A handoff artifact is a standalone or child component of a spec that represents a session of work, with dependencies influencing the order of tasks rather than a linear plan. It is part of a ticket graph where tickets can block or be blocked by one another, guiding the workflow.
For someone interested in AI coding tools and workflows, the key insight is the concept of using a "ticket graph" to determine the order of work based on dependencies rather than a linear plan. This approach can optimize AI development processes, allowing you to efficiently manage and execute coding tasks by focusing on independent "leaf" tasks within a session, which is particularly useful in environments utilizing tools like Claude Code, Codex, and Copilot.