Agents
Agent Handoffs
A multi-agent mechanism where one agent passes control of the conversation to a more specialized agent, rather than calling it as a subroutine.
In depth
A multi-agent mechanism where one agent passes control of the conversation to a more specialized agent, rather than calling it as a subroutine. The OpenAI Agents SDK shows handoffs to the model as tools, so a handoff to a Refund Agent appears as a tool named transfer_to_refund_agent. The receiving agent sees the full prior conversation unless an input filter trims it. Handoffs fit triage setups, where a front-line agent decides which specialist should own the rest of the task.
Primary source: openai.github.io
Example
In practice, developers reach for Agent Handoffs when they need the capability described above as part of an AI feature or workflow.
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FAQ
Common questions
What is Agent Handoffs?
A multi-agent mechanism where one agent passes control of the conversation to a more specialized agent, rather than calling it as a subroutine.
Why does Agent Handoffs matter for AI developers?
Agent Handoffs sits in the Agents part of the AI stack. Understanding it helps you make better decisions when building, debugging, and shipping AI features.
Where can I learn more about Agent Handoffs?
Developers Digest publishes tutorials and videos that cover Agents topics including Agent Handoffs. Check the blog and YouTube channel for hands-on walkthroughs.
Related
Related terms
Agents
Agent Swarm
A multi-agent pattern where many lightweight agents work on sub-tasks simultaneously without a central orchestrator.
Agents
tau-bench
A benchmark from Sierra that tests agents in multi-turn customer-service conversations, where a language-model-simulated user talks to an agent that has domain API tools and a written policy to follow.
Agents
Agent Framework
A library that supplies the standard building blocks of an agent, such as calling LLMs, defining and parsing tools, chaining calls, and managing state, so you do not write them from scratch.
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