Pause and Resume
Stops in-progress work at a safe boundary, emits a precise continuation checkpoint, and picks it back up exactly when you say "continue".
What it does
When you explicitly ask to pause, this skill makes Claude stop at a safe boundary instead of cutting off mid-thought.
- Stops expanding the task: no new subtasks, retries, or optional checks
- Finishes an already-started atomic action only when interrupting would leave inconsistent state
- Emits a structured
PAUSE_CHECKPOINT: ACTIVEblock covering goal & done condition, completed work, current stopping point, remaining work, first action on resume, a "do not repeat" list, settled decisions, and live state to recheck - On "continue", it picks the newest unconsumed checkpoint, rechecks only mutable/high-risk state (files, worktree, running jobs, external side effects), and resumes directly
- Never asks you to restate context it already recorded
It records facts rather than guesses, never writes secrets, and creates no files or commits just to checkpoint.
Who it's for
- Anyone frequently interrupted mid-task by meetings or breaks
- People tired of re-explaining "where were we?" after every break
- Engineers handling non-idempotent operations like deploys and migrations
- Any Claude Code user running long sessions, regardless of stack or role
Examples
- Mid-migration pause — two of three tables migrated; the checkpoint records the finished tables, the job ID, and a "do not re-run" entry. Saying "continue" later starts at table three.
- Long code review — 7 of 12 files reviewed; settled review criteria and the remaining file list are preserved, so you don't restate the rubric.
- Background CI job running — the job handle and observed status are recorded, and on resume Claude reconciles the result rather than cancelling or re-dispatching it.
⚠️ Limitation: this workflow lives inside a single session. It cannot recover a killed process, a lost conversation, or a different session — use a handoff or persistent checkpoint workflow for those cases.
· · · Install guide · · ·
Try it now, no install
Paste this into Claude to use the skill without installing anything.
Read the instructions in this file and follow them to help me: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dongshuyan/compass-skills/HEAD/skills/pause-and-resume/SKILL.md What I want: (describe your task here)
If Claude can't open the link, open it yourself and paste the contents instead.
↓ If it works for you, download the ZIP below and install it. Then it runs on its own — no pasting each time.
Install in the Claude app (no terminal)
- Download the ZIP with the button below.
- In Claude, open Settings → Capabilities and turn on 'Code execution and file creation'. (one time)
- Go to Customize → Skills → + → 'Upload a skill' and upload the ZIP.
Install in Claude Code
Let Claude do it — paste this into Claude Code
Install the skill I found on Claude Skill Mart. Copy the skills/pause-and-resume folder from the GitHub repo dongshuyan/compass-skills into my ~/.claude/skills/pause-and-resume/. When it's done, tell me in one line what this skill can do.
Install with a command instead
git clone https://github.com/dongshuyan/compass-skills.git && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r compass-skills/skills/pause-and-resume ~/.claude/skills/⚠ This is a third-party skill. Check the source repository before installing.
- Open a terminal.
- Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/dongshuyan/compass-skills.git - Create the skills directory if needed:
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills - Copy the skill in:
cp -r compass-skills/skills/pause-and-resume ~/.claude/skills/ - Verify with
ls ~/.claude/skills/pause-and-resume— you should seeSKILL.md. - Restart Claude Code, then mid-task say: "pause this work and leave a checkpoint".
- Later in the same session, type "continue" to resume from the checkpoint.