Handoffs vs Agents as Tools

Delegation has shapes

There are two common ways to use another agent. A handoff transfers conversational control to a specialist. An agent-as-tool keeps the manager in control and calls the specialist for a bounded subtask.

The difference matters for UX, logging, guardrails, and context ownership. A handoff changes who owns the next response. An agent-as-tool returns a result to the manager, which still owns synthesis and user-facing tone.

When to hand off

Use handoffs when the specialist should take over the conversation: support routing, billing versus refunds, domain-specific intake, or any branch where the user should now be talking to the specialist.

Use agent-as-tool when the manager should synthesize outputs: research workers, code reviewers, translators, evaluators. The specialist returns a bounded answer; it does not own the whole session.

The route must be inspectable

Every handoff should leave a route reason, the source agent, the destination agent, and enough compact context for the specialist to continue without rereading the whole conversation. Otherwise multi-agent becomes theater with extra latency.

Code

Handoff owns the next response·python

from agents import Agent, handoff

billing_agent = Agent(
    name="Billing agent",
    instructions="Handle invoice, subscription, and payment questions.",
)
refund_agent = Agent(
    name="Refund agent",
    instructions="Handle refund eligibility and refund status questions.",
)

triage_agent = Agent(
    name="Support triage",
    instructions="Route the user to the specialist that should own the next reply.",
    handoffs=[billing_agent, handoff(refund_agent)],
)

Agent-as-tool stays bounded·python

def manager(task):
    risk = refund_risk_agent.run({"case": task, "max_findings": 3})
    draft = support_writer_agent.run({"case": task, "risk_summary": risk})
    return final_review(task, draft, risk)

Handoffs vs Agents as Tools

Delegation has shapes

When to hand off

The route must be inspectable

Code

External links

Exercise

Progress

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