technical-term · Multi-agent & protocols · emerging · Reviewed

Agent handoff

A bounded transfer of task responsibility, state, evidence, and permitted actions from one agent or human role to another.

Definition

An agent handoff moves work between actors while preserving the goal, current state, source evidence, unresolved risks, authorization limits, expected output, and return or escalation path. A handoff transfers work—not accountability or standing beyond what governance has separately conferred.

Handoffs are supported by many frameworks; interoperable semantics and enterprise controls are still developing.

Why it matters

Durable handoffs prevent the next actor from reconstructing critical state from prose alone.

The receiving agent must be independently authorized for the requested tools, data, and effects.

System anatomy

Task contract
Goal, scope, acceptance criteria, and deadline.
State packet
Completed work, open issues, decisions, and evidence.
Authority check
Validation that the recipient may accept and perform the work.
Return path
Completion, rejection, correction, or escalation behavior.

Important distinctions

Prompt forwarding
A handoff carries structured state, evidence, and authority boundaries—not just another message.
Ownership transfer
Business or lifecycle ownership requires explicit human authorization and recertification.

Implementation signals

  • Use typed handoff contracts
  • Re-evaluate access for the receiving identity
  • Record who transferred what and why

Failure modes

  • Context loss changes the task meaning
  • Delegation silently expands tool or data access

Sources and further study

  1. A2A Project — Agent2Agent Protocol v1.0

    A protocol milestone for interoperable communication and collaboration between agents.

    Use in this library: Standard or protocol. A specification defines an interface or control pattern; conformance alone does not establish authorization, security, or fitness for a use case.

    protocol · protocol · Published 2026-03
  2. OpenAI — An open-source spec for Codex orchestration: Symphony

    An orchestration specification that connects project work, isolated agent execution, and reviewable delivery state.

    Use in this library: First-party case study. This first-party account documents one organization, product, or implementation context and should not be generalized without local evidence.

    engineering · engineering · Published 2026-04-27
  3. Anthropic — Effective harnesses for long-running agents

    Patterns for incremental progress and durable handoffs across context windows and extended execution.

    Use in this library: First-party case study. This first-party account documents one organization, product, or implementation context and should not be generalized without local evidence.

    engineering · engineering · Published 2025-11-26