All handoffs route to last handoff in the handoff list

[pinkynrg]

Please read this first

• Have you read the docs? Yes - Agents SDK docs
• Have you searched for related issues? Yes - no similar issues found

Describe the bug

When multiple agents are created dynamically (e.g., inside a function or Temporal workflow), the handoff() function routes all handoffs to the last agent created instead of the intended target agent. This completely breaks multi-agent orchestration in systems where agents are created dynamically.

Impact: Critical - makes dynamic multi-agent handoff routing unusable.

Debug information

• Agents SDK version: >=0.6.4
• Python version: Python 3.12.9

Repro steps

How we create bidirectional handoffs in our Temporal workflow:

from agents import Agent, handoff

def setup_agents(workflow_instance, mcp_server, guardrail):
    # Create all agents first
    agent_manager = create_agent_manager(workflow_instance, mcp_server, guardrail)
    agent_planner = create_agent_planner(workflow_instance, mcp_server)
    agent_structure_builder = create_structure_builder_agent(workflow_instance, mcp_server)
    agent_designer = create_agent_designer(workflow_instance, mcp_server)
    agent_content_creator = create_content_creator_agent(workflow_instance, mcp_server)
    agent_small_edits = create_agent_small_edits(workflow_instance, mcp_server)
    
    # Configure manager → specialist handoffs
    agent_manager.handoffs = [
        handoff(agent=agent_planner),
        handoff(agent=agent_structure_builder),
        handoff(agent=agent_designer),
        handoff(agent=agent_content_creator),
        handoff(agent=agent_small_edits),
    ]
    
    # Configure specialist → manager handoffs (bidirectional)
    agent_planner.handoffs = [handoff(agent=agent_manager)]
    agent_structure_builder.handoffs = [handoff(agent=agent_manager)]
    agent_designer.handoffs = [handoff(agent=agent_manager)]
    agent_content_creator.handoffs = [handoff(agent=agent_manager)]
    agent_small_edits.handoffs = [handoff(agent=agent_manager)]
    
    return agent_manager

Expected behavior

Each handoff should route to its designated agent:

• transfer_to_planner → routes to Planner agent
• transfer_to_designer → routes to Designer agent
• transfer_to_smalledits → routes to SmallEdits agent

Actual behavior

All handoffs route to the last agent created (SmallEdits in our case), regardless of which transfer_to_* tool is called.

Diagnostic logs proving the bug:

Add these logs to verify the issue:

1. In agents/handoffs/__init__.py, inside _invoke_handoff closure:

import logging
logger = logging.getLogger("openai.agents.handoff")
logger.info(f"[HANDOFF_INVOKE] agent_name={agent.name} agent_id={id(agent)}")

2. In agents/_run_impl.py, in execute_handoffs():

logger.info(f"[EXECUTE_HANDOFFS_INVOKE_BEFORE] from_agent={agent.name} "
            f"tool_name={handoff.tool_name} target_agent_name={handoff.agent_name}")
new_agent = await handoff.on_invoke_handoff(context_wrapper, actual_handoff.tool_call.arguments)
logger.info(f"[EXECUTE_HANDOFFS_INVOKE_AFTER] returned_agent_name={new_agent.name}")

Output showing the bug:

[EXECUTE_HANDOFFS_INVOKE_BEFORE] from_agent=Manager tool_name=transfer_to_planner target_agent_name=Planner
[HANDOFF_INVOKE] agent_name=SmallEdits agent_id=4524224448
[EXECUTE_HANDOFFS_INVOKE_AFTER] returned_agent_name=SmallEdits

Manager tries to handoff to Planner, but closure returns SmallEdits.

[pinkynrg]

I can confirm this bug occurs even when handoffs are NOT circular and even when declared directly in the Agent() constructor.

Our Setup (Non-Circular Sequential Chain)

We refactored our code to use a sequential handoff chain with no circular references:

# Create agents in reverse order, passing handoff targets as parameters
agent_small_edits = create_agent_small_edits(workflow_instance, mcp_server)
agent_content_creator = create_content_creator_agent(
    workflow_instance, mcp_server, agent_small_edits
)
agent_designer = create_agent_designer(
    workflow_instance, mcp_server, agent_content_creator
)
agent_structure_builder = create_structure_builder_agent(
    workflow_instance, mcp_server, agent_designer
)
agent_planner = create_agent_planner(
    workflow_instance, mcp_server, guardrail, 
    agent_structure_builder, agent_small_edits  # 2 handoffs
)

Each agent declares handoffs directly in its constructor:

def create_agent_planner(..., agent_structure_builder: Agent, agent_small_edits: Agent):
    return Agent(
        name=AGENT_PLANNER,
        handoffs=[
            handoff(
                agent=agent_structure_builder,
                on_handoff=on_handoff_planner_to_structure_builder,
                input_type=AgentStructureBuilderInputSchema,
            ),
            handoff(agent=agent_small_edits),  # 2nd handoff
        ],
    )

Result: Same Bug

The bug still occurs. Any agent with len(handoffs) > 1 routes all handoffs to the last agent in the list.

In our case:

• ✅ transfer_to_smalledits → correctly routes to SmallEdits
• ❌ transfer_to_structure_builder → incorrectly routes to SmallEdits (last in list)

[ihower]

@pinkynrg Could you reproduce this bug without using a Temporal workflow?

I tried creating agents dynamically (inside a function, multiple handoffs, and agents with more than one handoff), but I’m currently unable to reproduce your issue.

[pinkynrg]

@ihower Unfortunately, I don’t think this issue occurs outside of Temporal. I believe it’s caused by the way Temporal creates the handoff-ed task by creating a new activity.

[github-actions]

This issue is stale because it has been open for 7 days with no activity.

[github-actions]

This issue was closed because it has been inactive for 3 days since being marked as stale.