Handoff skill
Quick answer
- 01What is it?
- 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. The value is a focused slice of search and SEO workflows judgment, useful when several similar skills cover the same ground.
- 02Inputs
- Context for search and SEO workflows: your goals, audience, constraints, and any source material the skill asks for.
- 03Output
- A ready-to-use result for search and SEO workflows: the analysis, copy, or recommendations the agent produces.
Add this skill
Install as a package
Installs this one skill package for your coding agent, including any supporting files that skill ships with — not every skill in the repository. Read the tutorial.
$ npx skills add getpaseo/paseo --skill paseo-handoffUse in Profound
Copy this file into a new Profound Skill. That's it, nothing else to install.
Copy and create in ProfoundHandoff 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. Call list_profiles before choosing the receiving agent. Do not create it until you have read the configured profiles and their notes.
Parsing arguments
- Agent profile — explicit profile name first; otherwise choose the profile whose
notesbest match the work. Materialize it intocreate_agentas described by the paseo skill. If no profile fits, use Paseo's provider discovery fallback. - Isolation — "in a worktree" / "worktree" → create a workspace with
isolation: "worktree", using a short branch name derived from the task. - 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
Prepare the handoff in a dedicated workspace:
- Select the current workspace or call
create_workspacewith the requested isolation. - Call
create_agentwith a[Handoff] <task>title, the briefing as initial prompt, and the selectedworkspaceIdwhen explicit placement is needed. - Return the agent and workspace to the user, explaining that it remains in your subagent track until they detach it manually.
Do not encode independence as a create mode and do not invoke CLI or wire-level detach operations. Detach is a user gesture in the subagents track.
Do not wait or poll for the agent to finish.
Common questions
How do I install Handoff skill in Cursor, Claude Code, or Codex?
Run npx skills add getpaseo/paseo --skill paseo-handoff in the project where you want it, then ask your agent for the skill by name. The --skill flag installs only Handoff skill, not every skill in the repository.
Where does Handoff skill come from and what license is it under?
Handoff skill comes from the getpaseo/paseo repository on GitHub. That repository has 15K GitHub stars. The skill is published under the Apache-2.0 license.
Prefer plain text? Read the Handoff skill guide as markdown.
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