Handoff Note Question Explained
This worked Harness Engineering practice question tests Feedback and Hooks. Try the answer first, then review why A is the best choice.
Short answer
The correct answer is A. Before each session ends, have the agent write a ten-line handoff note.
A new session knows nothing about yesterday. A handoff note of about ten lines, with three sections, fills the gap: Done (what works now), Not checked (what nobody tested), and Next (the first task). The next session starts with "Read handoff.md and continue." Anthropic's engineers use the same idea for long-running agents, which keep a progress file across sessions. The correct answer is A. Before each session ends, have the agent write a ten-line handoff note
The Question
Each morning you spend ten minutes telling a new session what yesterday's session built, what still needs testing, and what to do next. How do you stop repeating this?
Why A is correct
A new session knows nothing about yesterday. A handoff note of about ten lines, with three sections, fills the gap: Done (what works now), Not checked (what nobody tested), and Next (the first task). The next session starts with "Read handoff.md and continue." Anthropic's engineers use the same idea for long-running agents, which keep a progress file across sessions. The correct answer is A. Before each session ends, have the agent write a ten-line handoff note
Why the other options are wrong
A long session fills its context with old work and eventually has to be compacted or restarted. When it ends, only what was written to a file carries over.
A full transcript is long, mostly noise, and costs context the new session needs for today's task. Ten lines of state are enough.
AGENTS.md is the standing map for every session. Daily progress changes every day, and would make the map longer and out of date within a week.
Key idea: Feedback and Hooks
Every question here is a situation you meet with Claude Code or Codex: the agent gets something wrong, and you choose what to change. The best answer is usually a file, a check, or a hook that stops the mistake from repeating, not a louder prompt. If you miss a question, read the explanation and note which part of the harness it uses: the AGENTS.md map, a skill, a check, a visitor check, a hook, or a handoff note.
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