Handoff, clear, compact
Build-along · ~8 min at your own keyboard
/clear wipes the conversation to zero. /compact replaces it with a summary the model writes. A handoff is a file you have Claude write: what the task is, what's decided, what's done, what's next, and every constraint. The default when a window gets full is handoff, then /clear, then start fresh with 'read handoff.md and continue.' The file is yours to read and fix, and nothing in it is lost to a summary you never saw. Compact only at a phase boundary (research done, plan done, one ticket finished), and tell it what to keep. Never compact mid-task. The danger is that a summary quietly drops one rule, such as 'don't touch the live sheet,' and the model carries on as if the rule never existed. Auto-compact does exactly this when it fires on its own in the middle of work.
The long version: Compact and clear ↗
Do this
0/4Checkpoints
- ▸You should now see a handoff.md you have read and corrected.
- ▸You should now see a fresh session continue from the handoff and keep your constraints.
- ▸You should now see Claude list your constraints back after a directed /compact.
The three ways this goes wrong
- After /compact or auto-compact, Claude broke a rule you gave earlier. — The summary dropped it. Stop, restate the rule, and check the work done since. Next time write the handoff before the window fills, and compact only between phases.
- The fresh session after /clear doesn't know what to do. — The handoff was too thin. Ask for one that names the next step and every constraint, read it, then clear again.
- Auto-compact fired in the middle of work. — Watch the context meter. Around 60 to 70 percent, write a handoff and clear on your own terms before it fires.
Where these ideas come from: Autocompact, Compaction, Clearing, Handoff artifact (AI Hero dictionary). Paraphrased here.
Share what happened
Paste your handoff.md, one constraint Claude still obeyed after /clear, your compact instruction, and your personal rule.
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