---
title: "Limit handoff"
description: "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."
url: "https://panescale.com/docs/handoff"
updated: "2026-10-13"
---

# 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

1. **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](https://panescale.com/docs/accounts#profiles) and resumed there with its **full history**.
2. **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:

1. Pick who takes over under **Who takes over** — another account of the same CLI, or another installed agent.
2. Check the **Message to the new session**. It is the brief described above, and you can edit it.
3. Optionally turn on **Close this pane afterwards** to end this CLI once the other agent has taken over.
4. Click **Hand off**.

The other agent opens in the same project. With **Show** in the bar you jump to it.

The [Overnight Autopilot](https://panescale.com/docs/autopilot#backup-agent) has its own handoff between attempts, and [teammates](https://panescale.com/docs/agent#handoff) hand subtasks to each other.

> **Limit handoff is a Labs feature**
>
> It is on by default. Switch it off in [Settings → Labs](https://panescale.com/docs/settings#labs) if you prefer panes to stop at their limit.