keel-handover
Skill9 starsChanged 51 days agoMITView on GitHub
Add this session's block to HANDOVER.md before ending or compacting — done / tried-failed / latest / next. Rotates via /keel-distill when the 3-block cap is hit.
In this repository17 other files it gives its agents.
- CLAUDE.mdCLAUDE.md
- keel-adoptSkill
- keel-agent-team-createSkill
- keel-agent-team-startSkill
- keel-auditSkill
- keel-autopilotSkill
- keel-compactSkill
- keel-continueSkill
- keel-distillSkill
- keel-phase-reviewSkill
- keel-pilotSkill
- keel-planSkill
- keel-researchSkill
- keel-statsSkill
- keel-teamSkill
- keel-tidySkill
- keel-updateSkill
The file
We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent
6 rules. About 0 are common, 2 are distinctive, and 4 are very specific to this project.
≈0
Common · estimate
Many files like this have a rule of this kind.
≈2
Distinctive · estimate
This author's own choices. Worth a look.
4
Very specific
Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.
- Common
- Distinctive
- Very specific
- Very specific: line 8
Add a new session block to the TOP of HANDOVER.md's "Session blocks" section (rules.md §1.4).
- Very specific: line 15
Read the current HANDOVER.md.
- Very specific: line 18
Write this session's block: ### <YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM> — @<git user.name> — <one-line status> (time = when the block was first created.
- Distinctive: line 65
Update the global Open questions / pending user decisions section (add new, delete resolved).
- Very specific: line 70
DELETE (git keeps it). Entries are ONE line.
- Distinctive: line 76
Do NOT commit/push without user approval (rules.md §1.3, §6.15).
≈ “Common” is an estimate: at least 1 in 5 of the 350,495 skill files we read have a rule of the same kind, not the same words. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.
Files
/keel-handover — write the session block
Add a new session block to the TOP of HANDOVER.md's "Session blocks" section (rules.md §1.4).
Newest first; never edit past blocks. Write the block in ENGLISH even on a non-English project
(§9.31: HANDOVER/LESSONS are machine-read and @-imported every session — EN is the cheaper token
surface); TASKS/PLAN/reports lines you touch stay in the project language, and the user's verbatim
words may stay quoted as-is.
Steps:
- Read the current
HANDOVER.md. If it already has 3 blocks (or exceeds ~150 lines), run/keel-distillfirst to rotate the oldest block out (critical facts →LESSONS.md, raw block →docs/handover-archive.md). Write this session's block:
### <YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM> — @<git user.name> — <one-line status>(time = when the block was first created; the@<git user.name>attributes the session's author so multi-user handovers stay legible — read it fromgit config user.name; single-user projects still get it, at zero cost). One block per SESSION, not per day: if THIS session already wrote a block (a mid-session handover, or /keel-compact re-running this), UPDATE that block in place — keep its original HH:MM. A NEW session always adds a NEW block, even on the same day — same-day sessions must stay distinguishable. The block contains:- (a) Completed — what was done, dated; link decisions to their ADR/docs; include one-liners for
TASKS.md items finished this session (then delete them from TASKS.md). Multi-user exception
(
.claude/project-ownerexists and you are NOT the owner): do not delete your finished items — MOVE each to a TASKS## Reviewsection (create it if missing) as- [x] <id> ... (@you) — evidence: reports/team/<@you>/<task>_fix_<date>.md. The evidence is a FILE — verify it EXISTS before writing the line (a chat summary is not a delivery, rules.md §10.40): the solution note sits in YOUR author folder and its index line lands inreports/team/README.mdasdelivered. Pathless lines and missing files are flagged at session start, and the owner's probe may also test your UNDERSTANDING of the delivery (rules.md §10.41). Review ROUTING is then the owner/orchestrator's: mechanical verification is delegated and appends— verified ✓ (owner part: <one sentence>)to the line; on accept the OWNER deletes the item and flips the index line toclosed <date> accepted(reject → back to## Now+ one reason line, index back towip). The owner's own items follow the normal delete flow. - (b) Tried, didn't work — approaches that failed + the reason, so they aren't retried. This is the highest-value section — don't skip it.
- (c) Latest updates — the most recent concrete changes.
- (d) Next steps — prioritized, for the next session.
Signal only — a block is project STATE for the next session, not a transcript. Before writing a line, test it: would a FRESH session need it to continue, AND is it not already in
git logor.claude/ritual-log? If it fails either test, drop it. EXCLUDE: VCS/ritual bookkeeping ("committed/ pushed N commits", sha ranges, "ran /keel-distill / /keel-compact") and conversational meta ("user asked if I saved", "don't rush", who said what). A DECISION that merely touches git is different — keep the WHY ("left settings.json unstaged — it holds the machine's allow-list"), drop the mechanics. At the ~150-line cap this noise is exactly what crowds out the facts that matter. One line = one fact. A line that needs a second sentence of story, a table, or a round-by-round account is a REPORT — write it underreports/and leave the line as the fact + a pointer. The entry-budget hook blocks a new line over its per-line cap (HANDOVER_LINE_CHARS, default 400): measured on a live project, a 150-LINE cap stayed green while one line grew to 135 KB, and the file's weight fired auto-compact three times in five minutes. Rhythm: update the block at the end of each WORK BLOCK, not only at session end. Auto-compact is never blocked, so the only net under it is a disk that is already current; field case: a fix committed at 07:41, auto-compact at 07:43, and its WHY reached disk at 07:53 only because a ritual happened to run. If the SessionStart hook reports a STALE-DISK debt, settle it here FIRST — a compaction crossed this session's work before the block was written.- (a) Completed — what was done, dated; link decisions to their ADR/docs; include one-liners for
TASKS.md items finished this session (then delete them from TASKS.md). Multi-user exception
(
- PLAN.md (if the project uses it): flip the phase statuses that changed this session, refresh
Current focus, regenerate the diagram block from the table (see
/keel-planstep 2) — patch the file, never rewrite it wholesale. If the wip phase's gate looks MET (its## Nowitems all checked, gate evidence exists), propose/keel-phase-reviewto the user — don't run it unasked: flipping a phase todoneis the review's job, not this skill's (rules.md §2.7). - Update the global Open questions / pending user decisions section (add new, delete resolved).
- Drain TASKS
## Discovered(an INBOX, not storage — this includes project variants like## Discovered-team): converge every line OUT — a real task →## Next(with a done-when) · a domain/provider fact →docs/(architecture "known limitations" / the project's R-request or integration doc) · a lesson →LESSONS.md· a design decision → an ADR · resolved/superseded → DELETE (git keeps it). Entries are ONE line; anything longer is a report/spec/ADR fragment — write it there, leave a pointer. A line that survives two handovers is in the wrong file; leave only this session's genuinely untriaged finds (the re-ground hook flags week-old leftovers). - Sweep the conversation for unwritten agreements (rules §9.31): any rule/test/gotcha agreed this
session that isn't in
LESSONS.mdyet — ask, then append. - Set the
_Last updated:_line to today's date + a one-line status. - Do NOT commit/push without user approval (rules.md §1.3, §6.15).
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