In DeepSeek Harness, long projects often die in chat logs. Key context can scroll out of view, get compressed, or belong to sessions that have already ended. To let the next session resume work immediately without “archaeology” to dig through history, a handoff discipline is needed. The Project Handoff skill codifies this discipline into a reusable process.

This is a memory-based skill maintained by ChenneyZhuang and released under the MIT license. The core problem it solves is: how to persist decision rationale, unwritten rules, and current state inside the project, rather than relying on temporary conversation compression.

Core Features

The skill generates a persistent handoff.md file in the project directory, containing three core sections:

  1. Current State: Records existing entities, counts, paths, and versions, and includes only verifiable claims.
  2. Decisions and Rationale: Records “why X was chosen instead of Y,” preserving the logic behind decisions and avoiding future re-litigation.
  3. Pitfall Log: Records known pitfalls strictly in the format “symptom → cause → fix,” making them easier to read and search over the long term.

The skill supports Chinese and English, and the file is version-controlled with the project, so it exists even when no conversation is generated.

Installation and Enablement

Install it via npm:

npx skills add ChenneyZhuang/project-handoff

For the specific installation path for different agents, refer to the COMPATIBILITY.md file in the project.

Typical Usage

  1. Verify before working: Before starting work on an existing project, read handoff.md first. Compare the claims in the file with the actual project state and correct stale entries.
  2. Update immediately on changes: When a milestone is reached, a key decision is made, or a pitfall is discovered, write it to the file immediately. Do not wait until the end of the day to tidy it up; a stale handoff file is a rumor.
  3. Use the standard pitfall format: When recording a problem, it must be written in the order “symptom → cause → fix,” ensuring the file remains readable weeks later.
  4. Protect sensitive information: Do not write credentials or personal privacy details directly into handoff.md. Store such information in a dedicated store and point to that location from the handoff file.

Applicable Scenarios and Caveats

  • Applicable scenarios: Suitable for cross-session work and multi-person collaborative projects. Single-user, short-cycle projects may not need this level of strict discipline.
  • Limitations: This is a memory-layer tool, not a replacement for version control (git). Code history belongs to git; handoff.md only records what git cannot store, such as decision rationale and unwritten rules.
  • Risks: Outdated entries can be as misleading as missing ones. Since the file records facts at the time of writing, dated entries require readers to perform a reality check when reading. Entry dates older than recent major changes should be treated with skepticism.