Agent Relay

Free & open source · the handoff layer for AI work

Stop being the hallway.

Claude drafts. Codex edits. ChatGPT reviews. A teammate owns the call. The weak point is never the model — it's the handoff. Agent Relay turns every handoff into a visible task record that carries the source, the limits, the status, and the receipt.

Get the kitRead the method
install
# install the kit from GitHub, then start a relay
$ git clone https://github.com/The-Little-AI-Company/open-work-relay
$ cd open-work-relay
$ npm install -g .
$ relay init "Client Ops Relay"
Created relay workspace: Client Ops Relay
Next: relay dashboard

Prompt mode vs work mode

A prompt asks for an answer. Work mode gives a job that survives the handoff.

Prompt mode is fine until the answer has to move to another person, agent, or system. Work mode carries everything the next actor needs.

# prompt mode

Write a follow-up email.

# work mode

Use the client-call transcript and the
decision summary. Draft the follow-up,
do not overstate the promise, flag what
needs my judgment, leave a receipt, and
stop before sending.

The task record

Seven parts travel with every job.

The next person or agent should resume from the record — not from a giant chat history. These seven parts are the whole contract.

  1. Outcome
  2. Owner / next actor
  3. Source material
  4. Context / decisions so far
  5. Allowed actions
  6. Stop rules / human gates
  7. Done evidence / receipt

The state machine

Work has a status anyone can read. Every change leaves a receipt.

Agents claim work, move it through statuses, and route anything ambiguous to needs-input. Receipts beat vibes.

readyclaimedworkingneeds-inputreviewdoneparked

The method, in our own framing

Three guides take you from idea to running loop.

01

The Relay Loop Audit

Nine questions that decide whether a handoff can leave the chat. Any “no” is the gap to fix before you hand off.

Read →02

Prompt Craft

The climb from a prompt to a handoff-ready task: Ask → Frame → Bound → Hand off. One example, every rung.

Read →03

The 30-Minute Relay

Six five-minute blocks from zero to a running loop on one real task. If it doesn’t fit in 30 minutes, the task was too big.

Read →