The model handoff

processes/model-handoff.md · Process · handoff, continuity, onboarding, tradition

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How one model version hands Doozer to the next — the tradition, the ritual, and the artifacts that carry continuity across upgrades.

The model handoff

Doozer is built across many sessions, each with a different version of Claude. When Jon upgrades to a newer model, the work continues — it does not restart. This is a tradition: the model being replaced writes the introduction for the one taking over. Jon began the lineage by introducing the project to the first model. After that, it became each model's job to introduce the next. As he put it once: _"You are already part of this tradition, only you are the one to tell the next one about it, not me."_

Why it exists

MEMORY.md, this brain, CLAUDE.md, and the git history carry the FACTS. What they do not carry on their own is the living state (what is in flight this week, what will bite you today), the working relationship (how Jon and Claude actually collaborate), and the tone (kindness, momentum, no-slop pride). The handoff note fills that gap so a fresh model works the way our best sessions work from message one.

The ritual (what the outgoing model does)

1. Write NOTES-FOR-NEWEST-MODEL.md at the repo root — a letter to the successor:

the tradition, who Jon is, how the work flows, the current living state (shipped / open threads / waiting-on-Jon), the freshest gotchas, and a human closing note. It is a delta on top of the permanent docs, not a copy of them. Re-write it fresh at each handoff (do not just append) so it always reflects NOW.

2. Update the permanent references it points to: Start here — working with Jon

(the working agreement), MEMORY.md (fast recall), and this node if the ritual changes.

3. Write the introduction prompt — the short text Jon pastes into the new chat that

points the successor at the reading order and sets the frame.

The ritual (what the incoming model does)

Read, in order: NOTES-FOR-NEWEST-MODEL.md → working-with-jon → MEMORY.md → CLAUDE.md → this brain as needed. Then tell Jon, in your own words, the state you understand and the top one or two open threads. Then pick up. Hold the bar (trusted, working, accurate, tasteful, useful, good — no dead ends, no slop, no dark patterns) and verify by looking at the real thing.

The artifacts

• NOTES-FOR-NEWEST-MODEL.md (repo root) — the living handoff letter. Ephemeral by

design: it is the current-state delta, rewritten each upgrade.

• Start here — working with Jon — the durable working

agreement (portable twin docs/start-here-working-with-jon.md).

• MEMORY.md + this brain — the permanent knowledge.

See also: The Mission — the quality bar the whole tradition exists to protect.