Context Engineering Handoff Shape

Page Promise

The reader should understand why Harness treats manual handoff as a context-engineering control for starting a fresh, long phase with enough verified state and without transcript residue.

Structure

1. Context Layers: keep the existing layer map. It gives the reader the baseline model before introducing decay.
2. Context Decay: open with context half-life. Explain that long runs accumulate residue: old guesses, failed commands, stale reads, rejected paths, and recency weight.
3. Rot vs Poison: split the failure mode into two named concepts. Rot is expired truth. Poison is wrong material that keeps steering the run.
4. Token Pressure: explain that cost appears before the window limit. More context adds latency, spend, and attention drag while the run still technically fits.
5. Manual Handoff: pivot to curated continuation. The handoff carries only the state that should influence the next run: objective, decisions, changed files, verification, open questions, and suggested skills.
6. Handoff Contract: ground the concept in the skill. Mention temporary-directory output, suggested skills, durable artifact references, and redaction.
7. When to Hand Off: state the operational rule. Use handoff before a fresh, long, consuming phase. Avoid handoff inside the same phase when it would interrupt active flow.
8. Bad vs Good Handoff: close with contrast. A bad handoff copies transcript residue or interrupts useful working memory. A good handoff keeps the next run clean without making it naive.
9. Related Mechanics: keep links to Prompt Surfaces, Memory Notes, Skill Model, Skill Reference, and Progressive Disclosure.

Format Decisions

• Use prose for the argument because the reader needs the causal chain.
• Use short bullets for decay modes and handoff triggers because those items are parallel.
• Use one warning-style paragraph for the mid-phase interruption concern. It is the main user nuance and should stay visible.
• Avoid tables because the page explains judgment instead of comparing repeated fields.
• Keep the public page reader-facing; omit private writer artifact links from body copy.

Merge Notes

• Keep automatic compaction as supporting context inside the decay discussion if needed.
• Preserve the user's rule: handoff is good before a new long phase, and harmful when it interrupts the same phase.
• Avoid reversal-style slogans that contrast a rejected identity with a preferred identity.
• Avoid em dashes.