Device Handoff

Device Handoff is for continuity, not model hosting and not disaster recovery.

Use it when you want to move the active view of a conversation from one device to another quickly, without rebuilding the session by hand or waiting for a slower full restore workflow.

What Device Handoff Is Good For

• Moving from desktop to phone mid-scene.
• Moving from phone back to desktop without losing your place.
• Preserving the feel of a live session when you change devices deliberately.
• Continuing an active chat without manually hunting for the right thread again.

What the Handoff Is Actually Passing

The goal is to resume the same active scene smoothly.

That usually means the handoff is centered around:

• the currently active chat,
• the route context of that live session,
• the source-device identity for the transfer,
• and the pointer information needed to continue from the right place.

This is why Device Handoff feels immediate. It is not trying to act like a full archive migration every time you change screens.

What It Does Not Transfer Automatically

Device Handoff does not magically copy every device-local secret or runtime dependency to the destination.

In particular, it does not mean:

• provider keys suddenly sync across devices,
• a local-only route becomes available everywhere,
• or the destination device can generate through a route it does not actually have access to.

That distinction is important.

You may be able to resume the chat context cleanly while still needing the right provider access on the destination device to continue generation there.

Pairing Flow

Device Handoff uses a short-lived pairing flow rather than a permanent open bridge.

At a high level:

1. Start the handoff on the source device.
2. Receive a pairing code.
3. Enter that code on the destination device.
4. Claim the handoff and resume the scene there.

The code is intentionally temporary.

This is a handoff credential, not a standing invitation.

Timing Expectation

The pairing window is short.

In practice, the relay handoff credential is designed for immediate use, not for leaving open indefinitely.

If you wait too long, expect to issue a fresh code rather than assuming the old one should still work.

Claim, Revoke, Expire

A handoff can move through several states from a user perspective:

• issued,
• claimed,
• revoked,
• or expired.

That matters because a failed handoff does not always mean something is broken. Sometimes it simply means the pairing window was allowed to expire or the source device intentionally revoked the transfer.

How It Differs from Cloud Sync

Cloud Sync is about keeping encrypted workspace state available across devices over time.

Device Handoff is about quickly resuming one active scene right now.

They solve different problems:

• use Cloud Sync for durable cross-device continuity,
• use Device Handoff for immediate live-scene transfer.

If you confuse those two goals, the feature can feel weaker or stranger than it actually is.

Relationship to Premium

Device Handoff lives in the same premium continuity family as Desktop Tunnel.

Treat it as a convenience layer for cross-device flow, not as baseline local-only behavior.

Security Posture

The handoff path is designed around an encrypted workspace context rather than ordinary plaintext sharing.

That means the goal is not to create a permanent readable relay of your chats. The goal is to let two trusted devices coordinate a short-lived transfer without turning the service into a general transcript broker.

Best Practices

Use it while both devices are already ready

Handoff is easiest when the source and destination are both open and you are switching deliberately.

Do not confuse handoff with permanent recovery

It is a convenience path, not a replacement for backup discipline or encrypted sync.

Re-issue instead of fighting an old code

If a code feels stale, generate a fresh one. Short expiration is a security feature, not a bug.

Check route availability on the destination device

If the scene resumes but generation still fails, the problem may be route access rather than handoff itself.

Related Pages

• Read Desktop Tunnel if your destination device needs to call back into a stronger host machine.
• Read Billing and Premium for the premium entitlement model behind remote-continuity features.
• Read Account Security and Recovery for the bigger trust-boundary picture across devices.