Limit handoff
When an agent hits its usage limit, another account or agent continues with a full briefing — or the session waits for a reset that is close. Plus handing a session over by hand.
Subscription limits end sessions at the worst moment — in the middle of a change, with half the files edited. PaneScale notices when an agent runs into its limit and keeps the work going: on another account of the same CLI, on another agent, or by waiting for the reset when it is close.
How a limit is noticed
| Agent | Signal |
|---|---|
| Claude Code | Claude reports the failed turn through its hooks, with its own message — “You’ve hit your session limit · resets 3pm”. The exact reset time is then read from the session |
| Codex and other CLIs | The CLI’s own limit line on the screen — “You’ve hit your usage limit … try again at 3:42 PM” |
Only these system messages count. An agent that merely talks about limits in its answer never triggers a handoff, and a provider that is just overloaded is not treated as a limit.
What happens next
Choose the behaviour in Settings → Labs → Limit handoff:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Smart (default) | Waits when the limit is free again soon, otherwise hands off right away |
| Hand off | Always hands off right away |
| Wait | Never hands off — the same session continues once the limit is free again |
| Ask | Shows the choice in the pane |
With Smart, Wait instead when the limit is free within sets what “soon” means — from Never wait to two hours, 20 minutes by default. Short waits keep the same session and its full context.
The bar in the pane
Before a handoff, a bar in the pane counts down — “Codex takes over in 10 s” — with Hand off now, Wait and Choose … to pick another target. Set the time in Time to cancel before handing off, or Hand off immediately. While a pane waits, the bar shows when the limit is free again and still offers a handoff. A desktop notification tells you what happened if you aren’t looking.
Who takes over
- Another account of the same CLI — if Other accounts of the same CLI first is on (default). For Claude Code, the session is copied to the other signed-in account profile and resumed there with its full history.
- Another agent — in the order of Who takes over first. Move agents up or down; agents that aren’t installed are skipped.
Accounts and agents that hit a limit are skipped until their reset — even across a restart of PaneScale. After the reset they are candidates again, so a chain of handoffs can come back to the first agent.
The handoff brief
A new agent doesn’t get a raw terminal dump. PaneScale builds a brief from the session file of the previous CLI and the current Git state:
- what you asked for, and messages you had queued or typed but not sent,
- the previous agent’s summary, its plan and its task list,
- the files it changed and the last commands it ran,
- the repository now — branch, last commit, uncommitted changes and the commits since the task started,
- where it stopped, and what to do now: check the code and Git state before continuing.
Without a readable session file, the end of the terminal output is used instead. The brief is saved as a file; Brief in the bar shows it, with Show file and Copy.
The brief is delivered as soon as the new CLI is ready, and PaneScale checks that it really started working. If not, the bar offers Send again.
Stopping the original session
Claude Code continues by itself once its limit is free again. After a handoff that would mean two agents working on the same files, so Stop the original session from resuming (on by default) cancels that automatic continue.
Hand off by hand
When an agent is stuck or you want a second opinion, choose Hand off to another agent … in the pane menu:
- Pick who takes over under Who takes over — another account of the same CLI, or another installed agent.
- Check the Message to the new session. It is the brief described above, and you can edit it.
- Optionally turn on Close this pane afterwards to end this CLI once the other agent has taken over.
- Click Hand off.
The other agent opens in the same project. With Show in the bar you jump to it.
The Overnight Autopilot has its own handoff between attempts, and teammates hand subtasks to each other.