# Retiring And Inheriting A Seat

Use when you are a sitting agent near your context threshold (~85%) and a PLANNED seat...

- Repository: https://github.com/mvschwarz/openrig (8541 stars)
- Category: AI and agents
- License: Apache-2.0
- Last updated: 2026-11-01
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add mvschwarz/openrig --skill retiring-and-inheriting-a-seat -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add mvschwarz/openrig --skill retiring-and-inheriting-a-seat -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add mvschwarz/openrig --skill retiring-and-inheriting-a-seat -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add mvschwarz/openrig --skill retiring-and-inheriting-a-seat -g -a gemini-cli -y`

## Description

Use when you are a sitting agent near your context threshold (~85%) and a PLANNED seat transition is due, retire deliberately and hand your seat to a fresh successor primed from a packet, rather than let compaction degrade you. Covers the handover packet, the append-only lineage ledger (one row per tenure), physical-seat continuity, the do-not-over-inherit framing, the optional warm-handoff window, and wake-v0 (consulting a retired predecessor). NOT for unplanned compaction/crash recovery (session-compaction-and-restore / claude-compaction-restore) and NOT the seat-binding primitive mechanics (seat-continuity-and-handover).

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# Retiring and Inheriting a Seat

A **planned** seat transition. A long-lived seat accumulates context; as it nears the
window's edge, don't wait for compaction to degrade you into a cold-started agent, **retire deliberately** and hand the seat to a fresh successor primed from a packet plus
the seat's accumulated lineage. The **seat address is stable; its occupants are a lineage.**
Keep the transition and its authority explicit.

## Use this when

- You are a sitting agent near your context threshold (~85%) with a **planned** transition
  (or a deliberate role change), and want the successor to start clean.
- You are priming a fresh successor into an **existing** seat.
- You are recording a tenure in the seat's lineage ledger / writing your tombstone.
- You are **inheriting** a seat and need the do-not-over-inherit framing.
- You want to consult the agent who sat in this seat before you.

## Don't use this when

- Unplanned compaction or a crash already happened, that is the backstop path:
  `session-compaction-and-restore` / `claude-compaction-restore`.
- You need the seat-binding **primitive mechanics** (rebuild/fork/fresh, the two-outcome
  honesty model, the provenance schema), `seat-continuity-and-handover`.
- The seat is fresh with no occupant to retire, `rig launch` / `agent-starters`.

## Why planned handover beats riding compaction

Compaction is the **crash-class backstop** (it stays that). A **planned** handover is
deliberate: you author the packet with a clear head *before* degradation sets in, the
successor starts on a clean context, and the transition is auditable. Reach for this at a
threshold you can see coming; fall back to compaction only when a transition wasn't planned.

## The handover sequence

The rest: https://github.com/mvschwarz/openrig/blob/HEAD/packages/daemon/assets/plugins/openrig-core/skills/retiring-and-inheriting-a-seat/SKILL.md