How CRAFT Gives Claude Cowork Persistent Memory Across Sessions

#ai #programming #claude #gemini

Last week I released CRAFT for Cowork as a free public beta. This week: the capability that started it all — session handoffs.

The Problem

Every Claude Cowork session starts from scratch. You invest time establishing context — project architecture, decisions, constraints, naming conventions — and it all evaporates when the session ends. For multi-session projects, this compounds: decisions get revisited, conventions drift, and the human becomes a manual context shuttle between sessions.

The Solution: Structured Handoff Files

At the end of every session, CRAFT captures a structured handoff snapshot — not a summary, but a complete record: accomplishments, decisions, file manifest, git status, active priorities, open questions, lessons learned, and persona configuration.

When the next session starts, the initialization recipe reads that handoff and restores full context. Four recipes handle the lifecycle:

CWK-001 (Session Init) — Reads the latest handoff, restores state, validates configuration. Includes bootstrap mode for new projects.
CWK-002 (Direct Handoff) — Comprehensive end-of-session snapshot with validation gate and automatic git commit.
CWK-002a (Device-Switch) — 4-phase protocol for moving between machines: file verification, git pull, post-pull verification, auto-init.
CWK-003 (Mid-Session Checkpoint) — Lightweight quicksave for crash protection.

Two-Layer Initialization

Sessions initialize through two independent layers: a CLAUDE.md bootstrap file (static project fundamentals) and the active initialization recipe (dynamic current state). If either layer is stale, the other compensates — making startup robust across framework updates and edge cases.

The Evidence

CRAFT was built using its own handoff system. 71 consecutive handoffs, zero data loss. The system survived context compaction events, Cowork crashes, and a device switch — each time restoring full context from the structured handoff file.

The handoff files are plain text on your machine. No cloud dependency, no vendor lock-in. Version-controllable like any other source file.