Agent Handoffs Explained
A handoff transfers control from the current agent to another specialist. The new agent becomes responsible for the conversation rather than merely returning one sub-result.
Example
A triage agent can hand a billing request to a refund specialist or a technical question to a troubleshooting specialist.
History filtering
OpenAI's Agents SDK supports filtering handoff input so the next agent receives only appropriate conversation context.
Use handoffs when ownership changes
If the original agent should remain in control and simply ask a specialist for help, treat the specialist as a tool instead.