SYNTHETIC BUSINESS TASK: these files and events are fictional teaching material, not actual project artifacts or verified tool results.

Goal: prepare a two-page proposal for Harbor Studio’s reporting project. Draft only.
Recorded owner decision: use a fixed-fee structure; keep ongoing support outside the base scope.
Artifact recorded in this fictional scenario: proposals/harbor-proposal-v3.md, with the scope and delivery approach drafted. Pricing section says NEEDS CURRENT QUOTE.
Decision reference: proposals/decisions.md, fixed-fee decision, 14 October 2026.
Available pricing source: quotes/supplier-estimate-september.pdf. It is an older estimate, not verified current pricing.
Failed attempt: the current supplier quote could not be opened. No exact error text was retained; do not invent one.
Unknown: current supplier pricing and quote validity.
Approval: stakeholder review of the proposal remains outstanding. Nothing has been sent.
Next safe work: verify the draft and decision note; refine wording consistent with the approved scope. Resolve pricing and stakeholder approval before finalizing or sending.


PROMPT TEMPLATE
Prepare a portable handoff for this unfinished task. Use only the conversation and artifacts you can actually inspect. Do not infer completion, approval, saved files or successful checks.

TASK / DELIVERABLE: [what we are making and for whom]
PROJECT LOCATION: [folder, workspace or document collection]
HANDOFF DESTINATION: [file path or request text output]
CURRENT SOURCE-OF-TRUTH ARTIFACTS: [paths/links, versions and dates if known]
NON-NEGOTIABLE CONSTRAINTS: [scope, factual boundaries, approvals and permitted actions]

First preserve work that would otherwise be lost. If saving is authorized and tools are available, save the current draft and read it back. Report the exact path and result. If you cannot save or verify it, say so and provide the text for me to save. Do not claim a successful write from a proposed filename.

Then create a handoff with:
1. Objective, deliverable and acceptance criteria.
2. Current state: completed, in progress and not started; evidence for consequential claims.
3. Decisions already made, who made them if known, rationale and rejected alternatives that still matter.
4. Constraints and approvals; clearly separate authorized drafting from sending/publishing or other external actions.
5. Artifact/source manifest: exact path or link, purpose, current version/date, what you actually inspected and any access prerequisite. Identify conflicts and which source governs, or mark unresolved.
6. Verification actually performed and its results; do not call a proposal or source-only check a runtime success.
7. Failed attempts and relevant exact errors; distinguish failure from missing access and untested assumptions.
8. Unknowns and blockers, with the person or source needed to resolve each when known.
9. Ordered next actions that preserve completed work and begin with checking the relevant files and current state.
10. A short restart prompt telling the receiving agent what to open, verify and do next.

Keep the record sufficient for someone without this transcript. Put current decisions ahead of historical discussion. Label unknowns explicitly. Include only material needed to continue; do not copy secrets, credentials or unrelated personal data. If sources are inaccessible or contradictory, record the gap rather than smoothing it over.

Before finishing, check that the next agent could distinguish facts from assumptions, saved work from intended work, and permission from a pending approval. Return the handoff and state where it was actually saved, or that it remains text awaiting saving.

Original synthetic practice material from https://aiandcompanies.com/workflows/context-windows-context-rot-and-ai-handoffs/