Handoffs: passing control to another agent

A handoff is a transfer that lets one agent give the rest of the run to another: Agent(handoffs=[refunds]) lets the model move control to refunds, which then produces the answer.

Last updated: 28 Sep, 2026 · openai-agents 0.22.3

One agent should not carry every skill. A triage agent can route, and a refund specialist can handle refunds. A handoff moves the run from the first to the second, and the second finishes it.

The handoffs list

List other agents in handoffs. The SDK gives the model a transfer tool for each one. When the model calls it, that agent takes over the rest of the run.

triage = Agent(name="Triage", instructions="Route the customer.",
               handoffs=[refunds])   # refunds is another Agent
# when the model emits the transfer, refunds finishes the run

The specialist agent

The agent that will take over is an ordinary Agent. It uses the canonical shop stand-in, imported from shop_model.py.

from shop_model import ShopModel

refunds = Agent(name="Refunds", instructions="Handle refund requests.",
                model=ShopModel())

The triage agent that can hand off

The triage agent lists refunds in its handoffs. The shop stand-in emits a transfer to the first handoff when it sees the word refund in the message.

triage = Agent(name="Triage", instructions="Route the customer to the right team.",
               handoffs=[refunds], model=ShopModel())
# ShopModel transfers to handoffs[0] on a message containing "refund"

Seeing who finished the run

result.last_agent is the agent that produced the final answer. result.new_items lists what happened, so you can see the transfer itself.

result = Runner.run_sync(triage, "I need a refund for order A17")
print(result.last_agent.name)   # Refunds, not Triage
for item in result.new_items:
    print(type(item).__name__)  # the handoff call, its output, the message

Routing a refund to the specialist

The whole run. It starts on Triage and ends on Refunds, and the items show the transfer between them.

from agents import Agent, Runner, set_tracing_disabled
from shop_model import ShopModel
set_tracing_disabled(True)

refunds = Agent(name="Refunds", instructions="Handle refund requests.",
                model=ShopModel())
triage = Agent(name="Triage", instructions="Route the customer to the right team.",
               handoffs=[refunds], model=ShopModel())

result = Runner.run_sync(triage, "I need a refund for order A17")

print("Started with:", triage.name)
print("Ended with:  ", result.last_agent.name)
for item in result.new_items:
    print(type(item).__name__)

What the items tell you

• last_agent is Refunds: the run ended on the specialist, so the transfer took effect.
• HandoffCallItem is the model asking to transfer, the same way it would call a tool.
• HandoffOutputItem is the SDK carrying out the transfer; after it, Refunds is running.
• MessageOutputItem is the final message, produced by Refunds, not Triage.

Handoff vs a plain tool call

When to hand off

• Specialisation: a refund, a booking, or an escalation each handled by its own agent.
• Routing: a front agent that only decides which specialist should answer.

Related

• Previous: Instructions from a function
• Next: An agent as a tool with as_tool
• Reference: Handoffs