Agent Handoff
The process where an AI agent passes a task to another specialized agent or to a human.
Agent handoff passes tasks between specialized AI agents or to humans – the routing pattern for multi-agent systems.
Explanation
Agent handoff is critical in multi-agent systems: the router agent decides which specialist is best suited, passes context and subtasks. AI-to-human escalation is also a handoff.
Marketing Relevance
Foundation for scalable AI systems: customer service bots escalate to specialists, coding agents hand off to review agents.
Common Pitfalls
Context loss during handoff. Endless delegation without resolution. Unclear responsibilities between agents.
Origin & History
Agent handoff originates from customer service automation. With OpenAI's Agents SDK (2025) and LangGraph, it became the standard pattern for multi-agent architectures.
Comparisons & Differences
Agent Handoff vs. Agent Orchestration
Orchestration coordinates the entire workflow. Handoff is the specific moment of task transfer between agents.