---
name: zen-handoff
description: Preserve or resume a project across sessions with exact state, evidence, blockers and the next action. Use before pausing, transferring work or recovering context.
---
# Zen handoff

Make the next agent able to continue without guessing what is implemented or repeating completed side effects.

## Capture

1. Read the task/specification, recent session/run events and actual workspace state. Identify base/head, dirty files and worktree when relevant. Separate source inspection and implementer reports from independent verification.
2. State the original objective and accepted corrections. Include settled decisions, remaining scope, selected ART/SRT, relevant lessons and the owner-selected CLI/model/effort. A fresh session does not cancel earlier requirements.
3. List implemented, tested, unverified and pending separately. Checks need commands, results, timestamps and output paths. Preserve failed/unavailable checks instead of implying success.
4. Identify blockers, pending owner decisions and ambiguous side effects. Name the delivery state plainly: committed, pushed, pull request open, merged to canary, promoted to main. [zen-delivery](../zen-delivery/SKILL.md) defines those steps. If an acknowledgement was lost, retain the operation key and inspect its result before retrying. Browser disconnection does not prove a task stopped.
5. Give one exact next action, its prerequisites and the smallest context to load. Include record refs and worktree paths; exclude secrets, one-time codes and copied private profiles. Link parent/child sessions only when observed.
6. Save a DOC with `data.kind: "handoff"` and task/session/evidence links. Keep prior handoffs and relate the replacement. Use [tools.md](../zen/references/tools.md), or [standalone records](../zen/references/standalone.md). With no writer return a complete labelled draft.

## Resume

Read the latest applicable handoff and task. Recheck mutable facts cheaply: branch, dirty state, active process, current revision, device connection and pending commands. Do not repeat an already-applied launch or publish action. Continue within the existing authorization, or prepare the missing decision.

Use [the handoff template](references/output.md). A useful example is “writer persistence and fixture replay passed; a real provider run is unverified; next choose the model in Zen,” rather than “backend done.” Do not send the handoff to another person, chat or service without authorized transfer.