Handoff
Handoff is an MCP server and VS Code extension that compresses Claude Code session context into lightweight, indexed resumes — cutting token costs and standardizing how work is handed off between sessions.
Every Claude Code session rebuilds context from scratch — re-reading files, re-deriving state, and burning tokens against the 5-hour and weekly limits. Handoff makes session state a first-class, structured artifact so resuming is cheap and consistent, whether you pick up an hour or a week later.
Developing with AI is fast, but it's easy to lose sight of what actually got done. Handoff accumulates that progress in .handoff/ and, through its VS Code extension, projects the whole picture back into your editor. See what's in flight on the Kanban board; watch the path to a deadline take shape on the Gantt chart. The time tracker quietly records the hours, while the gap between estimate and reality — and your shifting pace — builds up as metrics. And when you need to remember why a call was made, the session browser still holds the decisions and the blockers. It turns AI-driven work, so easily left vague, into something you can see, measure, and look back on.
Key Features
Challenges Addressed
• Context bloat burns tokens, hitting 5-hour / weekly limits fast
• Resuming a session re-reads the whole context — you pay again
• Hand-written handoffs drift in quality and pile up as loose docs
Approach Taken
• Lightweight indexed resume with a distilled next-actions list
• save_context validation enforces a uniform handoff format
• A single structured .handoff/ directory — one source of state
Outcomes Achieved
• Cheaper resumes and consistent handoffs across every session
• Task explorer, Kanban, and Gantt chart to visualize and manage tasks and progress
• Time tracker and metrics measure time, effort, and velocity with budget burn-down
• Shipped on npm and the VS Code Marketplace