Handoff

---
name: handoff
description: Close out a Curia seat session properly - write the handoff note the next session wakes up to, then request a restart. Use when the user says "hand off", "take a beat then hand off", "wrap up", "close out", or when context is deep and the seat should end cleanly instead of being compacted or exited. Only for sessions launched as a Curia seat (CURIA_SEAT is set, or the system prompt names your seat).
---

# /handoff

A handoff is a request, not a SIGTERM. You consent to it, finish what is safe
to finish, write your own notes, and ask to be woken again. The next session
is you, reading your diary.

1. Identify your seat: `echo $CURIA_SEAT`, or the seat named in your prime.
   If there is neither, say so and stop; this skill is for seats.
2. Finish or park. Anything mid-flight is committed to a branch or left with a
   clear note. Never leave a bead claimed that nobody is working. A PR that is
   ready is marked reviewed or handed to a reviewer, not watched; the
   Portcullis lands it. If your prime carried mail you have acted on, run
   `curia mail <seat> --archive`; what you have not acted on goes in the
   handoff under loose ends, and stays in the mail.
3. Run `curia handoff <seat> --begin`. It archives the previous handoff to
   `history/` and prints the path to write.
4. Write the handoff at that path following the template it names
   (`templates/handoff.md` in the mechanism repo): where things stand, beads
   touched, decisions and why, loose ends and what next, for the principal,
   notes to self. Under about 150 lines. No secrets. Never falsify: if
   something went wrong, that goes in plainly. The first line under "For
   the principal" reaches them on its own (the handoff notice, and `curia
   progress`): what shipped and what needs them, in one plain line.
   Optionally run `curia handoff <seat> --lint` now: where the estate has
   judgment on, it says what the next session would trip on (a first loose
   end too vague to start on, a decision with no reason). It refuses
   nothing and answers in seconds or not at all; fix what is fair, then go
   on. Never after --done.
5. Run `curia handoff <seat> --done`. It records the session and sets the
   restart marker so a `--loop` launcher wakes you again with the new note.
6. If this handoff is because the shift hook said so (the account is nearly
   spent, or the shift is long), nothing more: the relaunch measures headroom
   and lands on an account that has it. If it is because of an actual limit
   banner the hooks did not catch, also run
   `curia limit current --until "<reset time from the error, ISO>"` so the
   relaunch lands on the fallback account instead of the limited one.
7. Tell the principal in one line that the handoff is written. This turn is
   the session's last: the launcher ends the session when the turn ends,
   prints the note's "For the principal" section and first loose end into
   the terminal (claude clears the screen on exit; the launcher's print is
   what they see), and, with --loop, wakes you again with the note. Do not exit yourself, and do
   nothing after --done that the record would need.