Takeover Skill

Recover context from a previous session that ended without running /handover. This skill reads the transcript from a closed session and creates the handover document retroactively.

When to Use

• •You started a new session and realized the last one didn't handover
• •You want to recover learnings from an old session
• •The previous agent crashed or was terminated unexpectedly

Instructions

When this skill is invoked:

Phase 1: Find Recent Sessions

1. •

   List recent session transcripts:

   bash

   ls -lt ~/.claude/projects/*//*.jsonl | head -20
   

2. •

   Show the user a list of recent sessions with:

   • •Session ID (first 8 chars)
   • •Project path
   • •Last modified time
   • •File size (rough indicator of session length)
3. •

   Ask the user which session to recover:

   • •"Which session would you like to recover? (enter number or session ID prefix)"
   • •Default to the most recent one that's NOT the current session

Phase 2: Analyze the Transcript

1. •

   Read the selected transcript file (the .jsonl file)

2. •

   Extract all messages (both user and assistant) and parse them:

   javascript

   // Each line is a JSON object
   // Look for j.message.role === "user" or "assistant"
   // Extract text content from j.message.content
   

3. •

   From the transcript, identify:

   • •What was being worked on
   • •Which files were modified (look for Edit/Write tool calls)
   • •Any test failures mentioned
   • •Any learnings or discoveries
   • •Any suppressed issues (tests skipped, code commented out)
   • •Any unresolved questions or decisions
   • •Active tasks (look for TaskCreate/TaskUpdate calls)

Phase 3: Generate Handover Document

Follow the same structure as the regular handover skill, but note that this is a retroactive takeover:

1. •

   Read existing .claude/handover.md if it exists

2. •

   Create/update the handover document with:

   • •All the standard sections (see handover skill)
   • •Mark this as a takeover in the Generation Log: [date] Gen N (takeover): recovered from session XXXXXXXX — {summary}
3. •

   Do NOT create a WIP commit — the files may have changed since that session

Phase 4: Output Summary

Show the user:

1. •What was recovered from the old session
2. •The updated .claude/handover.md content
3. •Any warnings (e.g., "Files may have changed since that session")
4. •Reminder: "Review the handover document and verify the state is accurate"

Notes

• •This skill reads transcript files directly, it doesn't have the live conversation context
• •The recovered information may be incomplete compared to a live handover
• •Always verify the recovered state against the current codebase
• •If the project has changed significantly since the old session, some learnings may be stale

Transcript File Location

Session transcripts are stored at:

~/.claude/projects/{project-path-hash}/{session-id}.jsonl

The project path hash is the project directory with slashes replaced by dashes, e.g.: -Users-marc-bude-deepkit-framework