Session Handoff — Claude Code Skill for Context Transfer Between Chats

Transfer any Claude session to a new chat in under 30 seconds. Works for dev projects and research/brainstorm sessions.

Claude Code skill | Works with: Codex CLI · Gemini CLI

What it does

When you end a Claude session, all context is lost — decisions made, alternatives rejected, what was tried and why. This skill packages the current session into a structured handoff file and copies a ready-to-paste first message to your clipboard.

Before: 5-10 minutes re-explaining the project, decisions, and context every new session. Research sessions lose all context entirely.

After: One trigger phrase → handoff file written + first message copied to clipboard. Next session resumes in 30 seconds.

Two modes auto-detected from context:

• Dev mode (git repo / plan file / CLAUDE.md present) — compact navigation pointer: links to plan/spec files + in-session decisions with reasoning + rejected alternatives. Hard limit: 55 lines.
• Research mode (brainstorm / analysis / strategy) — full structured context dump: TL;DR, key findings, decisions + reasoning, rejected alternatives, open questions.

Requirements

• Agent: Claude Code (primary) | Codex CLI | Gemini CLI
• Tools / MCPs: built-in Bash tool (pbcopy for clipboard on macOS)
• Accounts / API keys: none
• OS: macOS (pbcopy). On Linux replace pbcopy with xclip -selection clipboard or xsel --clipboard

Installation

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sergeyramas/session-handoff-skill/main/install.sh | bash

Or manually:

git clone https://github.com/sergeyramas/session-handoff-skill ~/.claude/skills/session-handoff

Restart Claude Code / Codex after install.

Usage

Tell your agent one of these trigger phrases at the end of a session:

English triggers:

• "handoff"
• "transfer to new session"
• "save state for tomorrow"
• "summarize chat"

Russian triggers:

• "продолжим в новом чате"
• "упакуй контекст"
• "хэндофф"

The skill auto-detects dev vs research mode and runs the right process.

How it works

Combines two approaches: navigation-first handoff (original session-handoff skill for dev projects) + structured context capture (summarize-master from tokens-economkins for research). The key addition: rejected alternatives with reasoning — captures why certain decisions were NOT made, which is usually the most valuable context to preserve.

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На русском

Что делает

Скилл для Claude Code: переносит любую сессию в новый чат за 30 секунд. Два режима — dev-проекты и research/brainstorm — определяются автоматически по контексту.

До: тратишь 5-10 минут на восстановление контекста в каждой новой сессии. Решения принятые в чате и отброшенные варианты теряются навсегда.

После: одна фраза → handoff-файл записан + промт скопирован в буфер. Следующая сессия стартует за 30 секунд.

Два режима

Dev-режим (есть git / план / CLAUDE.md) — компактный навигационный указатель: ссылки на файлы плана/спека + решения этой сессии с обоснованием + отброшенные варианты. Лимит 55 строк.

Research-режим (brainstorm, анализ, стратегия) — полный структурированный дамп: TL;DR, key findings, decisions + reasoning, rejected alternatives, open questions.

Установка

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sergeyramas/session-handoff-skill/main/install.sh | bash

Триггер-фразы

• "продолжим в новом чате", "упакуй контекст", "хэндофф"
• "handoff", "transfer to new session", "summarize chat"

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Author

@sergeyramas — I publish proven AI agent processes as reusable skills at sergeyramas.vercel.app.