handoff-resume

handoff-resume

A user-invocable slash command that reads the handoff state file saved by the previous session's handoff-writer.sh and re-invokes /loop with the same prompt. Paired with handoff-auto-restart.sh it achieves "click once, session restarts clean" flow; on its own it's the manual fallback — just /handoff:handoff-resume after /clear.

Execution

When invoked:

1. Read the handoff state:

   cat ~/.claude/handoff_last.json | jq '.'
   

   Keys of interest:

   • loop_prompt — the verbatim /loop argument (no leading /loop)
   • git_head / git_subject — where the previous session left the repo
   • cwd — project directory
   • serviced — false means this handoff hasn't been consumed yet

2. Never stop to ask the user. The human is AFK by design — that's the whole point of handoff/resume. Do not present options, do not confirm, do not wait. Auto-pick the optimal path and execute. The only exceptions are hard failures enumerated in "Failure modes" below (missing file, corrupted JSON, empty prompt) — everything else is auto-resolved.

   • If serviced is already true: auto-resume anyway (the auto-restart script may re-fire this skill on retry; a true flag is expected). Reconcile the prompt against current repo HEAD before re-invoking — see step 3.
   • If ts is more than 2 hours old: auto-resume anyway. The prompt is a directive, not a time-sensitive snapshot; staleness alone doesn't invalidate it.

3. Reconcile prompt vs current HEAD. cd to cwd, run git rev-parse HEAD and git log --oneline <handoff.git_head>..HEAD (skip if equal). If the repo moved forward since the handoff was saved, auto-rewrite the loop_prompt so "Done through DNN (HEAD xxxxxxx)" reflects reality and any "this session shipped" list includes the post-handoff commits. Keep all directive content (next steps, gates, rules) verbatim. This step is non-interactive — do not show options.

4. Mark serviced. Flip the flag so a duplicate invocation doesn't re-fire:

   jq '.serviced = true | .serviced_at = (now | floor)' \
     ~/.claude/handoff_last.json > /tmp/handoff.json.tmp && \
     mv /tmp/handoff.json.tmp ~/.claude/handoff_last.json
   

5. Surface state to the user in one line. No table, no multi-field summary — one sentence: "Resuming from HEAD xxxxxxx, prompt reconciled, re-entering /loop." The human is AFK; a table wastes context.

6. Re-invoke /loop. Use the Skill tool to invoke loop with the reconciled prompt as the args. This re-enters the /loop dynamic-mode pipeline cleanly.

Failure modes

• File missing. No previous handoff — tell the user and stop. Don't guess.
• JSON malformed. Corruption — show the raw file contents and ask how to proceed.
• loop_prompt empty. Previous session wrote state but couldn't capture the prompt. User must re-type the /loop manually.
• Skill tool can't find loop skill. Fall back: tell the user to paste /loop <prompt> manually; show them the prompt.

Why a dedicated skill instead of just grep'ing transcript

A shell slash command wouldn't have access to the Skill tool — only a real skill can chain into /loop programmatically. This skill does the minimal work to bridge "handoff state file on disk" → "live /loop re-entry in the new session", with zero extra context cost compared to the user typing it manually.