Files
Matt PocockandClaude Opus 4.8 386d4ff719 refactor: unify planning skills into /to-spec + /to-tickets
Executes the `unify-to-tickets` decision (personal-wiki #23), reworking
this PR from "add /to-plan" into the full planning-skills unification.

- Rename /to-prd → /to-spec. "spec" is now the single through-line term
  (the skill still opens with "you may know this document as a PRD" for
  discoverability).
- Merge /to-plan + /to-issues into one /to-tickets skill; delete
  /to-issues. /to-tickets emits a set of tickets, each declaring its
  blocking edges — one medium-agnostic artifact that reads as a
  sequential plan (local `tickets.md`, edges as text) or a parallelizable
  DAG (real tracker, native blocking links). The edges live in the ticket
  either way; the medium only decides whether anything acts on them in
  parallel.
- ask-matt now routes idea → /to-spec → /to-tickets → /implement.
- Sweep every cross-reference (docs pages, chain diagrams, CONTEXT.md,
  ADRs, .agents, setup templates) to the new names and vocabulary.
- Rewrite the changeset to describe the unification.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-08 14:18:36 +01:00

2.3 KiB

Quickstart:

npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill=handoff
npx skills update handoff

Source

What it does

handoff compacts the current conversation into a handoff document — a single write-up a fresh agent can read to pick up the work where you left off.

It does not re-state what already lives elsewhere. Anything captured in a spec, plan, ADR, issue, commit, or diff is referenced by path or URL, never copied. The document carries only the live thread — what you were doing, why, and what's next — and it's saved to your OS's temporary directory, not into the workspace, so it never becomes another artifact to maintain.

When to reach for it

You invoke this by typing /handoff — the agent won't reach for it on its own. Pass a note about what the next session is for and the document is tailored to it.

Reach for this when a conversation has gone long enough that its context is at risk — you're near a context limit, wrapping for the day, or deliberately handing the work to another agent — and you want the thread preserved without dragging the whole transcript along.

What the document carries

  • The live thread — what's in flight and why, in the conversation's own terms, minus anything already written down elsewhere.
  • Suggested skills — a pointer to the skills the next agent should reach for to continue.
  • References, not copies — links and paths to the specs, plans, ADRs, issues, and diffs that hold the settled detail.
  • Redacted secrets — API keys, passwords, and PII stripped before the document is written.

The idea to hold onto is compaction: a handoff is the conversation squeezed down to just its resumable core, so a fresh agent inherits the momentum, not the noise.

Where it fits

handoff is a reach-for-it-anytime standalone — it sits at the seam between two sessions rather than inside a build chain. It pairs naturally with the artifact-producing skills whose output it points at: to-spec, because a finished spec is exactly the kind of settled detail a handoff references instead of repeating. When you're unsure which skill fits the moment, ask-matt routes you.