> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.notis.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Hand over from your terminal

> Give the branch you are working on to a Notis agent — hosted Notis, or your own Codex or Claude Code — and keep working while it runs.

You are in a terminal, on a branch, with a coding agent open. Something needs doing that
will take a while: a long refactor, a test suite to get green, a migration. You do not want
to sit and watch it, and you do not want it to stop when you close the laptop.

`notis handover` gives that branch to a Notis agent. It picks the work up on your
[cloud computer](/tools/cloud-computer), in its own git worktree, and keeps going.

```bash theme={null}
npx --package @notis_ai/cli@latest -- notis handover start "fix the failing auth tests"
```

That commits anything you have not committed, pushes the branch, and starts the agent. You
get your prompt back immediately.

## Who runs it

`--route` picks the agent, using [the same six targets](/agent-routing/overview) as
everywhere else in Notis:

```bash theme={null}
notis handover start "finish the migration" --route codex_cloud
```

| `--route`         | Runs on                                                |
| ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ |
| `notis` (default) | The hosted Notis agent                                 |
| `codex_cloud`     | Your Codex account, on your Notis cloud computer       |
| `claude_cloud`    | Your Claude Code account, on your Notis cloud computer |
| `codex_local`     | Your Codex CLI, through the Notis desktop app          |
| `claude_local`    | Your Claude Code CLI, through the Notis desktop app    |
| `auto`            | Notis picks whichever is ready                         |

The **cloud** routes are the ones that keep running when you close the laptop, and they run
on your own Codex or Claude subscription rather than on Notis credits. The **local** routes
need the [desktop app](/your-computer/overview) connected.

## Your branch, or a new one

By default the agent cuts a **new branch from yours** and works there, so you can carry on
where you are without two people committing to one branch.

```bash theme={null}
notis handover start "add integration tests"                     # new branch from yours
notis handover start "finish this off" --branch-mode same        # onto your branch
```

Use `--branch-mode same` when you are handing the branch over and stepping off it. The
agent commits straight onto it, so pull its work down with `git pull --rebase` before you
touch that branch again — and do not force-push it.

## Getting the work back

The agent opens a **draft pull request** early, so the work is visible without you watching
it. When it has pushed:

```bash theme={null}
npx --package @notis_ai/cli@latest -- notis handover status
git fetch origin <your-branch>
```

`handover status` lists your coding-agent threads, which is a separate feature —
on some accounts it is unavailable even though hand-over works. The draft pull
request and your Notis conversation are always there.

A hosted `notis` hand-over shows up in your Notis conversation instead of as a coding-agent
thread, so you can ask it questions there like any other task.

## What it does with uncommitted work

The cloud workspace is built from your remote, so anything you have not pushed would simply
not be there. Rather than silently leaving it behind, the hand-over commits it for you as a
`wip:` commit and pushes it.

That commit takes **everything git can see** — including untracked files that are not
in your `.gitignore`. The hand-over refuses common secret files and private keys, but
you should still check `git status` first. Pass `--no-wip` to make the command refuse
on any uncommitted work instead and commit it yourself.

## Requirements

Sign in once with `notis login`. Your repository has to be reachable: a branch, an `origin` remote, and push access. The
first hand-over for a repository Notis has not seen before takes longer, because the agent
configures it on the cloud computer first.

Hand-over only goes one way — from your machine to Notis. An agent that Notis is already
running cannot hand its own work back, which is what stops two agents passing the same task
between them forever.

## Related

* [Agent routing overview](/agent-routing/overview) — what each target means.
* [Connect your agents](/agent-routing/connect-agents) — sign Codex and Claude Code in.
* [Cloud Computer](/tools/cloud-computer) — where the cloud routes do the work.