The short answer
- Verify the handover through a fresh engineer’s actions.
- Transfer operational capability alongside source code.
- Keep limitations explicit and credentials outside documentation.
Prove the repository is usable
Ask an engineer who did not create the setup instructions to follow them. Confirm the supported runtime, dependency installation, build and automated checks. Record required environment variables by purpose without including secret values. A successful build on the original developer’s machine does not establish that the delivered repository is reproducible.
Review release and recovery ownership
Identify who can deploy, who approves a release and how the previous working version is recovered. Check access to hosting, domains, databases and backups through the organization’s own accounts. Test a restore or rollback in an isolated environment. A folder of backups or a deployment script without usable access is not an operating capability.
Keep decisions and known limitations
Document why important architecture choices were made, the alternatives considered and the constraints still unresolved. Include known defects and manual operating steps. This is more useful than a claim that the system is complete. The next engineer should be able to distinguish an intentional boundary from unfinished implementation.
Transfer access without transferring secrets in documents
Use appropriate account ownership and credential-management processes. Do not paste tokens into a handover file or commit them to the repository. Remove obsolete personal access and verify that the receiving team can independently rotate credentials. Treat customer data, exports and diagnostic artifacts as part of the access review too.
Use this review checklist
Checks stay in this page only. Use your own project record to preserve review evidence.
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