Handoff Contract Drill

Module 8, Lesson 8.2 — rewrite five vague handoffs into four-field contracts. Self-score each against the rubric. Target 4 out of 5.
The headline insight. A handoff contract is the interface between two agents. Four fields, no exceptions — input shape, output shape, success criteria, failure mode. A contract with three of the four is not a contract; it is a wish. The most common omission is the failure mode, and that omission is the opening through which retry runaway enters.
How you will score your own rewrites. Six rubric items per scenario. Four of six is passing; five or six is tight.

How the drill works

  1. Five vague handoff descriptions follow — each the kind of thing a student would write on a first-draft blueprint.
  2. For each, rewrite the handoff into the four required fields. Type directly into the four text boxes. Be specific — file paths, section names, length bands, required content. Copy from the Handoff Contract Template if useful.
  3. Self-score your rewrite against six rubric items:
    Input shape Names a specific file path, format, and required structure — not "whatever the upstream produces." Output shape Same specificity from the sender's side — matches the input shape of this handoff, not a vague promise. Success > 3 At least three testable success criteria — word counts, required sections, required fields; no "should be good" / "high-quality." Bounded fail Failure mode names one bounded action — stop, retry-once, fall back, skip. No unbounded retries. No "retry until successful." Under a page Whole contract reads in about a minute — roughly half a page, not a mini-agent prompt. Honest paths Output shape of this handoff matches the input the next agent will actually read — no schema/prose mismatch, no missing fields.
  4. Click Show exemplar to compare against a tight reference contract. Your wording does not need to match; your shape should.

There is no auto-grader on the prose. This drill is calibration — you are learning to see the six vague-contract signals in your own writing. The scenarios you scored 3 of 6 on are the ones most likely to recur when you write your own blueprint in Part 2 of the Lesson 8.2 activity.