing anything.”
  • “Query my predecessor about why a past decision was made.”
  • “Prepare my own handover packet and feedback notes before I retire from this seat.”
Step-by-step guide: how to use Orienting to an Inherited SeatInstall, first run, examples, tips and FAQs

Install in 3 steps

  1. 1

    Download the skill

    The ZIP contains the 2 original files, the Apache-2.0 licence and an attribution note.

    orienting-to-an-inherited-seat.zip
  2. 2

    Add it to your agent

    Claude Code (all projects)

    mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && unzip orienting-to-an-inherited-seat.zip -d ~/.claude/skills/

    Claude Code / Agent SDK (this project only)

    mkdir -p .claude/skills && unzip orienting-to-an-inherited-seat.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

  • Load this skill as early as possible after a handover so the verification rules apply before you act on the packet.
  • Pair it with the OpenRig handover and mental-model skills it names as siblings, since it relies on their concepts.
  • Treat the predecessor's claims as testimony and check them against durable evidence, especially any authority or identity claims.

What's inside

  • CHANGELOG.md
  • SKILL.md

Redistributed unmodified from mvschwarz/openrig under the Apache-2.0 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.