Session handoff

Produce a durable handoff so the next session can start with your project's kickoff skill (or a bare "continue") instead of a hand-written multi-KB prompt.

Wire this up: point step 4's file at wherever your project keeps its handoff note (e.g. HANDOFF.md, a "resume" doc) and step 2 at wherever it keeps durable cross-session memory (a memory file, a wiki page, a project-notes doc).

Steps

1. Commit check. git status --short — everything intended for this session is committed (explicit paths — avoid a blanket "add everything" if your project's tree carries generated/scratch files it doesn't want swept in). If work is half-done, commit a clearly-labeled WIP or note it in step 4's "in flight."

2. Memory/notes check. Update whatever durable "start here" note covers the current milestone with what shipped (commits, any baseline movement, lessons learned). New detail goes in that note and the handoff note; if your project keeps a top-level index file, it should stay an index that points at the detail, not carry the detail itself.

   ⚠ Do not trim a durable memory/notes file to hit a byte or length target. Adding to it is fine; compressing existing entries to save space is not, unless an entry is simply wrong or superseded. A compression pass that squeezes old entries into one-liners can truncate hard-won detail mid-sentence — and if that file lives outside version control, the loss is not recoverable from git. Only ever rewrite an entry when it is wrong or superseded, never merely long. Moving genuinely new bulk into a separate topic note (rather than inlining everything into one file) is fine — that's composition, not trimming.

3. Capture every session lesson into both memory layers. A lesson = anything the next session must not re-learn: a refuted premise, a spy that changed a plan, a corpus error, a working-style correction, a measured ceiling. Write each into (a) its durable note, with Why + How to apply, and (b) your project's semantic memory tool, if it has one, so kickoff's searchable layer has it. Notes are the source of truth; never leave one only in a task report or gitignored ledger. Add to the existing note on a topic rather than creating a duplicate. Then check: list this session's commits (git log since the last handoff) and lessons; each must appear in a note. Add what is missing.

4. Write your project's handoff note (overwrite; keep it short, roughly ≤30 lines) from this template. Keep these field names exactly; kickoff and its drift check read them.

   # Next session — written <UTC date>, by session handoff
   - Milestone/phase: <e.g. current phase name>
   - Last commit: <hash> "<subject>" (last work commit; this note's own commit follows it;
     branch, pushed: yes/no)
   - Baseline: <N> (whatever your project's headline gate/benchmark number is, and
     whether it currently passes)
   - NEXT task: <one paragraph — the single thing to start on>
   - Read first: <durable-memory note(s), plan/design docs, and where your standing
     working-style rules live, with paths>
   - In flight / hazards: <uncommitted files, pending evals, fresh lessons>

5. Commit the handoff note (explicit path). If git status --short still lists it, the commit did not land: fix that and commit again before telling the user.
6. Tell the user in a few lines: which notes you updated, the handoff note's path and commit, and that the next session can start with kickoff or "continue" with no hand-written prompt. Write a long starter prompt only if the user still asks for one.