Pick up work from repo-local handoff state. Use when starting a new Claude Code session, switching agents, returning to a project, or asking an AI agent to reconstruct context from prior work. Named `pickup` rather than `resume` to avoid shadowing Claude Code's built-in `/resume` conversation picker.
Installs into .claude/skills of the current project.
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---
name: pickup
description: Pick up work from repo-local handoff state. Use when starting a new Claude Code session, switching agents, returning to a project, or asking an AI agent to reconstruct context from prior work. Named `pickup` rather than `resume` to avoid shadowing Claude Code's built-in `/resume` conversation picker.
allowed-tools: Bash Read
disable-model-invocation: true
catalog:
order: 20
summary: 'Pick up work from repo-local handoff state — the read side of the `handoff` pair.'
---
Resume this project from the repo-local handoff state.
## Current repo state
```!
git status --short 2>/dev/null || echo "(not a git repo)"
```
```!
git log --oneline -12 2>/dev/null || echo "(no git log)"
```
## Instructions
Check for `.ai/HANDOFF.md`. Two paths:
**If found:** Read it, along with `CLAUDE.md` and `AGENTS.md` if present. Then verify it against current repo state: confirm the branch matches, check that referenced files exist, and flag any commits more recent than the handoff that aren't reflected in it. If `.ai/reviews/` exists, note the most recent review report and surface any of its unresolved findings that bear on the next action.
**If not found:** Tell the user explicitly that no handoff was found before doing anything else. Then reconstruct best-effort from the repo: scan recent git log, read recently modified files, and check for obvious entry points (scripts, notebooks, configs).
## Report
State on the first line whether the handoff was loaded: `Handoff loaded from .ai/HANDOFF.md` or `No handoff found — reconstructed from repo.`
Then open with a 2–3 sentence conversational recap — what this project is, what was being worked on, and where things stand. Write it the way a colleague would catch someone up after they've been away, not as a bullet list.
Then follow with only the sections that have real content:
**Key decisions** — consequential choices already locked in.
**Scientific context** — datasets, baselines, reference periods, counterfactual definitions, known data quality issues.
**Risks** — load-bearing assumptions, things likely to go wrong.
**Next action** — the one concrete thing to do right now. If multiple paths are plausible, compare them in 2–3 lines each and recommend one.
