Never Lose Your Flow: "Smart Handoff for Claude Code

by Ben Fisher

If you’ve spent time building with Claude Code, you know that moment: You’re locked in — the problem is clear, the path forward is obvious, every keystroke flows — and then /compact happens.

💥 Flow broken.

Recent context is gone. Claude repeats old mistakes or loses the thread entirely. You spend 10 minutes re-explaining what you just figured out.

I got tired of it. So I built Smart Handoff.

The Problem

Claude’s compaction is inevitable when your context window fills, but it’s rarely graceful.

It’s not just about summarizing what happened — it’s about preserving direction and detail so you can keep going without retracing your steps.

Most attempts to “fix” this focus on one or the other:

  • Direction (compact message) keeps the focus but loses nuance
  • Details (full notes file) keeps facts but loses the why

Neither alone recreates the mental model you had at peak flow.

The Smart Handoff Solution

Smart Handoff is a Claude Code command that captures both your direction and your details before compaction, so you can resume exactly where you left off.

When you sense your context filling (~70–80% usage), run it. It will:

  1. Generate a custom /compact message tuned to your current goal
  2. Save all relevant details to context/WORKING.md

When you resume, run both commands:

  1. The custom /compact message (sets focus)
  2. Read context/WORKING.md and continue (restores details)

The result: Claude knows exactly what to do and has all the context it needs to do it.

Quick Install (Per Project)

Navigate to your project directory and run:

mkdir -p .claude/commands context \
  && curl -o .claude/commands/smart-handoff.md https://gist.githubusercontent.com/skinnyandbald/ec75ad09803cad36c8b919b0d9618d54/raw \
  && echo "✅ Smart Handoff installed! Restart Claude Code to use it."

And when you sense the context filling up, run:

/smart-handoff

When to Use Smart Handoff

  • ~70–80% context usage (before compaction forces you)
  • Before breaks
  • For team handoffs or moving between machines

Bonus for Teams

WORKING.md captures the full working state of your current session so:

  • You can pick up exactly where you left off after compaction
  • Teammates can continue from your exact state if they take over mid-session
  • No one has to guess what was in your head before the context reset

Try It

Install it, give it a shot, and let me know how it works for you.
🔗Command on GitHub Gist →