Q: What is multi-agent orchestration, and what is a handoff?

Multi-agent orchestration means splitting work across several specialized agents instead of asking one agent to do everything.

The reason is focus. An agent with one clear job and a few tools performs reliably. An agent with fifteen tools and five responsibilities gets confused, in the same way a prompt trying to do everything does everything poorly. So you build a team: one agent researches, another writes, another reviews, another generates the images. Above them sits an orchestrator, an agent whose only job is to direct the work: it breaks the task down, sends pieces to the right specialist, checks results, and puts the final output together.

A handoff is the mechanism for passing control from one agent to another. The orchestrator decides the research agent should take over, and hands off the conversation with the relevant context. When frameworks talk about handoffs (the OpenAI Agents SDK uses this exact term), that transfer of control and context is what they mean.

When do you need this? Later than you think. Start with a single agent, and split it only when it demonstrably struggles with competing responsibilities. Multi-agent systems are harder to debug (more steps, longer traces), so every specialist has to earn its place.