Session handoff
By Mike Schreiber · Updated 31 October 2026
Session handoff
Session handoff is the deliberate transfer of enough working context for another session, person, or AI tool to continue a task. A useful handoff captures the objective, current state, decisions and rationale, unresolved questions, evidence, and next action. It is a continuation brief, not necessarily a copy of the conversation.
Handoff versus session resume
In Claude Code, resuming restores saved conversation history and supported session state. After compaction, that history includes the latest compaction summary rather than every earlier message. Some launch configuration, including --mcp-config, must be supplied again. A handoff instead makes selected context understandable without relying on that saved session. Claude Code sessions
Persistent instructions serve another purpose: stable project guidance. Claude Code supports CLAUDE.md and, depending on version and configuration, AGENTS.md. Direct AGENTS.md support requires v2.1.277 or later, with documented exceptions. Neither an instruction file nor a handoff should be assumed to contain the full conversation. Claude Code memory
Local versus hosted MCP memory
An MCP memory server provides stored context through an interface the receiving application can use. MCP servers can run locally, typically using stdio, or remotely using Streamable HTTP. Local stdio servers typically serve one client; remote servers typically serve multiple clients. MCP defines context exchange, not how applications manage that context. MCP architecture
The architectural implication is that deployment alone does not establish continuity. For a local implementation, check whether another machine can access the backing records. For a hosted implementation, check authentication, project permissions, persistence, and retrieval. Storage synchronization is implementation-dependent, and hosting should not be treated as automatic conversation-history transfer.
Hark’s role
Hark positions handoff around a project record, not universal transcript transfer. Its Inventory, Health, Work, Authority, and Decisions blocks feed briefs, memory, and handoffs. Records carry evidence labels and sources; “Agreed” means accepted, not independently verified. Automatic session hooks and compaction protection in its mod are Claude Code-only; other tools use connection guides and explicit session tools. Hark
Practical example
Before stopping a payment-retry investigation, save: “Goal: prevent duplicate charges. State: patch drafted, integration test failing. Decision: retain existing idempotency keys. Evidence: link to diff and test output. Unknown: timeout behavior. Next: reproduce the timeout before changing retry logic.”
Have the recipient verify the branch and evidence, then restate the next action. Keep credentials out of the record and distinguish proposed fixes from tested results.