The One File That Makes Claude Code Sessions Actually Persistent

Every Claude Code session ends the same way: context window fills up, session compresses, and your AI forgets what it was doing. I fixed this with one file. The Problem Claude Code has no persistent memory between sessions. When you start a new terminal, it reads your CLAUDE.md and starts fresh. Any decisions made, approaches tried, or context built up — gone. For a single quick task, this is fine. For multi-day projects with complex state, it's a disaster. The Fix: SESSION-HANDOFF.md Every project gets a docs/SESSION-HANDOFF.md with this structure: # Session Handoff ## Last Updated 2026-03-31 (Session 30) ## Current State [What's working, what's deployed, what's in progress] ## What Was Done This Session [Bullet points of completed work] ## What Failed [Approaches that didn't work and why — so the next session doesn't repeat them] ## What's Next [Prioritized list of next steps] ## Key Decisions [Architectural choices made and the reasoning] The Rule The rule is simple and non-negotiab