Glossary
Agent handoff
A multi-agent pattern in which a specialist takes ownership of the next reply, instead of answering only as a tool the manager calls.
An agent handoff gives the next specialist ownership of that branch of the work. Control moves. The specialist’s reply is the reply for that branch.
OpenAI’s orchestration page, read November 9, 2026, draws the line in those words. A handoff fits when a specialist should own the next response. An agent used as a tool fits when a manager should stay in control and call specialists as bounded capabilities. The page says to give each specialist a narrow job and to keep the handoff description short. The same page says a handoff can carry structured metadata or a filtered history, and that the exact API differs by language.
The person or policy that decides a handoff is due is the orchestrator. The broader rule is orchestration. A system with more than one role is multi-agent. How a learned orchestrator chooses the next call, including pairs of calls that only help together, is What is multi-agent orchestration?. The software that runs the transfer is the harness.