An agent handoff fails on a stale specialist name

A triage agent chooses a specialist, but the model returns an old name or a malformed field in the handoff arguments. An OpenAI Agents SDK issue reports a case where invalid handoff arguments fail the run instead of giving the model a chance to repair them. This is a version-specific report, not a promise about every provider or SDK build.

Know where validation occurs

The SDK’s handoff documentation explains that input_type describes model-generated handoff arguments, which are validated locally before on_handoff. It also says input_type does not dynamically choose the destination. Register only real destinations and avoid putting a second, free-form destination name inside the payload unless your application genuinely needs it.

Test stale and malformed routes

Exercise unknown specialist names, missing required fields and an unavailable destination. Capture the trace and assert that the user receives a useful fallback or explicit retry path. Keep authorization checks in on_handoff before side effects when arguments affect access; validation alone is not permission.

Preserve the user turn

At the application boundary, catch a failed run, retain the original request and show a bounded recovery choice or route to a safe generalist. Do not silently replay actions that may already have happened. Pin and test the SDK version before relying on an issue fix.

Adovo’s view

A specialist network is only as good as its failure path. Routing should make an uncertain request easier to resolve, never make the user repeat it because an internal label changed.