diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
index 0fc93f6..5736c09 100644
--- a/AGENTS.md
+++ b/AGENTS.md
@@ -6,9 +6,11 @@ submodule. The
 Android app uses a thin Java activity and `android-view`; desktop uses winit.
 
 `docs/PLAN.md` is the design source of truth. Read it before structural work
-and update it when a decision changes. Working documents are pruned as work
-lands: preserve current invariants, measurements, and failed hypotheses, not a
-chronicle of completed tasks. Do not create a decisions log.
+and update it when a decision changes. `docs/HANDOFF.md` is where the work in
+flight stands; read it first in a fresh session and keep it current. Working
+documents are pruned as work lands: preserve current invariants, measurements,
+and failed hypotheses, not a chronicle of completed tasks. Do not create a
+decisions log.
 
 ## Architecture
 
diff --git a/docs/IRIS_EXTRACTION_HANDOFF.md b/docs/HANDOFF.md
similarity index 99%
rename from docs/IRIS_EXTRACTION_HANDOFF.md
rename to docs/HANDOFF.md
index 662e627..f038819 100644
--- a/docs/IRIS_EXTRACTION_HANDOFF.md
+++ b/docs/HANDOFF.md
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
-# Iris extraction handoff
+# Handoff
 
-Operational handoff for pulling Iris out of ai-app into a standalone framework.
-Not a decisions log; delete it when the extraction is done.
+Where the work in flight stands, for a session picking it up cold. Not a
+decisions log; when a piece of work finishes, replace this with the next one
+rather than accumulating both. The subject now is pulling Iris out of ai-app
+into a standalone framework.
 
 ## Where things stand
 
diff --git a/docs/LAYOUT.md b/docs/LAYOUT.md
index 5df415c..53a0906 100644
--- a/docs/LAYOUT.md
+++ b/docs/LAYOUT.md
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ without reading that result does not make the parent's size depend on it.
 
 §1 and §2 have landed in Iris (#16 and #18) and the notes below have been
 brought to what shipped rather than what was proposed; §3 to §6 describe the
-same design as it stands. `docs/IRIS_EXTRACTION_HANDOFF.md` has the invariants
+same design as it stands. `docs/HANDOFF.md` has the invariants
 the code now rests on and what is still to do.
 
 ## Design