What are Claude Code Skills?

Claude Code Skills are reusable prompt templates stored as markdown files in your project's .claude/skills/ directory. They let you codify best practices and common workflows into slash commands that Claude follows consistently.

How do I create a Claude Code Skill?

Create a markdown file in .claude/skills/ with instructions for Claude. The filename becomes the command name — for example, .claude/skills/code-review.md can be invoked with /code-review during a Claude Code session.

Can I share skills with my team?

Yes. Skills stored in .claude/skills/ can be committed to version control so every team member has access to the same standardized workflows. You can also organize skills into subdirectories by category.

What is the difference between project and global skills?

Project skills (.claude/skills/) are specific to the current project and are committed to git. Global skills (~/.claude/skills/) are personal skills available across all your projects.

claude-handoff

New

25Community RegistryGeneralby Kyle Snow Schwartz

Intelligent context transfer for focused thread transitions

Community PluginView Source

Overview

!Handoff

Goal-focused context transfer for Claude Code - transform /compact into system instructions that preserves the current task post-compact

What It Does

Claude-Handoff extends /compact with optional goal-focused handoff. When you run /compact handoff:<your goal> the plugin:

Captures your goal and current session state before compaction
Analyzes the previous thread to extract an immediate handoff instructions
Injects the handoff as a system message in the new, compacted session
Automatically starts the new session ready to execute your goal

Simply prompt the agent to 'proceed' and you're away.

How It Works

PreCompact Hook: Activates only when you use /compact handoff:... format

- Extracts your goal from the handoff: prefix - Uses claude --resume <session> --fork-session --model haiku --print <prompt> to generate handoff immediately - Saves pre-generated handoff content and goal to .git/handoff-pending/handoff-context.json temporarily

Compact: Proceeds normally

SessionStart Hook: Runs in the continued session

- Reads pre-generated handoff content from saved state - Injects handoff as system message - Cleans up state file

Result: Session continues with focused context injected, ready to execute your goal, just prompt it to go

Why?

Traditional compaction is lossy and unfocused - each summary degrades context quality. Goal-focused handoffs produce sharper results and get you back where you left off.

Trade-offs

Inspired by AmpCode's handoff model, and my own observations, this plugin auto-injects generated context without human review. Claude Code hooks can't pause for user editing.

PreCompact prompting for handoff adds some execution time to /compact, approximately ~20s.

Installation

bash

# From your project directory
claude plugin marketplace add kylesnowschwartz/claude-handoff
claude plugin install claude-handoff

Usage

Trigger goal-focused handoff:

bash

/compact handoff:now implement this for teams as well, not just individual users
/compact handoff:execute phase one of the created plan
/compact handoff:find other places in the codebase that need this same fix

Regular compact (no handoff):

bash

/compact
/compact keep the context tight

Configuration

Enable debug logging: Edit handoff-plugin/hooks/lib/logging.sh and set LOGGING_ENABLED=true

View logs:

bash

tail -f /tmp/handoff-precompact.log /tmp/handoff-sessionstart.log

Development

This plugin follows the Claude Code plugin architecture:

•.claude-plugin/marketplace.json - Local marketplace definition
•handoff-plugin/.claude-plugin/plugin.json - Plugin metadata
•handoff-plugin/commands/ - Slash commands
•handoff-plugin/hooks/ - Hook implementations

License

MIT - See LICENSE file for details

Install & Usage

Create the skills directory

mkdir -p .claude/skills

Download the skill file

mkdir -p .claude/skills && curl -o .claude/skills/claude-handoff.md https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kylesnowschwartz/claude-handoff/main/SKILL.md

Invoke in Claude Code

/claude-handoff

View source on GitHub

Frequently Asked Questions

What is claude-handoff?

Intelligent context transfer for focused thread transitions

How to install claude-handoff?

To install claude-handoff, create the .claude/skills directory in your project, then run the curl command to download the skill file. Once installed, invoke it in Claude Code with /claude-handoff.

What is claude-handoff best for?

claude-handoff is a community categorized under General. Created by Kyle Snow Schwartz.