# HarnessLink 17.5.63 release notes 6 changes, released Oct 10, 2026. ### Added - Session handoff instead of compaction. Every harness session keeps a task checkpoint (`state/--.md`: goal, next step, latest tool calls, decisions, files edited, todos, status `open`/`done`/`picked_up`), updated by the autobank as the transcript grows. Past `context.handoffAt` (default: half the context window or 100k tokens, whichever is smaller; a token count, `"40%"` or `off`), measured from the transcript's real usage, Claude Code's new `Stop` hook asks the model to save a handoff with `memory_bank` and send you to `/clear`, and omp tells you to start `/new`. A `PreCompact` hook (Claude Code, Codex, omp) saves the handoff as a bank entry tagged `handoff` and skips an automatic compaction while the context is under 90% of the window; `/compact` and near-limit compactions go ahead. The next session (startup, `/clear`, after a compaction) gets the newest open handoff first in its brief, then marks it picked up. The service adds the new hooks to existing installs. - `hnl tasks` breaks a long or rambling request into separate requirements, grouped into five phases (investigate, implement, verify, check automatically, validate in use), and saves the plan so a new session can pick it up. - The command is `hnl`. Help, hints and errors say `hnl` whichever installed name you ran (`superpi`, `harnesslink` and `hlk` still work), and shell completions register `hnl`. Harness configs, hooks and the background service keep running `superpi`, which every install has. - The SessionStart brief carries the work-state snapshot of this session, else the most recently modified open one (it used to take the alphabetically last file), and is now up to 9,500 characters for Claude Code and omp and 7,000 for Codex (was 4,000). ### Fixed - `hnl daemon status`, `stop` and the new `restart` act on the supervised service (launchd, systemd, logon task); `status` used to say "stopped" while it ran, and shows the running build. `hnl update` restarts a service still running an older build, even when the CLI itself was already current. ### Removed - The gateway's context monitor (added in 17.5.62): it put its advice in response headers that no harness reads, and guessed token counts from text length. Session handoff (above) uses the real token counts and acts through each harness's own hooks. Update HarnessLink and every installed harness to its current release: hnl update New machine? Install with: curl -fsSL https://harnesslink.sh/install.sh | bash [Newer: 17.5.64](https://harnesslink.sh/releases/17.5.64) · [Older: 17.5.62](https://harnesslink.sh/releases/17.5.62) · [All releases](https://harnesslink.sh/releases) · [Atom feed](https://harnesslink.sh/releases.atom)