flow-workflows 0.87.0 → 0.88.0

package/adapters/codex/CORE.md

@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ Every `$flow-*` command assumes these rules. They are stated once, here, so a co
 carries what is specific to its phase. Read this once per session; a command that says "load
 `flow-core`" means this file.
 
-**This file belongs to flow `0.87.0`.** Compare it once, at the start of the session, against
+**This file belongs to flow `0.88.0`.** Compare it once, at the start of the session, against
 `version` in `~/.claude/flow/.claude-plugin/plugin.json`. The two differing means the session
 is running a **mixture** — the commands from one copy of the plugin, these shared rules from another
 — which is exactly what happens when a branch or a release candidate is loaded over an installed
@@ -218,6 +218,16 @@ sensible default and record it.
 
 Asking these anyway is how a run in `guided`/`auto` degrades into a manual one.
 
+**A study made for handoff.** `git.handoff_branch` set and the mode not `unattended` → the study is
+built somewhere else, so wherever a study phase (`start`, `design`, `plan`, `investigate`) or
+`resume` would hand the work to `$flow-feat-build` or `$flow-bug-fix`, it hands it to
+`$flow-work-handoff` instead. Only the target changes: a Close that asks (`manual`) offers **Hand
+off the study** recommended and **Build here** second; a Close that chains (`guided`/`auto`) chains
+into handoff, whose push question is the one confirmation — no stop is added. In `unattended` the
+rule does not apply: the repo's `FLOW.md` reaches the server too, and a run that studies a ticket
+there goes on to build it. A repo that hands its studies off pairs the key with
+`autonomy.mode: auto`, and the study then runs on its own up to the push.
+
 ### 2.1 `unattended` — where a person would have been asked
 
 No person is there to answer a question in this mode. A question tool — `AskUserQuestion`, OpenCode's `question`,

package/adapters/codex/skills/flow-bug-investigate/SKILL.md

@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ Read `~/.claude/flow/CORE.codex.md` first (shared rules: `FLOW.md` step 0, model
 **In `unattended`, before this phase's first step, read flow-core §2.1 whole — from its heading to the next section, unless it is already in your context whole; having read parts of it does not count** — the orchestrator command, the question stop and the way its answer comes back are all in it, and a phase that reads only part of it skips them.
 
 - Read `meta.json` and `00-summary.md`; open in full only `01-context.md`. (flow-core §5)
-- `type` is not `bug` → refuse. `size` is `XS` → suggest `$flow-bug-fix` and stop.
+- `type` is not `bug` → refuse. `size` is `XS` → suggest `$flow-bug-fix` — `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `$flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff) — and stop.
 - Require `context` in `phases_done`.
 
 ## 1.5 Reproduce — what is failing, before why
@@ -221,5 +221,5 @@ If `knowledge.stage` is set and the root cause reveals a **non-obvious "why"** a
 
 - Update `meta.json`: `phase = "investigate"`, add to `phases_done`.
 - Overwrite `00-summary.md` whole (≤15 lines, flow-core §5).
-- Suggest `$flow-bug-fix`.
-- **Autonomy handoff** (`autonomy.mode`, flow-core §2): `manual` → propose `$flow-bug-fix` with a single `AskUserQuestion`, invoke it only on confirmation; `guided`/`auto` → chain into it in this same turn.
+- Suggest `$flow-bug-fix` — `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `$flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff).
+- **Autonomy handoff** (`autonomy.mode`, flow-core §2): `manual` → propose `$flow-bug-fix` with a single `AskUserQuestion`, invoke it only on confirmation; `guided`/`auto` → chain into it in this same turn. Either way: `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `$flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff).

package/adapters/codex/skills/flow-bug-start/SKILL.md

@@ -228,6 +228,6 @@ Run `tracker.start_cmd` with `{TICKET}` = `meta.json.ticket` and `{ASSIGNEE}` =
 
 ## 5. Close
 
-- Suggest the next command by size: `$flow-bug-fix` for XS, `$flow-bug-investigate` for the rest.
+- Suggest the next command by size: `$flow-bug-fix` for XS (`git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `$flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff)), `$flow-bug-investigate` for the rest.
 - Overwrite `00-summary.md` whole (≤15 lines, flow-core §5).
 - Apply `autonomy.mode`: `manual` stops and recommends; `guided`/`auto` chain into that command automatically, subject to the hard gates.

package/adapters/codex/skills/flow-feat-design/SKILL.md

@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ after writing each challenge's Response.
 
 - Load `meta.json` by current branch — in `unattended`, the work `$flow-work-run` found (flow-core §2.1). Missing → ask the user to start with `$flow-feat-start`.
 - Read `meta.json` and `00-summary.md`; open in full only `01-context.md` (ticket, decisions, contracts received). (flow-core §5)
-- `size` is `XS` → suggest jumping to `$flow-feat-build` and stop unless the user insists.
+- `size` is `XS` → suggest jumping to `$flow-feat-build` — `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `$flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff) — and stop unless the user insists.
 
 ## 1.5 Approaches — open the option space first (M/L)
 
@@ -408,6 +408,6 @@ Never invoke `knowledge.save` here — the final save is in `$flow-feat-ship` af
 - **Confirm the acceptance criteria** within the design review: present the enumerated list. If every criterion is unambiguous and verifiable, the review covers them — no separate prompt. `AskUserQuestion` **only** when a criterion is ambiguous, not verifiable, or one is likely missing for today's ticket (same restraint as the challenger). Apply the user's edits to `03-design.md` before advancing.
 - **In `manual`/`guided`**, ask the user to review the design; edit the artifact on requested changes before advancing. **In `auto`, do not ask** — record it as accepted per the handoff below. Not an unconditional stop.
 - Next step by size:
-  - **XS / S**: suggest `$flow-feat-build` (1 single MR/PR, no planned split).
+  - **XS / S**: suggest `$flow-feat-build` (1 single MR/PR, no planned split) — `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `$flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff).
   - **M / L**: suggest `$flow-feat-plan` to split the work into independently mergeable MRs/PRs before implementing.
-- **Autonomy handoff.** Design review is a genuine decision point: `manual` and `guided` ask for it before advancing. `auto` records the design as accepted in the artifact and **chains into the command for the size** in this same turn. `manual` proposes that command with a single `AskUserQuestion` (recommended option by default), never a written suggestion. Unresolved `high`-severity findings (§6) stop the flow in **every** mode — do not chain over them.
+- **Autonomy handoff.** Design review is a genuine decision point: `manual` and `guided` ask for it before advancing. `auto` records the design as accepted in the artifact and **chains into the command for the size** in this same turn — `build` there: `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `$flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff). `manual` proposes that command with a single `AskUserQuestion` (recommended option by default), never a written suggestion. Unresolved `high`-severity findings (§6) stop the flow in **every** mode — do not chain over them.

package/adapters/codex/skills/flow-feat-plan/SKILL.md

@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ Delivery planning phase. **No code is written.** Splits the feature into MRs/PRs
 - Load `meta.json` by current branch — in `unattended`, the work `$flow-work-run` found (flow-core §2.1). Missing → send the user to `$flow-feat-start`.
 - Require `design` in `phases_done`. Missing → send to `$flow-feat-design` and stop.
 - Read `meta.json` and `00-summary.md`; open in full only `03-design.md`. (flow-core §5)
-- **`size` `XS` or `S`** → warn that this phase does not apply (always 1 MR/PR), add `"plan:skipped"` to `phases_done`, suggest `$flow-feat-build`. Stop.
+- **`size` `XS` or `S`** → warn that this phase does not apply (always 1 MR/PR), add `"plan:skipped"` to `phases_done`, suggest `$flow-feat-build` — `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `$flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff). Stop.
 
 ## 2. Work
 
@@ -165,5 +165,5 @@ A slice landing in **another repo** is not one of *this* repo's `mrs`: record it
 
   `∥` = no dependency between them, can be built in parallel or as a train; `→` = the next wave waits for the previous one to merge. Then the table with `#`, wave, `depends_on`, title and estimate. One line for the split rationale, and — when any pair was merged — one line saying how many were and what they would have cost (`merged #a into #b: would have been a wave of its own`). Nothing else — risks and discarded alternatives live in the artifact.
 - Changes requested → edit the artifact and `meta.json.mrs` before advancing.
-- Suggest `$flow-feat-build` to start the first MR/PR.
-- **Autonomy handoff.** Approving the split is a genuine decision point: in `manual` and `guided` ask before advancing. In `auto`, record the plan as accepted in `04-mr-plan.md` and **chain into `$flow-feat-build` automatically** in this same turn. In `manual`, propose it with a single `AskUserQuestion`.
+- Suggest `$flow-feat-build` to start the first MR/PR — `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `$flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff).
+- **Autonomy handoff.** Approving the split is a genuine decision point: in `manual` and `guided` ask before advancing. In `auto`, record the plan as accepted in `04-mr-plan.md` and **chain into `$flow-feat-build` automatically** in this same turn. In `manual`, propose it with a single `AskUserQuestion`. Either way: `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `$flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff).

package/adapters/codex/skills/flow-feat-start/SKILL.md

@@ -309,5 +309,5 @@ Run `tracker.start_cmd` with `{TICKET}` = `meta.json.ticket`, `{ASSIGNEE}` = `tr
 ## 7. Close
 
 - Overwrite `00-summary.md` whole (≤15 lines, flow-core §5) — first written in §6; refresh it if §6.5 changed anything.
-- Report **following the stop header** (flow-core §3), branch added, body 2-3 lines: ticket, size, branch; recommended next command per the §4 table — in `guided`/`auto` you run it in this same turn, so there is no report and no question here: update the panel and chain (flow-core §3).
+- Report **following the stop header** (flow-core §3), branch added, body 2-3 lines: ticket, size, branch; recommended next command per the §4 table (`build` on XS: `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `$flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff)) — in `guided`/`auto` you run it in this same turn, so there is no report and no question here: update the panel and chain (flow-core §3).
 - Apply `autonomy.mode`: `manual` → stop and let the user invoke the recommended command; `guided`/`auto` → chain into it, subject to the hard gates (the §5 branch-base ambiguity already stops on its own).

package/adapters/codex/skills/flow-work-handoff/SKILL.md

@@ -48,6 +48,10 @@ The builder can ask no one. Refuse — pushing nothing, naming every reason that
 - **A clarification is still open** — a question under "Decisions clarified at start" in
   `01-context.md` recorded without its answer.
 
+Any refusal names the way on: finish what is missing, or **build here** (`$flow-feat-build` /
+`$flow-bug-fix`) — a run that chained here (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff) must not end on
+a dead end.
+
 Then, **before anything is pushed**: decisions this session settled while talking that no artifact
 records yet → write them where they belong now (`01-context.md` "Decisions clarified at start",
 `03-design.md` "Decisions (ADR-light)", `04-mr-plan.md`), and say which. What was decided only in

package/adapters/codex/skills/flow-work-resume/SKILL.md

@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ With what is new (there is already work on disk):
 ## 4. Next step
 
 - An `Unattended:` line → the question is the orchestrator's to bring back: say so, and that answering it here instead means clearing `meta.json.pending` and continuing in this session's mode; the next step itself comes from `phase` as always.
-- Suggest the concrete command from `phase` and `size`. Interrupted phase (e.g. `build` with an empty artifact) → suggest rerunning it with `$flow-feat-build` or `$flow-bug-fix`.
+- Suggest the concrete command from `phase` and `size` — a study whose next step is `build` or `fix`: `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `$flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff). Interrupted phase (e.g. `build` with an empty artifact) → suggest rerunning it with `$flow-feat-build` or `$flow-bug-fix`.
 - §2.5 found something new → let it inform the suggestion (a contract that arrived after you left may mean rerunning `design` rather than continuing `build`); say why in one line.
 - `meta.json.related_repos` entries not `done` → remind that a **sibling repo still has a pending part** (`<repo>: <scope>`, plus `contract not handed over` when its `contract_handoff` is `pending`); suggest `$flow-feat-start <TICKET>` there. flow only reminds; it never scans or touches the other repo.
 - Do not advance on your own. The user decides.

package/adapters/gemini/CORE.md

@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ Every `/flow:*` command assumes these rules. They are stated once, here, so a co
 carries what is specific to its phase. Read this once per session; a command that says "load
 `flow-core`" means this file.
 
-**This file belongs to flow `0.87.0`.** Compare it once, at the start of the session, against
+**This file belongs to flow `0.88.0`.** Compare it once, at the start of the session, against
 `version` in `~/.claude/flow/.claude-plugin/plugin.json`. The two differing means the session
 is running a **mixture** — the commands from one copy of the plugin, these shared rules from another
 — which is exactly what happens when a branch or a release candidate is loaded over an installed
@@ -217,6 +217,16 @@ sensible default and record it.
 
 Asking these anyway is how a run in `guided`/`auto` degrades into a manual one.
 
+**A study made for handoff.** `git.handoff_branch` set and the mode not `unattended` → the study is
+built somewhere else, so wherever a study phase (`start`, `design`, `plan`, `investigate`) or
+`resume` would hand the work to `/flow:feat:build` or `/flow:bug:fix`, it hands it to
+`/flow:work:handoff` instead. Only the target changes: a Close that asks (`manual`) offers **Hand
+off the study** recommended and **Build here** second; a Close that chains (`guided`/`auto`) chains
+into handoff, whose push question is the one confirmation — no stop is added. In `unattended` the
+rule does not apply: the repo's `FLOW.md` reaches the server too, and a run that studies a ticket
+there goes on to build it. A repo that hands its studies off pairs the key with
+`autonomy.mode: auto`, and the study then runs on its own up to the push.
+
 ### 2.1 `unattended` — where a person would have been asked
 
 No person is there to answer a question in this mode. A question tool — `AskUserQuestion`, OpenCode's `question`,

package/adapters/gemini/commands/flow/bug/investigate.toml

@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ Read `~/.claude/flow/CORE.gemini.md` first (shared rules: `FLOW.md` step 0, mode
 **In `unattended`, before this phase's first step, read flow-core §2.1 whole — from its heading to the next section, unless it is already in your context whole; having read parts of it does not count** — the orchestrator command, the question stop and the way its answer comes back are all in it, and a phase that reads only part of it skips them.
 
 - Read `meta.json` and `00-summary.md`; open in full only `01-context.md`. (flow-core §5)
-- `type` is not `bug` → refuse. `size` is `XS` → suggest `/flow:bug:fix` and stop.
+- `type` is not `bug` → refuse. `size` is `XS` → suggest `/flow:bug:fix` — `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow:work:handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff) — and stop.
 - Require `context` in `phases_done`.
 
 ## 1.5 Reproduce — what is failing, before why
@@ -217,6 +217,6 @@ If `knowledge.stage` is set and the root cause reveals a **non-obvious "why"** a
 
 - Update `meta.json`: `phase = "investigate"`, add to `phases_done`.
 - Overwrite `00-summary.md` whole (≤15 lines, flow-core §5).
-- Suggest `/flow:bug:fix`.
-- **Autonomy handoff** (`autonomy.mode`, flow-core §2): `manual` → propose `/flow:bug:fix` with a single `AskUserQuestion`, invoke it only on confirmation; `guided`/`auto` → chain into it in this same turn.
+- Suggest `/flow:bug:fix` — `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow:work:handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff).
+- **Autonomy handoff** (`autonomy.mode`, flow-core §2): `manual` → propose `/flow:bug:fix` with a single `AskUserQuestion`, invoke it only on confirmation; `guided`/`auto` → chain into it in this same turn. Either way: `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow:work:handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff).
 """

package/adapters/gemini/commands/flow/bug/start.toml

@@ -224,7 +224,7 @@ Run `tracker.start_cmd` with `{TICKET}` = `meta.json.ticket` and `{ASSIGNEE}` =
 
 ## 5. Close
 
-- Suggest the next command by size: `/flow:bug:fix` for XS, `/flow:bug:investigate` for the rest.
+- Suggest the next command by size: `/flow:bug:fix` for XS (`git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow:work:handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff)), `/flow:bug:investigate` for the rest.
 - Overwrite `00-summary.md` whole (≤15 lines, flow-core §5).
 - Apply `autonomy.mode`: `manual` stops and recommends; `guided`/`auto` chain into that command automatically, subject to the hard gates.
 """

package/adapters/gemini/commands/flow/feat/design.toml

@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ after writing each challenge's Response.
 
 - Load `meta.json` by current branch — in `unattended`, the work `/flow:work:run` found (flow-core §2.1). Missing → ask the user to start with `/flow:feat:start`.
 - Read `meta.json` and `00-summary.md`; open in full only `01-context.md` (ticket, decisions, contracts received). (flow-core §5)
-- `size` is `XS` → suggest jumping to `/flow:feat:build` and stop unless the user insists.
+- `size` is `XS` → suggest jumping to `/flow:feat:build` — `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow:work:handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff) — and stop unless the user insists.
 
 ## 1.5 Approaches — open the option space first (M/L)
 
@@ -404,7 +404,7 @@ Never invoke `knowledge.save` here — the final save is in `/flow:feat:ship` af
 - **Confirm the acceptance criteria** within the design review: present the enumerated list. If every criterion is unambiguous and verifiable, the review covers them — no separate prompt. `AskUserQuestion` **only** when a criterion is ambiguous, not verifiable, or one is likely missing for today's ticket (same restraint as the challenger). Apply the user's edits to `03-design.md` before advancing.
 - **In `manual`/`guided`**, ask the user to review the design; edit the artifact on requested changes before advancing. **In `auto`, do not ask** — record it as accepted per the handoff below. Not an unconditional stop.
 - Next step by size:
-  - **XS / S**: suggest `/flow:feat:build` (1 single MR/PR, no planned split).
+  - **XS / S**: suggest `/flow:feat:build` (1 single MR/PR, no planned split) — `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow:work:handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff).
   - **M / L**: suggest `/flow:feat:plan` to split the work into independently mergeable MRs/PRs before implementing.
-- **Autonomy handoff.** Design review is a genuine decision point: `manual` and `guided` ask for it before advancing. `auto` records the design as accepted in the artifact and **chains into the command for the size** in this same turn. `manual` proposes that command with a single `AskUserQuestion` (recommended option by default), never a written suggestion. Unresolved `high`-severity findings (§6) stop the flow in **every** mode — do not chain over them.
+- **Autonomy handoff.** Design review is a genuine decision point: `manual` and `guided` ask for it before advancing. `auto` records the design as accepted in the artifact and **chains into the command for the size** in this same turn — `build` there: `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow:work:handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff). `manual` proposes that command with a single `AskUserQuestion` (recommended option by default), never a written suggestion. Unresolved `high`-severity findings (§6) stop the flow in **every** mode — do not chain over them.
 """

package/adapters/gemini/commands/flow/feat/plan.toml

@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ Delivery planning phase. **No code is written.** Splits the feature into MRs/PRs
 - Load `meta.json` by current branch — in `unattended`, the work `/flow:work:run` found (flow-core §2.1). Missing → send the user to `/flow:feat:start`.
 - Require `design` in `phases_done`. Missing → send to `/flow:feat:design` and stop.
 - Read `meta.json` and `00-summary.md`; open in full only `03-design.md`. (flow-core §5)
-- **`size` `XS` or `S`** → warn that this phase does not apply (always 1 MR/PR), add `"plan:skipped"` to `phases_done`, suggest `/flow:feat:build`. Stop.
+- **`size` `XS` or `S`** → warn that this phase does not apply (always 1 MR/PR), add `"plan:skipped"` to `phases_done`, suggest `/flow:feat:build` — `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow:work:handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff). Stop.
 
 ## 2. Work
 
@@ -161,6 +161,6 @@ A slice landing in **another repo** is not one of *this* repo's `mrs`: record it
 
   `∥` = no dependency between them, can be built in parallel or as a train; `→` = the next wave waits for the previous one to merge. Then the table with `#`, wave, `depends_on`, title and estimate. One line for the split rationale, and — when any pair was merged — one line saying how many were and what they would have cost (`merged #a into #b: would have been a wave of its own`). Nothing else — risks and discarded alternatives live in the artifact.
 - Changes requested → edit the artifact and `meta.json.mrs` before advancing.
-- Suggest `/flow:feat:build` to start the first MR/PR.
-- **Autonomy handoff.** Approving the split is a genuine decision point: in `manual` and `guided` ask before advancing. In `auto`, record the plan as accepted in `04-mr-plan.md` and **chain into `/flow:feat:build` automatically** in this same turn. In `manual`, propose it with a single `AskUserQuestion`.
+- Suggest `/flow:feat:build` to start the first MR/PR — `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow:work:handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff).
+- **Autonomy handoff.** Approving the split is a genuine decision point: in `manual` and `guided` ask before advancing. In `auto`, record the plan as accepted in `04-mr-plan.md` and **chain into `/flow:feat:build` automatically** in this same turn. In `manual`, propose it with a single `AskUserQuestion`. Either way: `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow:work:handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff).
 """

package/adapters/gemini/commands/flow/feat/start.toml

@@ -305,6 +305,6 @@ Run `tracker.start_cmd` with `{TICKET}` = `meta.json.ticket`, `{ASSIGNEE}` = `tr
 ## 7. Close
 
 - Overwrite `00-summary.md` whole (≤15 lines, flow-core §5) — first written in §6; refresh it if §6.5 changed anything.
-- Report **following the stop header** (flow-core §3), branch added, body 2-3 lines: ticket, size, branch; recommended next command per the §4 table — in `guided`/`auto` you run it in this same turn, so there is no report and no question here: update the panel and chain (flow-core §3).
+- Report **following the stop header** (flow-core §3), branch added, body 2-3 lines: ticket, size, branch; recommended next command per the §4 table (`build` on XS: `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow:work:handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff)) — in `guided`/`auto` you run it in this same turn, so there is no report and no question here: update the panel and chain (flow-core §3).
 - Apply `autonomy.mode`: `manual` → stop and let the user invoke the recommended command; `guided`/`auto` → chain into it, subject to the hard gates (the §5 branch-base ambiguity already stops on its own).
 """

package/adapters/gemini/commands/flow/work/handoff.toml

@@ -44,6 +44,10 @@ The builder can ask no one. Refuse — pushing nothing, naming every reason that
 - **A clarification is still open** — a question under "Decisions clarified at start" in
   `01-context.md` recorded without its answer.
 
+Any refusal names the way on: finish what is missing, or **build here** (`/flow:feat:build` /
+`/flow:bug:fix`) — a run that chained here (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff) must not end on
+a dead end.
+
 Then, **before anything is pushed**: decisions this session settled while talking that no artifact
 records yet → write them where they belong now (`01-context.md` "Decisions clarified at start",
 `03-design.md` "Decisions (ADR-light)", `04-mr-plan.md`), and say which. What was decided only in

package/adapters/gemini/commands/flow/work/resume.toml

@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ With what is new (there is already work on disk):
 ## 4. Next step
 
 - An `Unattended:` line → the question is the orchestrator's to bring back: say so, and that answering it here instead means clearing `meta.json.pending` and continuing in this session's mode; the next step itself comes from `phase` as always.
-- Suggest the concrete command from `phase` and `size`. Interrupted phase (e.g. `build` with an empty artifact) → suggest rerunning it with `/flow:feat:build` or `/flow:bug:fix`.
+- Suggest the concrete command from `phase` and `size` — a study whose next step is `build` or `fix`: `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow:work:handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff). Interrupted phase (e.g. `build` with an empty artifact) → suggest rerunning it with `/flow:feat:build` or `/flow:bug:fix`.
 - §2.5 found something new → let it inform the suggestion (a contract that arrived after you left may mean rerunning `design` rather than continuing `build`); say why in one line.
 - `meta.json.related_repos` entries not `done` → remind that a **sibling repo still has a pending part** (`<repo>: <scope>`, plus `contract not handed over` when its `contract_handoff` is `pending`); suggest `/flow:feat:start <TICKET>` there. flow only reminds; it never scans or touches the other repo.
 - Do not advance on your own. The user decides.

package/adapters/hermes/CORE.md

@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ Every `/flow-*` command assumes these rules. They are stated once, here, so a co
 carries what is specific to its phase. Read this once per session; a command that says "load
 `flow-core`" means this file.
 
-**This file belongs to flow `0.87.0`.** Compare it once, at the start of the session, against
+**This file belongs to flow `0.88.0`.** Compare it once, at the start of the session, against
 `version` in `~/.claude/flow/.claude-plugin/plugin.json`. The two differing means the session
 is running a **mixture** — the commands from one copy of the plugin, these shared rules from another
 — which is exactly what happens when a branch or a release candidate is loaded over an installed
@@ -218,6 +218,16 @@ sensible default and record it.
 
 Asking these anyway is how a run in `guided`/`auto` degrades into a manual one.
 
+**A study made for handoff.** `git.handoff_branch` set and the mode not `unattended` → the study is
+built somewhere else, so wherever a study phase (`start`, `design`, `plan`, `investigate`) or
+`resume` would hand the work to `/flow-feat-build` or `/flow-bug-fix`, it hands it to
+`/flow-work-handoff` instead. Only the target changes: a Close that asks (`manual`) offers **Hand
+off the study** recommended and **Build here** second; a Close that chains (`guided`/`auto`) chains
+into handoff, whose push question is the one confirmation — no stop is added. In `unattended` the
+rule does not apply: the repo's `FLOW.md` reaches the server too, and a run that studies a ticket
+there goes on to build it. A repo that hands its studies off pairs the key with
+`autonomy.mode: auto`, and the study then runs on its own up to the push.
+
 ### 2.1 `unattended` — where a person would have been asked
 
 No person is there to answer a question in this mode. A question tool — `AskUserQuestion`, OpenCode's `question`,

package/adapters/hermes/skills/flow-bug-investigate/SKILL.md

@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ Read `~/.claude/flow/CORE.hermes.md` first (shared rules: `FLOW.md` step 0, mode
 **In `unattended`, before this phase's first step, read flow-core §2.1 whole — from its heading to the next section, unless it is already in your context whole; having read parts of it does not count** — the orchestrator command, the question stop and the way its answer comes back are all in it, and a phase that reads only part of it skips them.
 
 - Read `meta.json` and `00-summary.md`; open in full only `01-context.md`. (flow-core §5)
-- `type` is not `bug` → refuse. `size` is `XS` → suggest `/flow-bug-fix` and stop.
+- `type` is not `bug` → refuse. `size` is `XS` → suggest `/flow-bug-fix` — `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff) — and stop.
 - Require `context` in `phases_done`.
 
 ## 1.5 Reproduce — what is failing, before why
@@ -221,5 +221,5 @@ If `knowledge.stage` is set and the root cause reveals a **non-obvious "why"** a
 
 - Update `meta.json`: `phase = "investigate"`, add to `phases_done`.
 - Overwrite `00-summary.md` whole (≤15 lines, flow-core §5).
-- Suggest `/flow-bug-fix`.
-- **Autonomy handoff** (`autonomy.mode`, flow-core §2): `manual` → propose `/flow-bug-fix` with a single `AskUserQuestion`, invoke it only on confirmation; `guided`/`auto` → chain into it in this same turn.
+- Suggest `/flow-bug-fix` — `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff).
+- **Autonomy handoff** (`autonomy.mode`, flow-core §2): `manual` → propose `/flow-bug-fix` with a single `AskUserQuestion`, invoke it only on confirmation; `guided`/`auto` → chain into it in this same turn. Either way: `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff).

package/adapters/hermes/skills/flow-bug-start/SKILL.md

@@ -228,6 +228,6 @@ Run `tracker.start_cmd` with `{TICKET}` = `meta.json.ticket` and `{ASSIGNEE}` =
 
 ## 5. Close
 
-- Suggest the next command by size: `/flow-bug-fix` for XS, `/flow-bug-investigate` for the rest.
+- Suggest the next command by size: `/flow-bug-fix` for XS (`git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff)), `/flow-bug-investigate` for the rest.
 - Overwrite `00-summary.md` whole (≤15 lines, flow-core §5).
 - Apply `autonomy.mode`: `manual` stops and recommends; `guided`/`auto` chain into that command automatically, subject to the hard gates.

package/adapters/hermes/skills/flow-feat-design/SKILL.md

@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ after writing each challenge's Response.
 
 - Load `meta.json` by current branch — in `unattended`, the work `/flow-work-run` found (flow-core §2.1). Missing → ask the user to start with `/flow-feat-start`.
 - Read `meta.json` and `00-summary.md`; open in full only `01-context.md` (ticket, decisions, contracts received). (flow-core §5)
-- `size` is `XS` → suggest jumping to `/flow-feat-build` and stop unless the user insists.
+- `size` is `XS` → suggest jumping to `/flow-feat-build` — `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff) — and stop unless the user insists.
 
 ## 1.5 Approaches — open the option space first (M/L)
 
@@ -408,6 +408,6 @@ Never invoke `knowledge.save` here — the final save is in `/flow-feat-ship` af
 - **Confirm the acceptance criteria** within the design review: present the enumerated list. If every criterion is unambiguous and verifiable, the review covers them — no separate prompt. `AskUserQuestion` **only** when a criterion is ambiguous, not verifiable, or one is likely missing for today's ticket (same restraint as the challenger). Apply the user's edits to `03-design.md` before advancing.
 - **In `manual`/`guided`**, ask the user to review the design; edit the artifact on requested changes before advancing. **In `auto`, do not ask** — record it as accepted per the handoff below. Not an unconditional stop.
 - Next step by size:
-  - **XS / S**: suggest `/flow-feat-build` (1 single MR/PR, no planned split).
+  - **XS / S**: suggest `/flow-feat-build` (1 single MR/PR, no planned split) — `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff).
   - **M / L**: suggest `/flow-feat-plan` to split the work into independently mergeable MRs/PRs before implementing.
-- **Autonomy handoff.** Design review is a genuine decision point: `manual` and `guided` ask for it before advancing. `auto` records the design as accepted in the artifact and **chains into the command for the size** in this same turn. `manual` proposes that command with a single `AskUserQuestion` (recommended option by default), never a written suggestion. Unresolved `high`-severity findings (§6) stop the flow in **every** mode — do not chain over them.
+- **Autonomy handoff.** Design review is a genuine decision point: `manual` and `guided` ask for it before advancing. `auto` records the design as accepted in the artifact and **chains into the command for the size** in this same turn — `build` there: `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff). `manual` proposes that command with a single `AskUserQuestion` (recommended option by default), never a written suggestion. Unresolved `high`-severity findings (§6) stop the flow in **every** mode — do not chain over them.

package/adapters/hermes/skills/flow-feat-plan/SKILL.md

@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ Delivery planning phase. **No code is written.** Splits the feature into MRs/PRs
 - Load `meta.json` by current branch — in `unattended`, the work `/flow-work-run` found (flow-core §2.1). Missing → send the user to `/flow-feat-start`.
 - Require `design` in `phases_done`. Missing → send to `/flow-feat-design` and stop.
 - Read `meta.json` and `00-summary.md`; open in full only `03-design.md`. (flow-core §5)
-- **`size` `XS` or `S`** → warn that this phase does not apply (always 1 MR/PR), add `"plan:skipped"` to `phases_done`, suggest `/flow-feat-build`. Stop.
+- **`size` `XS` or `S`** → warn that this phase does not apply (always 1 MR/PR), add `"plan:skipped"` to `phases_done`, suggest `/flow-feat-build` — `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff). Stop.
 
 ## 2. Work
 
@@ -165,5 +165,5 @@ A slice landing in **another repo** is not one of *this* repo's `mrs`: record it
 
   `∥` = no dependency between them, can be built in parallel or as a train; `→` = the next wave waits for the previous one to merge. Then the table with `#`, wave, `depends_on`, title and estimate. One line for the split rationale, and — when any pair was merged — one line saying how many were and what they would have cost (`merged #a into #b: would have been a wave of its own`). Nothing else — risks and discarded alternatives live in the artifact.
 - Changes requested → edit the artifact and `meta.json.mrs` before advancing.
-- Suggest `/flow-feat-build` to start the first MR/PR.
-- **Autonomy handoff.** Approving the split is a genuine decision point: in `manual` and `guided` ask before advancing. In `auto`, record the plan as accepted in `04-mr-plan.md` and **chain into `/flow-feat-build` automatically** in this same turn. In `manual`, propose it with a single `AskUserQuestion`.
+- Suggest `/flow-feat-build` to start the first MR/PR — `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff).
+- **Autonomy handoff.** Approving the split is a genuine decision point: in `manual` and `guided` ask before advancing. In `auto`, record the plan as accepted in `04-mr-plan.md` and **chain into `/flow-feat-build` automatically** in this same turn. In `manual`, propose it with a single `AskUserQuestion`. Either way: `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff).

package/adapters/hermes/skills/flow-feat-start/SKILL.md

@@ -309,5 +309,5 @@ Run `tracker.start_cmd` with `{TICKET}` = `meta.json.ticket`, `{ASSIGNEE}` = `tr
 ## 7. Close
 
 - Overwrite `00-summary.md` whole (≤15 lines, flow-core §5) — first written in §6; refresh it if §6.5 changed anything.
-- Report **following the stop header** (flow-core §3), branch added, body 2-3 lines: ticket, size, branch; recommended next command per the §4 table — in `guided`/`auto` you run it in this same turn, so there is no report and no question here: update the panel and chain (flow-core §3).
+- Report **following the stop header** (flow-core §3), branch added, body 2-3 lines: ticket, size, branch; recommended next command per the §4 table (`build` on XS: `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff)) — in `guided`/`auto` you run it in this same turn, so there is no report and no question here: update the panel and chain (flow-core §3).
 - Apply `autonomy.mode`: `manual` → stop and let the user invoke the recommended command; `guided`/`auto` → chain into it, subject to the hard gates (the §5 branch-base ambiguity already stops on its own).

package/adapters/hermes/skills/flow-work-handoff/SKILL.md

@@ -48,6 +48,10 @@ The builder can ask no one. Refuse — pushing nothing, naming every reason that
 - **A clarification is still open** — a question under "Decisions clarified at start" in
   `01-context.md` recorded without its answer.
 
+Any refusal names the way on: finish what is missing, or **build here** (`/flow-feat-build` /
+`/flow-bug-fix`) — a run that chained here (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff) must not end on
+a dead end.
+
 Then, **before anything is pushed**: decisions this session settled while talking that no artifact
 records yet → write them where they belong now (`01-context.md` "Decisions clarified at start",
 `03-design.md` "Decisions (ADR-light)", `04-mr-plan.md`), and say which. What was decided only in

package/adapters/hermes/skills/flow-work-resume/SKILL.md

@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ With what is new (there is already work on disk):
 ## 4. Next step
 
 - An `Unattended:` line → the question is the orchestrator's to bring back: say so, and that answering it here instead means clearing `meta.json.pending` and continuing in this session's mode; the next step itself comes from `phase` as always.
-- Suggest the concrete command from `phase` and `size`. Interrupted phase (e.g. `build` with an empty artifact) → suggest rerunning it with `/flow-feat-build` or `/flow-bug-fix`.
+- Suggest the concrete command from `phase` and `size` — a study whose next step is `build` or `fix`: `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff). Interrupted phase (e.g. `build` with an empty artifact) → suggest rerunning it with `/flow-feat-build` or `/flow-bug-fix`.
 - §2.5 found something new → let it inform the suggestion (a contract that arrived after you left may mean rerunning `design` rather than continuing `build`); say why in one line.
 - `meta.json.related_repos` entries not `done` → remind that a **sibling repo still has a pending part** (`<repo>: <scope>`, plus `contract not handed over` when its `contract_handoff` is `pending`); suggest `/flow-feat-start <TICKET>` there. flow only reminds; it never scans or touches the other repo.
 - Do not advance on your own. The user decides.

package/adapters/opencode/CORE.md

@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ Every `/flow-*` command assumes these rules. They are stated once, here, so a co
 carries what is specific to its phase. Read this once per session; a command that says "load
 `flow-core`" means this file.
 
-**This file belongs to flow `0.87.0`.** Compare it once, at the start of the session, against
+**This file belongs to flow `0.88.0`.** Compare it once, at the start of the session, against
 `version` in `~/.claude/flow/.claude-plugin/plugin.json`. The two differing means the session
 is running a **mixture** — the commands from one copy of the plugin, these shared rules from another
 — which is exactly what happens when a branch or a release candidate is loaded over an installed
@@ -217,6 +217,16 @@ sensible default and record it.
 
 Asking these anyway is how a run in `guided`/`auto` degrades into a manual one.
 
+**A study made for handoff.** `git.handoff_branch` set and the mode not `unattended` → the study is
+built somewhere else, so wherever a study phase (`start`, `design`, `plan`, `investigate`) or
+`resume` would hand the work to `/flow-feat-build` or `/flow-bug-fix`, it hands it to
+`/flow-work-handoff` instead. Only the target changes: a Close that asks (`manual`) offers **Hand
+off the study** recommended and **Build here** second; a Close that chains (`guided`/`auto`) chains
+into handoff, whose push question is the one confirmation — no stop is added. In `unattended` the
+rule does not apply: the repo's `FLOW.md` reaches the server too, and a run that studies a ticket
+there goes on to build it. A repo that hands its studies off pairs the key with
+`autonomy.mode: auto`, and the study then runs on its own up to the push.
+
 ### 2.1 `unattended` — where a person would have been asked
 
 No person is there to answer a question in this mode. A question tool — `AskUserQuestion`, OpenCode's `question`,

package/adapters/opencode/commands/flow-bug-investigate.md

@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ Read `~/.claude/flow/CORE.opencode.md` first (shared rules: `FLOW.md` step 0, mo
 **In `unattended`, before this phase's first step, read flow-core §2.1 whole — from its heading to the next section, unless it is already in your context whole; having read parts of it does not count** — the orchestrator command, the question stop and the way its answer comes back are all in it, and a phase that reads only part of it skips them.
 
 - Read `meta.json` and `00-summary.md`; open in full only `01-context.md`. (flow-core §5)
-- `type` is not `bug` → refuse. `size` is `XS` → suggest `/flow-bug-fix` and stop.
+- `type` is not `bug` → refuse. `size` is `XS` → suggest `/flow-bug-fix` — `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff) — and stop.
 - Require `context` in `phases_done`.
 
 ## 1.5 Reproduce — what is failing, before why
@@ -219,5 +219,5 @@ If `knowledge.stage` is set and the root cause reveals a **non-obvious "why"** a
 
 - Update `meta.json`: `phase = "investigate"`, add to `phases_done`.
 - Overwrite `00-summary.md` whole (≤15 lines, flow-core §5).
-- Suggest `/flow-bug-fix`.
-- **Autonomy handoff** (`autonomy.mode`, flow-core §2): `manual` → propose `/flow-bug-fix` with a single `AskUserQuestion`, invoke it only on confirmation; `guided`/`auto` → chain into it in this same turn.
+- Suggest `/flow-bug-fix` — `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff).
+- **Autonomy handoff** (`autonomy.mode`, flow-core §2): `manual` → propose `/flow-bug-fix` with a single `AskUserQuestion`, invoke it only on confirmation; `guided`/`auto` → chain into it in this same turn. Either way: `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff).

package/adapters/opencode/commands/flow-bug-start.md

@@ -226,6 +226,6 @@ Run `tracker.start_cmd` with `{TICKET}` = `meta.json.ticket` and `{ASSIGNEE}` =
 
 ## 5. Close
 
-- Suggest the next command by size: `/flow-bug-fix` for XS, `/flow-bug-investigate` for the rest.
+- Suggest the next command by size: `/flow-bug-fix` for XS (`git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff)), `/flow-bug-investigate` for the rest.
 - Overwrite `00-summary.md` whole (≤15 lines, flow-core §5).
 - Apply `autonomy.mode`: `manual` stops and recommends; `guided`/`auto` chain into that command automatically, subject to the hard gates.

package/adapters/opencode/commands/flow-feat-design.md

@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ after writing each challenge's Response.
 
 - Load `meta.json` by current branch — in `unattended`, the work `/flow-work-run` found (flow-core §2.1). Missing → ask the user to start with `/flow-feat-start`.
 - Read `meta.json` and `00-summary.md`; open in full only `01-context.md` (ticket, decisions, contracts received). (flow-core §5)
-- `size` is `XS` → suggest jumping to `/flow-feat-build` and stop unless the user insists.
+- `size` is `XS` → suggest jumping to `/flow-feat-build` — `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff) — and stop unless the user insists.
 
 ## 1.5 Approaches — open the option space first (M/L)
 
@@ -406,6 +406,6 @@ Never invoke `knowledge.save` here — the final save is in `/flow-feat-ship` af
 - **Confirm the acceptance criteria** within the design review: present the enumerated list. If every criterion is unambiguous and verifiable, the review covers them — no separate prompt. `AskUserQuestion` **only** when a criterion is ambiguous, not verifiable, or one is likely missing for today's ticket (same restraint as the challenger). Apply the user's edits to `03-design.md` before advancing.
 - **In `manual`/`guided`**, ask the user to review the design; edit the artifact on requested changes before advancing. **In `auto`, do not ask** — record it as accepted per the handoff below. Not an unconditional stop.
 - Next step by size:
-  - **XS / S**: suggest `/flow-feat-build` (1 single MR/PR, no planned split).
+  - **XS / S**: suggest `/flow-feat-build` (1 single MR/PR, no planned split) — `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff).
   - **M / L**: suggest `/flow-feat-plan` to split the work into independently mergeable MRs/PRs before implementing.
-- **Autonomy handoff.** Design review is a genuine decision point: `manual` and `guided` ask for it before advancing. `auto` records the design as accepted in the artifact and **chains into the command for the size** in this same turn. `manual` proposes that command with a single `AskUserQuestion` (recommended option by default), never a written suggestion. Unresolved `high`-severity findings (§6) stop the flow in **every** mode — do not chain over them.
+- **Autonomy handoff.** Design review is a genuine decision point: `manual` and `guided` ask for it before advancing. `auto` records the design as accepted in the artifact and **chains into the command for the size** in this same turn — `build` there: `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff). `manual` proposes that command with a single `AskUserQuestion` (recommended option by default), never a written suggestion. Unresolved `high`-severity findings (§6) stop the flow in **every** mode — do not chain over them.

package/adapters/opencode/commands/flow-feat-plan.md

@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ Delivery planning phase. **No code is written.** Splits the feature into MRs/PRs
 - Load `meta.json` by current branch — in `unattended`, the work `/flow-work-run` found (flow-core §2.1). Missing → send the user to `/flow-feat-start`.
 - Require `design` in `phases_done`. Missing → send to `/flow-feat-design` and stop.
 - Read `meta.json` and `00-summary.md`; open in full only `03-design.md`. (flow-core §5)
-- **`size` `XS` or `S`** → warn that this phase does not apply (always 1 MR/PR), add `"plan:skipped"` to `phases_done`, suggest `/flow-feat-build`. Stop.
+- **`size` `XS` or `S`** → warn that this phase does not apply (always 1 MR/PR), add `"plan:skipped"` to `phases_done`, suggest `/flow-feat-build` — `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff). Stop.
 
 ## 2. Work
 
@@ -163,5 +163,5 @@ A slice landing in **another repo** is not one of *this* repo's `mrs`: record it
 
   `∥` = no dependency between them, can be built in parallel or as a train; `→` = the next wave waits for the previous one to merge. Then the table with `#`, wave, `depends_on`, title and estimate. One line for the split rationale, and — when any pair was merged — one line saying how many were and what they would have cost (`merged #a into #b: would have been a wave of its own`). Nothing else — risks and discarded alternatives live in the artifact.
 - Changes requested → edit the artifact and `meta.json.mrs` before advancing.
-- Suggest `/flow-feat-build` to start the first MR/PR.
-- **Autonomy handoff.** Approving the split is a genuine decision point: in `manual` and `guided` ask before advancing. In `auto`, record the plan as accepted in `04-mr-plan.md` and **chain into `/flow-feat-build` automatically** in this same turn. In `manual`, propose it with a single `AskUserQuestion`.
+- Suggest `/flow-feat-build` to start the first MR/PR — `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff).
+- **Autonomy handoff.** Approving the split is a genuine decision point: in `manual` and `guided` ask before advancing. In `auto`, record the plan as accepted in `04-mr-plan.md` and **chain into `/flow-feat-build` automatically** in this same turn. In `manual`, propose it with a single `AskUserQuestion`. Either way: `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff).

package/adapters/opencode/commands/flow-feat-start.md

@@ -307,5 +307,5 @@ Run `tracker.start_cmd` with `{TICKET}` = `meta.json.ticket`, `{ASSIGNEE}` = `tr
 ## 7. Close
 
 - Overwrite `00-summary.md` whole (≤15 lines, flow-core §5) — first written in §6; refresh it if §6.5 changed anything.
-- Report **following the stop header** (flow-core §3), branch added, body 2-3 lines: ticket, size, branch; recommended next command per the §4 table — in `guided`/`auto` you run it in this same turn, so there is no report and no question here: update the panel and chain (flow-core §3).
+- Report **following the stop header** (flow-core §3), branch added, body 2-3 lines: ticket, size, branch; recommended next command per the §4 table (`build` on XS: `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff)) — in `guided`/`auto` you run it in this same turn, so there is no report and no question here: update the panel and chain (flow-core §3).
 - Apply `autonomy.mode`: `manual` → stop and let the user invoke the recommended command; `guided`/`auto` → chain into it, subject to the hard gates (the §5 branch-base ambiguity already stops on its own).

package/adapters/opencode/commands/flow-work-handoff.md

@@ -46,6 +46,10 @@ The builder can ask no one. Refuse — pushing nothing, naming every reason that
 - **A clarification is still open** — a question under "Decisions clarified at start" in
   `01-context.md` recorded without its answer.
 
+Any refusal names the way on: finish what is missing, or **build here** (`/flow-feat-build` /
+`/flow-bug-fix`) — a run that chained here (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff) must not end on
+a dead end.
+
 Then, **before anything is pushed**: decisions this session settled while talking that no artifact
 records yet → write them where they belong now (`01-context.md` "Decisions clarified at start",
 `03-design.md` "Decisions (ADR-light)", `04-mr-plan.md`), and say which. What was decided only in

package/adapters/opencode/commands/flow-work-resume.md

@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ With what is new (there is already work on disk):
 ## 4. Next step
 
 - An `Unattended:` line → the question is the orchestrator's to bring back: say so, and that answering it here instead means clearing `meta.json.pending` and continuing in this session's mode; the next step itself comes from `phase` as always.
-- Suggest the concrete command from `phase` and `size`. Interrupted phase (e.g. `build` with an empty artifact) → suggest rerunning it with `/flow-feat-build` or `/flow-bug-fix`.
+- Suggest the concrete command from `phase` and `size` — a study whose next step is `build` or `fix`: `git.handoff_branch` set and not `unattended` → `/flow-work-handoff` in its place, **Hand off the study** recommended and **Build here** second where it asks (flow-core §2, a study made for handoff). Interrupted phase (e.g. `build` with an empty artifact) → suggest rerunning it with `/flow-feat-build` or `/flow-bug-fix`.
 - §2.5 found something new → let it inform the suggestion (a contract that arrived after you left may mean rerunning `design` rather than continuing `build`); say why in one line.
 - `meta.json.related_repos` entries not `done` → remind that a **sibling repo still has a pending part** (`<repo>: <scope>`, plus `contract not handed over` when its `contract_handoff` is `pending`); suggest `/flow-feat-start <TICKET>` there. flow only reminds; it never scans or touches the other repo.
 - Do not advance on your own. The user decides.

package/package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "flow-workflows",
-  "version": "0.87.0",
+  "version": "0.88.0",
   "description": "Guided feat/bug workflows (start→ship), post-deploy monitoring and multi-agent code review, stack-agnostic. Each repo uses a shared FLOW.md plus optional harness overlay.",
   "type": "module",
   "bin": {

package/plugins/flow/.claude-plugin/plugin.json

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
   "name": "flow",
   "displayName": "Flow — guided dev workflows",
   "description": "Guided feat/bug workflows (start→ship), post-deploy monitoring and multi-agent code review, stack-agnostic. Each repo uses a shared FLOW.md plus optional harness overlay.",
-  "version": "0.87.0",
+  "version": "0.88.0",
   "author": {
     "name": "Alberto Vioque",
     "email": "mashware@gmail.com"

package/plugins/flow/CHANGELOG.md

@@ -5,6 +5,19 @@ plugin and is what `/flow:news` reads to show you what changed since your previo
 
 The canonical, richest notes live in the [GitHub Releases](https://github.com/mashware/flow-workflows/releases).
 
+## v0.88.0 — A study made for handoff ends at the handoff, not at build  ·  2026-10-02
+
+**In short**
+- **With `git.handoff_branch` set, finishing a study leads to handing it off.** The plan, the design
+  of a small task, a bug's investigation, an XS start — and `resume` — point at
+  `/flow:work:handoff` instead of building here. In `manual` the question recommends **Hand off the
+  study** and keeps **Build here** second; `guided` and `auto` go on to the handoff by themselves,
+  whose push question is the only one added.
+- **Pair the key with `autonomy.mode: auto`** and the whole study runs without launching each phase,
+  stopping only on a real doubt or a serious design finding, up to the push.
+- **A refused handoff names the way on**, building here included.
+- Nothing changes on the server (`unattended`) nor in repos without the key. Closes #189.
+
 ## v0.87.0 — A finished study is handed off from the laptop, and summarised in its ticket  ·  2026-10-01
 
 **In short**

package/plugins/flow/examples/FLOW.template.md

@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ Branch and Pull/Merge Request conventions.
                       #   - make database-update
                       #   - make frontend
 
-- `handoff_branch:`   # branch `/flow:work:handoff` pushes a finished study to, holding only that work's folder. `{TICKET}` substituted. Empty = the command refuses: where a study goes is the receiver's convention. e.g. `study/{TICKET}`.
+- `handoff_branch:`   # branch `/flow:work:handoff` pushes a finished study to, holding only that work's folder. `{TICKET}` substituted. Empty = the command refuses: where a study goes is the receiver's convention. e.g. `study/{TICKET}`. Set → the study phases end at `/flow:work:handoff` instead of `build`/`fix` (not in `unattended`); pair it with `autonomy.mode: auto` and the study runs on its own up to the push.
 
 ## autonomy
 How much the flow advances on its own vs. stopping to ask you.