Create or resume a session takeoff baton — a curated, ephemeral, git-ignored hand-off note that lets the next Claude session continue a long-running task. A repo can hold several batons at once, one per work line (topic). Use when the user says "交接", "takeoff", "交棒", "context 快滿了交接給下個 session", "hand off to next session", "/cortex:takeoff", "takeoff resume", or "takeoff done". The baton is scaffolding, not knowledge: it is never committed, distilled, broadcast, or indexed.
Scanned 8/30/2026
Install to Claude Code
npx -y skills add XBlueSky/cortexes --skill cortex-takeoff --agent claude-codeInstalls into .claude/skills of the current project.
Are you the author of Cortex Takeoff?
Add the live security badge to your README — it updates automatically with every re-scan.
[](https://www.skillsdirectory.com/skills/xbluesky-cortex-takeoff)More formats (shields.io, HTML) on the badges page.
---
name: cortex-takeoff
description: >
Create or resume a session takeoff baton — a curated, ephemeral, git-ignored
hand-off note that lets the next Claude session continue a long-running task.
A repo can hold several batons at once, one per work line (topic). Use when
the user says "交接", "takeoff", "交棒", "context 快滿了交接給下個 session",
"hand off to next session", "/cortex:takeoff", "takeoff resume", or
"takeoff done". The baton is scaffolding, not knowledge: it is never
committed, distilled, broadcast, or indexed.
---
# Cortex Takeoff — Session Hand-off Baton
A baton is a curated continuation note for ONE work line (topic) in ONE repo.
It lives at `<vault>/.takeoff/<repo-slug>/<topic>.md`, is git-ignored, and is
consumed by a later session. A repo may hold several batons at once — one per
work line. Batons are independent of the Raw session dump (which SessionEnd
writes automatically). Do NOT commit them, distill them, broadcast them, index
them with `cortex-vec`, or log them to `log.md`.
Legacy layout: `<vault>/.takeoff/<repo-slug>.md` (single-baton era, no topic
key). Legacy batons still list, resume, and clear (via `--legacy`), and are
retired to the new layout on their next hand-off. Never create new ones.
## Locating takeoff.sh
The repo slug and git-safety are handled by `takeoff.sh`, bundled in this plugin
at `hooks/scripts/takeoff.sh`. In every mode below, FIRST set `TK` to that helper,
resolved relative to THIS skill's base directory. The skill-load message announces
the base directory as `<...>/cortex/<version>/skills/cortex-takeoff`; `takeoff.sh`
sits two levels up. Substitute the actual announced base-dir path:
```bash
TK="<skill-base-dir>/../../hooks/scripts/takeoff.sh"
test -f "$TK" || { echo "cortex: takeoff.sh not found at $TK" >&2; exit 1; }
```
Do NOT use `claude plugin root` (no such subcommand) or `$CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT`
(unset for skill-run bash).
## Resolving the repo root
Every `bash "$TK" …` call takes an EXPLICIT cwd argument — there is no $PWD
fallback (a drifted shell cwd once deleted the wrong repo's baton). Resolve
the repo root ONCE per mode and reuse it verbatim in every call:
```bash
cwd="$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)"
```
If your shell may have cd'ed to another repo earlier in the session, resolve
from a path you KNOW belongs to this repo (e.g. a file you have been editing)
instead of trusting the shell's current directory.
## Mode
Determined by the command argument:
| Argument | Mode |
|----------|------|
| (none) or `<topic>` | **create** — write/overwrite one work line's baton |
| `resume [topic]` | **resume** — load a baton (do not delete) |
| `done [topic]` | **done** — clear a baton (soft-delete to trash) |
## Create (`/cortex:takeoff [topic]`)
1. Set `TK`, resolve `cwd`, then survey the existing work lines:
```bash
bash "$TK" list "$cwd"
```
Output: one baton per line, `topic<TAB>summary<TAB>path`, newest first.
2. Decide the topic — kebab-case `[a-z0-9-]`, max 64 chars, not
`resume`/`done`/`legacy`:
- The user passed one explicitly → use it verbatim.
- This session earlier RESUMED a baton → reuse that topic. A continuation
is the same work line; do not mint a new name. (Hard rule.)
- Otherwise: if a listed baton is clearly this same work line, propose
reusing its topic; else derive a short new topic from the work line and
ANNOUNCE it to the user before writing.
3. Run the preflight (git-safety; also derives the slug):
```bash
bash "$TK" prepare "$cwd" "<topic>"
```
Output is TWO lines: line 1 = `baton_path`, line 2 = `workdir`. If it
exits non-zero, STOP and relay the message — do not write anything.
(Exit 2 = no vault / no repo; exit 3 = `.takeoff/` not git-ignored;
exit 64 = invalid topic.)
4. Curate the current session into a hand-off. Content is free-form — write
whatever genuinely lets a fresh session continue without re-deriving
context. Typically worth capturing: the goal, what's done so far, the
immediate next step, key files and locations (`path:line`), open questions,
and gotchas. Omit anything not useful; do not pad to a template.
5. Compose one `summary` line (used verbatim as the SessionStart menu preview):
a single sentence naming the work line and the next step.
6. Write the baton to `baton_path` with the Write tool. `workdir` is line 2
of the prepare output, verbatim — do NOT re-derive it yourself:
```markdown
---
repo: <slug>
topic: <topic>
workdir: <line 2 of prepare output>
created: <YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS>
summary: <one sentence: this work line / next step>
---
<free-form curation body>
```
If a baton already exists for this (repo, topic), this overwrites it (one
active baton per work line, new replaces old).
7. If this work line previously lived in the legacy single-baton file (you
resumed from topic `legacy`, or `list` shows a legacy entry that is this
same line), retire it now that the new-format baton exists:
```bash
bash "$TK" clear "$cwd" --legacy
```
8. Confirm to the user: baton written to `<baton_path>`, topic `<topic>`,
not committed.
## Resume (`resume [topic]`, or chosen from the SessionStart menu)
1. Set `TK`, resolve `cwd`, run `bash "$TK" list "$cwd"`.
2. No batons → tell the user there is nothing pending for this repo and stop.
3. Pick the target: the explicit / menu-chosen topic if given; a single
listed baton is used directly; multiple batons with no topic given → show
the list (topic + summary) and ask which one.
4. `Read` the baton in full (path from the list output) and adopt it as
continuation context. REMEMBER the resumed topic for the rest of the
session — it is the default target of a later create or done.
5. **Do NOT delete it** — loading is not completion; this session may itself
need to hand off again.
## Done (`done [topic]`)
1. Set `TK`, resolve `cwd`. Determine the target: the explicit topic if
given, else the topic this session resumed. Neither exists → REFUSE to
guess: run `bash "$TK" list "$cwd"`, show it, and ask the user to name
the target.
2. Clear it (use `--legacy` in place of the topic when the target is the
legacy baton):
```bash
bash "$TK" clear "$cwd" "<topic>"
```
Exit 4 = the baton belongs to a different working directory (its
`workdir` does not match this repo's toplevel). Relay both paths to the
user and let THEM decide — never retry with `--force` on your own.
Exit 5 = no such baton; re-run `list` and re-check the target.
3. Confirm to the user: the baton was moved to the trash path printed by the
command (recoverable for 30 days, then pruned).
## Overwrite vs done
- Re-running create replaces that topic's baton (normal re-hand-off).
- `done` is the explicit "this work line is finished" exit — the baton is
soft-deleted into `<vault>/.takeoff/.trash/` and pruned after 30 days.
- Merely loading via `resume` never clears anything.
Is this your skill, or is something wrong with this listing? Request removal or report an issue. Author removals are honored within 72 hours.
No comments yet. Be the first to comment!