AttributeError: module 'planner_agent' has no attribute 'handoffs'

[harshrpg]

Question

I am trying to recreate the financial_research_agent on my own. However when I define the planner agent as below:

PROMPT = (
    "You are a financial research planner. Given a request for financial analysis, "
    "produce a set of web searches to gather the context needed. Aim for recent "
    "headlines, earnings calls or 10‑K snippets, analyst commentary, and industry background. "
    "Output between 5 and 15 search terms to query for."
)

planner_agent = Agent(name=PLANNER_AGENT_NAME, instructions=PROMPT, model=MODEL)

I am getting the following error:

AttributeError: module 'app.agent.agents.planner_agent' has no attribute 'handoffs'

Why is the SDK expecting handoffs attribute when the instructions does not ask it to handoff?

Any help is appreciated. Thanks

[rm-openai]

Can you please share a full stack trace and/or code to reproduce? Hard to say where the error is coming from

[harshrpg]

This is my Manager:

from agents import Runner, gen_trace_id, trace
from rich.console import Console

from app.agent.agents import planner_agent
from app.agent.models.models import TokenResearchPlan
from app.agent.utils.printer import Printer


class Manager:
    """A workflow manager agent that orchestrates the execution of AI agent workflows.

    The Manager class serves as a central coordinator for managing and executing AI agent workflows.
    It handles:
    - Initializing and configuring agent instances
    - Managing the flow of execution between different agents
    - Coordinating handoffs between agents
    - Tracking and maintaining workflow state
    - Handling errors and exceptions during workflow execution

    This allows for modular and composable AI workflows where multiple specialized agents can work
    together to accomplish complex tasks.
    """

    def __init__(self) -> None:
        self.console = Console()
        self.printer = Printer(self.console)

    async def run(self, query: str) -> None:
        trace_id = gen_trace_id()
        with trace("Agent Dexx trace", trace_id=trace_id):
            self.printer.update_item(
                "trace_id",
                f"View trace: https://platform.openai.com/traces/trace?trace_id={trace_id}",
                is_done=True,
                hide_checkmark=True,
            )
            self.printer.update_item(
                "start", "Starting token research...", is_done=True
            )
            # 3 Steps:
            # 3.1 Plan the research
            research_plan = await self.__plan_research(query=query)
            # 3.2 Fetch Data
            # 3.3 Write Report

    async def __plan_research(self, query: str):
        # self.printer.update_item("planning", "Planning research...")
        result = await Runner.run(planner_agent, f"Query: {query}")

        self.printer.update_item("planning", "Planning research...", is_done=True)
        self.printer.update_item(
            "planning",
            f"Will perform {len(result.final_output.searches)} data collection tasks",
            is_done=True,
        )
        return result.final_output

My Planner Agent

from agents import Agent
from app.agent.models.models import TokenResearchPlan
from app.agent.utils.custom_agent_hooks import CustomAgentHooks
from app.config.agent_lore import MODEL, PLANNER_AGENT_INSTRUCTIONS, PLANNER_AGENT_NAME

PROMPT = (
    "You are a financial research planner. Given a request for financial analysis, "
    "produce a set of web searches to gather the context needed. Aim for recent "
    "headlines, earnings calls or 10‑K snippets, analyst commentary, and industry background. "
    "Output between 5 and 15 search terms to query for."
)

planner_agent = Agent(
    name=PLANNER_AGENT_NAME,
    instructions=PROMPT,
    model=MODEL,
)

I am calling the manager from an REST endpoint:

from fastapi import APIRouter
from app.models.prompt_request import PromptRequest
from app.agent.manager import Manager

router = APIRouter()


@router.post("/query")
async def query(request: PromptRequest):
    manager = Manager()
    await manager.run(request.prompt)

Error Stacktrace:

2025-04-25 21:18:53,356 - app.main - INFO - 🚀 Server initialization in progress...
2025-04-25 21:18:53,356 - app.main - INFO - main.py:35 - 🚀 Server initialization in progress...
INFO:     Started server process [11063]
INFO:     Waiting for application startup.
INFO:     Application startup complete.
ERROR:    Exception in ASGI application
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/harsh/.cache/pypoetry/virtualenvs/token-insights-server-htZV3EOI-py3.10/lib/python3.10/site-packages/uvicorn/protocols/http/h11_impl.py", line 403, in run_asgi
    result = await app(  # type: ignore[func-returns-value]
  File "/home/harsh/.cache/pypoetry/virtualenvs/token-insights-server-htZV3EOI-py3.10/lib/python3.10/site-packages/uvicorn/middleware/proxy_headers.py", line 60, in __call__
    return await self.app(scope, receive, send)
  File "/home/harsh/.cache/pypoetry/virtualenvs/token-insights-server-htZV3EOI-py3.10/lib/python3.10/site-packages/fastapi/applications.py", line 1054, in __call__
    await super().__call__(scope, receive, send)
  File "/home/harsh/.cache/pypoetry/virtualenvs/token-insights-server-htZV3EOI-py3.10/lib/python3.10/site-packages/starlette/applications.py", line 112, in __call__
    await self.middleware_stack(scope, receive, send)
  File "/home/harsh/.cache/pypoetry/virtualenvs/token-insights-server-htZV3EOI-py3.10/lib/python3.10/site-packages/starlette/middleware/errors.py", line 187, in __call__
    raise exc
  File "/home/harsh/.cache/pypoetry/virtualenvs/token-insights-server-htZV3EOI-py3.10/lib/python3.10/site-packages/starlette/middleware/errors.py", line 165, in __call__
    await self.app(scope, receive, _send)
  File "/home/harsh/.cache/pypoetry/virtualenvs/token-insights-server-htZV3EOI-py3.10/lib/python3.10/site-packages/starlette/middleware/cors.py", line 85, in __call__
    await self.app(scope, receive, send)
  File "/home/harsh/.cache/pypoetry/virtualenvs/token-insights-server-htZV3EOI-py3.10/lib/python3.10/site-packages/starlette/middleware/exceptions.py", line 62, in __call__
    await wrap_app_handling_exceptions(self.app, conn)(scope, receive, send)
  File "/home/harsh/.cache/pypoetry/virtualenvs/token-insights-server-htZV3EOI-py3.10/lib/python3.10/site-packages/starlette/_exception_handler.py", line 53, in wrapped_app
    raise exc
  File "/home/harsh/.cache/pypoetry/virtualenvs/token-insights-server-htZV3EOI-py3.10/lib/python3.10/site-packages/starlette/_exception_handler.py", line 42, in wrapped_app
    await app(scope, receive, sender)
  File "/home/harsh/.cache/pypoetry/virtualenvs/token-insights-server-htZV3EOI-py3.10/lib/python3.10/site-packages/starlette/routing.py", line 714, in __call__
    await self.middleware_stack(scope, receive, send)
  File "/home/harsh/.cache/pypoetry/virtualenvs/token-insights-server-htZV3EOI-py3.10/lib/python3.10/site-packages/starlette/routing.py", line 734, in app
    await route.handle(scope, receive, send)
  File "/home/harsh/.cache/pypoetry/virtualenvs/token-insights-server-htZV3EOI-py3.10/lib/python3.10/site-packages/starlette/routing.py", line 288, in handle
    await self.app(scope, receive, send)
  File "/home/harsh/.cache/pypoetry/virtualenvs/token-insights-server-htZV3EOI-py3.10/lib/python3.10/site-packages/starlette/routing.py", line 76, in app
    await wrap_app_handling_exceptions(app, request)(scope, receive, send)
  File "/home/harsh/.cache/pypoetry/virtualenvs/token-insights-server-htZV3EOI-py3.10/lib/python3.10/site-packages/starlette/_exception_handler.py", line 53, in wrapped_app
    raise exc
  File "/home/harsh/.cache/pypoetry/virtualenvs/token-insights-server-htZV3EOI-py3.10/lib/python3.10/site-packages/starlette/_exception_handler.py", line 42, in wrapped_app
    await app(scope, receive, sender)
  File "/home/harsh/.cache/pypoetry/virtualenvs/token-insights-server-htZV3EOI-py3.10/lib/python3.10/site-packages/starlette/routing.py", line 73, in app
    response = await f(request)
  File "/home/harsh/.cache/pypoetry/virtualenvs/token-insights-server-htZV3EOI-py3.10/lib/python3.10/site-packages/fastapi/routing.py", line 301, in app
    raw_response = await run_endpoint_function(
  File "/home/harsh/.cache/pypoetry/virtualenvs/token-insights-server-htZV3EOI-py3.10/lib/python3.10/site-packages/fastapi/routing.py", line 212, in run_endpoint_function
    return await dependant.call(**values)
  File "/home/harsh/git/aarkus/backend/token-insights-server/app/api/routes/query.py", line 11, in query
    await manager.run(request.prompt)
  File "/home/harsh/git/aarkus/backend/token-insights-server/app/agent/manager.py", line 54, in run
    research_plan = await self.__plan_research(query=query)
  File "/home/harsh/git/aarkus/backend/token-insights-server/app/agent/manager.py", line 60, in __plan_research
    result = await Runner.run(planner_agent, f"Query: {query}")
  File "/home/harsh/.cache/pypoetry/virtualenvs/token-insights-server-htZV3EOI-py3.10/lib/python3.10/site-packages/agents/run.py", line 186, in run
    handoff_names = [h.agent_name for h in cls._get_handoffs(current_agent)]
  File "/home/harsh/.cache/pypoetry/virtualenvs/token-insights-server-htZV3EOI-py3.10/lib/python3.10/site-packages/agents/run.py", line 945, in _get_handoffs
    for handoff_item in agent.handoffs:
AttributeError: module 'app.agent.agents.planner_agent' has no attribute 'handoffs'
2025-04-25 21:18:58,820 - httpx - INFO - HTTP Request: POST https://api.openai.com/v1/traces/ingest "HTTP/1.1 204 No Content"
2025-04-25 21:18:58,820 - httpx - INFO - _client.py:1025 - HTTP Request: POST https://api.openai.com/v1/traces/ingest "HTTP/1.1 204 No Content"

Any help will be greateful

[harshrpg]

I found my issue. It was the way I was importing my planner_agent.

Instead of

from app.agent.agents.planner_agent import planner_agent

I was doing

from app.agent.agents import planner_agent

Closing this issue