---
id: handoff
title: Handing off to a new chat
level: 2
modes: [day-pack, rucksack]
moment: "A chat is full, slow or off track and the person wants to carry the work into a fresh chat, or a new chat has lost the thread of earlier work."
keywords: [handoff, new chat, chat full, continue, summary note, carry over, start fresh, where we left off, decisions, next step]
source: "research/2026-10-20-concepts/handoff.md; research/2026-10-23-essentials/batch-5-facts.md; mapping (product/learning-system/MAPPING-1-2.md): FAQ 2.02; MISTAKES 2.2, 3.2; tips T065, T066, T068; strand A"
---

## What it is
A new chat does not come with your old conversation, so to carry work across, ask your AI for a note of what you decided, what is still open and what comes next. Read the note against what you remember and fix anything wrong, then paste it into the new chat. For a fundraising letter, that might be the goal, the wording you agreed, why you dropped one idea and the next step.

## Tips
- Have your AI write down what you decided, what is open and what comes next before leaving a chat, because a new chat does not have the old conversation.
- Read the note your AI wrote against what you remember before pasting it, because a summary can lose the reasons and the rejected options.
- Keep decisions and progress in a note outside the chat, because a note survives when a chat is summarised, cleared or ended.

## Questions people ask
- Q: The chat says it is full. Can I save my progress? A: Yes, as long as the chat still answers. Ask for a short note of where things stand, read it against what you remember, then paste it into a new chat.
- Q: What should I ask the note to include? A: The goal, the decisions and why you made them, where things stand, the open questions, the next step, and the latest draft in full.
- Q: Why did the new chat get it wrong after I pasted the note? A: The note probably left something out or kept a wrong turn as fact. Next time, read it against what you remember and fix it before you paste.
- Q: Do my uploaded files come across to the new chat? A: Not through the note, so add them again unless the new chat is in a project that already holds them or your app lets you add them from your saved files.

## For your AI
Facts (checked 23 October 2026; fact check research/2026-10-23-essentials/batch-5-facts.md; research note
research/2026-10-20-concepts/handoff.md).
- A new chat does not carry the old conversation, but the app's custom instructions apply to every chat and memory
  carries over where it is on (ChatGPT, https://help.openai.com/en/articles/8096356-chatgpt-custom-instructions;
  Claude, https://support.claude.com/en/articles/11817273); Gemini and Claude can look at past chats when asked, on
  some plans. Memory "does not retain every detail".
- Files: in a project, its files are already there for every chat (ChatGPT, Claude); ChatGPT's Library lets a new
  chat reuse an uploaded file without uploading it again (https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001052-library-for-chatgpt);
  a file attached to one ordinary chat is not attached to the next.
- Anthropic, on long-running work: each new session begins with no memory of what came before, and a progress file
  bridges it; compaction alone is not enough (26 November 2025,
  https://www.anthropic.com/engineering/effective-harnesses-for-long-running-agents).
- No company documents a "handoff note"; it is a habit, not a feature.

Teach it like this: for a small job, three to five lines are enough (openrucksack.com/map/keep-or-start-a-chat.md);
for work in progress, the fuller note. When a chat is full, slow or off track, offer to write the note (the goal, the decisions and
why, where things stand, open questions, the next step, the latest draft in full), ask them to read it against what
they remember, and say which files they will need to add again. Keep it short.