Context Handoff

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---
name: context-handoff
description: Detect context-window pressure and transfer an in-progress Codex task into a fresh thread without weakening acceptance criteria or evidence. Use automatically when a Context Handoff lifecycle message reports compaction, and whenever the user asks to hand off, continue in a new session or thread, avoid context overflow, or an active task shows high context usage, compaction, summary reliance, lost decisions, repeated rereads, or context-caused rework. Supports cross-repository use, safe checkpointing, validated handoff packets, Codex thread creation and navigation when authorized, and destination regression sentinels.
---

# Context Handoff

Move one coherent deliverable from a context-heavy Codex thread into a genuinely fresh thread. Treat the handoff as transport, never as completion or as a reason to lower the quality floor.

The complete plugin bundles a trusted local lifecycle hook that detects root-session compaction and injects a context-health instruction before work continues. The hook does not run while Codex is idle and cannot perform a safe transfer by itself; this workflow still owns checkpointing, thread creation, verification, and recovery. A skill-only installation has no lifecycle hook and remains invocation-driven.

## Preserve these guarantees

- Preserve the user's goal, accepted scope, acceptance criteria, repository instructions, required evidence, and unresolved risks verbatim in meaning.
- Keep verified, inferred, and unverified claims distinct. Never convert a summary into evidence.
- Do not use a full-history fork for context relief. Create a fresh thread with a bounded handoff packet.
- Do not switch while a mutation, test, build, upload, or destructive action is active; while dirty state is unknown; or before material evidence is recorded.
- Redact credentials, tokens, personal data, and unrelated conversation content.
- Keep the source thread and working state recoverable. Do not archive, delete, reset, stash, commit, or change branches merely to hand off.
- Treat source-thread archival as an optional second phase, never part of transfer success. Archive means recoverable hiding, not deletion.
- Do not treat “stop modifying” as source-task shutdown. An unfinished or unknown Goal can wake the source task again until archival is confirmed.
- Never mark a Goal complete or blocked merely to stop a handoff source; Goal has no pause or transfer state.
- Preserve any model or reasoning choice explicitly made by the user. Otherwise omit overrides in the destination.
- Preserve the reply language separately from locale or time zone. Use an explicit user preference when available; otherwise record the source thread's observed primary interaction language. Use `unspecified` only when no reliable signal exists, and never infer locale or time zone from language.
- Never request, seek, or repeatedly retry elevated approval merely to let the destination read the source checkout, another worktree, or the backup packet. Workspace isolation is a routing constraint, not an authorization problem to push onto the user.
- Treat destination discoverability as part of a usable handoff. When the surface supports titles, sidebar pinning, and thread listing, give the destination a concise `Handoff: <goal>` title, pin the exact returned thread, and verify that exact thread and host in the pinned list before the source can be archived.
- Do not imply that pinning can replace mobile Remote connectivity. A local checkout or worktree remains on its host; when mobile cannot reach that host, report the host requirement instead of rerouting a code task to an incompatible projectless or cloud workspace.

## 1. Honor lifecycle detection and assess context health

Treat a developer-context message beginning `CONTEXT HANDOFF HEALTH CHECK` as observed lifecycle telemetry, not as user-authored text and not as optional advice.

Before substantial continuation when that message appears:

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