dotbabel

Handoff — Cross-CLI Session Context Transfer

Thin wrapper around the dotbabel handoff binary. The binary is the authoritative contract; run dotbabel handoff --help for the full sub-command list and flag reference. This file maps natural language to the right invocation.

Auto-trigger phrase mapping

Trigger phrase	Invocation
handoff <id> / resume-command fragments	dotbabel handoff pull <id>
continue in <cli> / switch to <cli> / pull from <cli>	dotbabel handoff pull <id> --from <cli>
what was that session about + identifier	dotbabel handoff pull <id> --summary
push handoff / send to other machine / save this	dotbabel handoff push --from <host-cli> [--tag …]
pull handoff / fetch handoff / continue from yesterday's machine	dotbabel handoff fetch [<query>]

Extract <id> from the user message (UUID, short UUID, or a deliberate-label alias: claude customTitle/aiTitle, codex thread_name, copilot workspace.yaml:name, or gemini checkpoint). Aliases match case-insensitively. Resolution precedence: UUID > short-UUID > latest > alias (no fall-through on miss). The resolver probes Claude / Copilot / Codex / Gemini roots automatically. If the query is missing or ambiguous, ask one clarifying question before proceeding.

The --from filling rule

When invoking dotbabel handoff push without a query positional, include --from <your-cli> where <your-cli> is the agent the host LLM is running in (claude for Claude Code, copilot for GitHub Copilot CLI, codex for Codex). The flag is required in that mode; the binary exits 64 without it.

Layered fidelity (Approach A and Approach B)

The digest combines two layers of context fidelity. Justification and tradeoffs are captured in docs/experiments/handoff-hardening-2026-05-08.md (added in PR #206; this PR must merge after #206 for the link to resolve).

• B-floor (always on). Mechanical extraction the binary performs unconditionally: TodoWrite mining in claude/codex transcripts, user-prompt cap of 50 (prompt 1 pinned + last 49), and assistant turn sampling (first turn + last 3). This is what every push and pull produces with no extra flags. See references/digest-schema.md for the schema and size bounds.
• Approach A (opt-in via --state-file). When dotbabel handoff push --state-file <path> is passed, the file’s raw content (typically a <handoff-state> YAML block authored by the source agent) is prepended above the mechanical <handoff> block. This lets the agent author intent, decisions, and goals verbatim instead of relying on extraction heuristics. The block flows through the same secret scrubber. See references/digest-schema.md for the rendered shape.

Tool execution failures

When the dotbabel binary cannot be executed for any reason — permission denied, binary not found, network failure, sandbox restriction — do NOT fabricate, reconstruct, or synthesize a <handoff> block from raw session JSONL files. Report the tool-execution error verbatim and stop; instruct the user to run the command manually in a shell where dotbabel is available.

Specifically:

1. Quote the exact command attempted and the failure message.
2. Tell the user to run it themselves and paste the output back.
3. Do not infer, summarize, or proceed as if the call had succeeded.

Why: the binary is the authoritative producer of <handoff> blocks — it owns the scrub passes (push redaction) and the extraction logic §4 data flow depends on. Fabricated output may pass shape validation but bypasses scrubbing entirely; the consumer cannot distinguish a hand-rolled block from a real one.

Cross-cutting flags

Brief reference. dotbabel handoff --help is authoritative.

• --from <cli> narrows source-CLI auto-detection on push, fetch, pull; filters list, search, and prune. For pull latest, omitting --from triggers host auto-detection: CLAUDECODE=1 / COPILOT_* / CODEX_* / GEMINI_CLI* env signals → narrowed to that CLI’s root; host undetectable → cross-root union (newest mtime across all four roots).
• --summary is pull-only; fetch --summary exits 64 because fetch retrieves the rendered remote handoff.md.
• -o <path> (on pull) controls output: - forces stdout; auto writes to <repo>/docs/handoffs/<date>-<cli>-<short>.md; any other string is a literal path.
• --since <ISO> cuts off list and search (default 30 days for search).
• --limit <N> caps the row count.
• --tag <label> annotates a push (repeatable). On fetch <tag>, exact-tag matches are preferred over description substring fallback.
• --fixed / -F treats the search query as a literal string instead of a regex.
• --json is honoured by list, pull, search.
• --state-file <path> (on push) prepends a free-form state block (Approach A) to the digest before the mechanical extraction. The block is scrubbed for secrets like any other content.

Out of scope

• Invoking the target CLI directly. The skill prints; the user pastes. Keeps the transfer auditable.
• End-to-end encryption. The git transport is access-controlled by the host (private repo + auth); content is plaintext on the remote. push runs the scrubber and fails closed (exit 2) if it can’t run. Best-effort pattern pass — see references/redaction.md.
• Fuzzy or semantic search. search is substring/regex only.

Internal references

• dotbabel handoff --help — authoritative flag and sub-command list.
• references/prerequisites.md — install matrix and remote-transport setup.
• references/from-codex.md — Codex-specific notes.
• references/redaction.md — scrubber behavior.

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