---
name: phase-continuity-brief
title: Phase continuity brief — handoff between sessions
description: "Skill for generating the next-session-phase{N+1}-brief.md file before ending a session. Eliminates the gap between sessions — the next session has ready context, first task, and infra quick-check. Zero momentum loss from \"where did we leave off\"."
category: workflow
tags:
  - ciągłość
  - fazy
  - handoff
  - dokumentacja
  - harness
requires:
  - Claude Code
  - git
source: https://madejski.ai/skilloteka/phase-continuity-brief
locale: en
license: MIT
---

# Phase continuity brief — handoff between sessions

## Why

One Claude session = one context in memory. Next session = blank. Without a brief, the next agent spends 20 minutes searching for "where did we leave off". With the brief, it starts in 2 minutes.

## When to trigger

**Before the session ends**, when:

- A phase has been closed (DoD met) → create brief for **Phase N+1**
- Session is ending mid-phase → update the existing Phase N brief
- Strategy / order / credentials changed → brief **must** reflect that

## Location

```
docs/session-briefs/next-session-phase{N}-brief.md
```

Commit to the repo (on the working `feature/*` branch, not `main`). Only files with credentials stay gitignored — the brief shows paths to creds, not the values themselves.

## Structure (template)

See `examples/next-session-phase1-brief.md.example` in the bundle — ready template with sections:

1. Reading order
2. Where we are (TL;DR)
3. Key insights / gotchas
4. First task — Phase {N} start
5. Phase {N+1..N+3} rough refs
6. Infra quick-check
7. Harness (brief reminder)
8. After closing the phase
9. Sources of truth

## Anti-patterns

- **"General brief"** — "we'll work on phase 2" without file maps, without DoD, without quick-check. Useless.
- **Copy-paste of old brief** — not refreshed, misleading. Better none than outdated.
- **Brief in the user's memory** — "I'll tell you on start what's next". The next session can't see the previous conversation.

## What to do if the brief is outdated

A new session will find a mismatch (e.g. commit sha in brief ≠ `git log`). **Before doing anything**:

1. `git log -10 --oneline` + `git status`
2. Update the brief **first** (commit "chore: update phase brief")
3. Only then start the work

The brief is a contract between sessions. Treat it like a production document.