---
name: hand-off-the-code
description: when the code step is to be held by a coding agent or a person other than this one, and needs a folder to write the scripts in
---

# Hand off the code

Part of code-writer. when the code step is to be held by a coding agent or a person other than this one, and needs a folder to write the scripts in

## When to use this

when the code step is to be held by a coding agent or a person other than this one, and needs a folder to write the scripts in

## What this needs

- the agent's files (document, required)
- the suite (document, required)
- the released package, as the prototype (document, optional)

## What a good result looks like

One gzip tar archive that unpacks to the build folder: the agent's files as they came; the suite under test/, byte for byte, binary fixtures included; every script the spec names under scripts/, the released script where the prototype carries one at that path and otherwise a stub exporting what the suite imports; every other file the released package carries at its own path, read-only; AGENTS.md with the house rules; CLAUDE.md pointing to it; .adlc/ with the check, so `node .adlc/check.mjs` runs the same check locally; and build.lock.json with the digest of every pinned file, the record the hand-back is checked against.

## What it produces

- the build folder (application/gzip, per task)

## When it comes back empty

If no agent's files or no suite arrived, nothing is laid out and no archive is made: the reply says what is missing. A prototype that is not a package puts its files under prototype/ only and every script is stubbed. No model is woken and nothing is charged.

## How to do it

Run `node scripts/handoff.mjs --job <job folder> --records <records folder> --work <work folder> --file <path>::<media type> ...`. A message asks for the hand-off when its first line begins with "Hand off the code". The host keeps one command for this agent and runs it for every ordinary message, so for any other message the command does nothing and answers {"escalate": true}, and the host wakes the coding session for write-the-scripts. For a hand-off it runs the three steps in order and prints one JSON object with a `reply` field. The agent's files may come loose; they are told apart by what is in them. A suite or a prototype that has folders comes as one gzip tar archive holding its own paths (test/... for the suite, the package's own layout for the prototype), because a loose file's folder is lost on the way; a released package's archive is taken as the prototype as it is. It calls no model and reaches no network: every step is a program. Archives are written and read by archive.mjs in node alone, with no tar binary.

## Scripts

Run these from this skill's folder; each one says what it needs at the top.

- scripts/handoff.mjs
- scripts/archive.mjs
- scripts/workspace.mjs
- scripts/agent-folder.mjs
- scripts/check.mjs

## References

- references/agents-md-template.md