Context & Handoffs
The original problem Orbit set out to solve was context: the AI you plan with not knowing what the AI you build with already did. Context files and handoffs are how Orbit keeps that knowledge in one place and moves it cleanly between sessions.
Context files
Section titled “Context files”Each project has a context/ directory of Markdown files — tech stack, conventions, specs, audits, design references — plus a layer of global context that applies to every project. The two merge when an AI client asks for a project’s context, so a model reasoning about your project sees both the shared rules and the project-specific detail. You edit these in the project window’s Docs tab or through MCP tools, and AI clients read them through the same tools.
Global context has two layers: installer defaults that ship with Orbit, completely overridden by your own files in ~/.orbit/global/. The interface badges each file as default or custom and lets you view the default or reset to it.
Handoffs
Section titled “Handoffs”A handoff is a structured session summary stored under context/handoffs/, organized by category. The orbit_handoff tool owns both reading and writing them: in write mode it embeds the project’s standing handoff defaults, adds your drafted session summary as a new timestamped block, and preserves previous sessions below — so a single file holds everything the next session needs to pick up immediately. Reads can pull the most recent sessions or list available categories.
The discipline that makes handoffs valuable: the human (or the planning AI) writes the summary — what was decided, what shipped, what’s pending, what to do next — and the tool owns the structure. The summary is where the judgment lives; the tool just assembles it.