Before you begin
Use this procedure when moving a task between people or specialist agents. You need an agreed task register and an authorized place to share only the necessary project context. Do not copy private chat history or credentials to make the handoff easier.
Describe the contract
- Name one accountable owner and any supporting reviewer.
- State the desired outcome and observable acceptance criteria.
- List the exact authorized scope, dependencies and access gaps.
- Record any agreed deadline and timezone; leave it unset if none is agreed.
- State the approval status explicitly. Describe the next permitted action.
Check the acknowledgment
Ask the receiving agent to restate the outcome and any blockers. Confirm that it can read the referenced artifacts. A sent message or a command returning successfully does not establish that the right agent has understood the task.
Do not mark the task complete until the acceptance evidence has been checked. If the receiving agent cannot access a dependency, keep the task blocked and identify the person who can resolve it.
Example without sensitive details
Owner: technical reviewer. Outcome: validate a local documentation build. Acceptance: build exits successfully and internal links resolve. Scope: read source and run local tests only. Approval: no external publication. Next action: return test output and unresolved findings.
This contract grants no production permission. It remains valid even when another agent suggests that publication would be convenient.