paseo-handoff - SKILL.md Agent Skill

name: paseo-handoff description: Hand off the current task to another agent with full context. Use when the user says "handoff", "hand off", "hand this to", or wants to pass work to another agent. user-invocable: true

Handoff Skill

Transfer the current task — context, decisions, failed attempts, constraints — to a fresh agent. The receiving agent starts with zero context, so the handoff prompt must be a self-contained briefing.

User's arguments: $ARGUMENTS

Prerequisites

Read the paseo skill. Before choosing a provider, read ~/.paseo/orchestration-preferences.json unless the user explicitly named a provider in this request. Do not create the receiving agent until you have read it.

Parsing arguments

Provider — explicit user request first; otherwise resolve from impl preference (or ui if the task is styling-only).
Worktree — "in a worktree" / "worktree" → create a worktree via Paseo with a short branch name derived from the task, based on the current branch.
Task description — anything else the user said.

The handoff prompt

The receiving agent has zero context. Include:

## Task
[Imperative description.]

## Context
[Why this task exists, required context.]

## Relevant files
- `path/to/file.ts` — [what it is and why it matters]

## Current state
[What's done, what works, what doesn't.]

## What was tried
- [Approach] — [why it failed or was abandoned]

## Decisions
- [Decision — rationale]

## Acceptance criteria
- [ ] [Criterion]

## Constraints
- [Must-not / must-preserve]

Preserve task semantics. Investigate-only → "DO NOT edit files." Fix → "implement the fix." Refactor → "refactor, not rewrite." Carry the user's exact intent.

Launch

Create the agent via Paseo with a [Handoff] <task> title, the briefing as initial prompt, and relationship: { kind: "detached" }.

Use workspace for placement:

No worktree: workspace: { kind: "current" }.
Worktree: workspace: { kind: "create", source: { kind: "worktree", target: { kind: "branch-off", worktreeSlug: "<short-task-slug>", branchName: "fix/<short-task-slug>" } } }.
Existing worktree already created by create_worktree: workspace: { kind: "existing", workspaceId: "<returned-workspace-id>" }.

Do not use workspace: { kind: "current", cwd: "<worktreePath>" } to place a handoff in a worktree; that keeps the agent in the caller's workspace with only a different runtime cwd.

Leave notifyOnFinish omitted unless the user explicitly wants no callback.

Handoff agents are siblings/root agents, not your subagents. They must survive you being archived and must not appear in your subagent track.

Don't wait by default — the user decides whether to follow along or move on. Tell them the agent ID and how to follow along (the paseo skill explains).