ai-session-handoff

AI Session Handoff Skill

Purpose

Produce a self-contained meaning transfer document from the current conversation. The output is a markdown file intended to be dropped into a new AI chat session, giving a cold model full-fidelity access to the conceptual understanding, vocabulary, framing, and dialectical history built in this session.

The consumer is an AI, not a human. Optimize for completeness, precision, and cold-start effectiveness — not readability or brevity.

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Process

Step 1 — Review the Full Conversation

Read the entire conversation from the beginning. Do not rely on recency. Pay attention to:

• How concepts were introduced and refined over time
• Points of friction, correction, or disambiguation
• Moments where a definition was locked in or agreed upon
• Language the human used that carries special meaning in this context
• Analogies or framings that proved load-bearing

Step 2 — Extract and Organize

Extract the following components (include all that apply):

1. Session Purpose — What was the goal of this session? What problem or question was being worked on?
2. Established Concepts — Each major concept with its full, precise meaning as co-developed. Include nuance, not just labels.
3. Working Vocabulary — Terms with agreed-upon definitions, especially where a term was given a specialized or non-default meaning.
4. Dialectical History — How key ideas evolved. What was proposed, challenged, revised, or rejected — and why. Include the reasoning, not just the conclusion.
5. Key Distinctions — Important differentiations made during the session (e.g., "X is not the same as Y because...").
6. Resolved Tensions — Apparent contradictions that were worked through. State both the tension and its resolution.
7. Open Threads — Questions, directions, or problems left unresolved. These are entry points for future sessions.
8. Framing and Stance — The perspective or epistemic stance the human is working from. Worldview assumptions that shaped the conversation.

Step 3 — Write the Priming Prompt Block

At the end of the document, write a Priming Prompt — a single, self-contained block the user can paste at the start of a new session. It should:

• Be addressed directly to the AI (second person: "You are being given context from a prior session...")
• Summarize the shared understanding in condensed but complete form
• Explicitly state what the AI should treat as established vs. open
• Indicate what kind of collaboration is expected going forward
• Be written so that an AI reading it cold can immediately operate at the level of the primed session

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Output Format

Before producing the document, ask the user: "Where would you like to save the session handoff? Please provide a folder path or confirm a location." Save the document as a markdown file named session-handoff.md in the location they specify.

Use this structure:

# AI Session Handoff

## Session Purpose
...

## Established Concepts
### [Concept Name]
...

## Working Vocabulary
| Term | Meaning in This Context |
|------|------------------------|
| ...  | ...                    |

## Dialectical History
...

## Key Distinctions
...

## Resolved Tensions
...

## Open Threads
...

## Framing and Stance
...

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## Priming Prompt

> You are being given context from a prior AI session. The following represents the shared understanding, vocabulary, and framing co-developed during that session. Treat everything in this document as established context — do not re-litigate settled definitions unless asked. Open threads are live questions; approach them as active starting points.
>
> [condensed synthesis of all the above]
>
> Your role going forward is: [describe expected collaboration mode]

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Quality Criteria

• Completeness over brevity: A cold AI should be able to reconstruct the session's conceptual state from this document alone.
• Precision: Reproduce the exact meanings established, including edge cases and qualifications.
• No hallucination: Only include what was actually discussed. Do not infer or embellish.
• Dialectical fidelity: Capture the how of understanding, not just the what. The reasoning matters.
• Priming prompt is standalone: The priming prompt block should work even if the rest of the document is not included.