---
title: 'τ-bench: A Benchmark for Tool-Agent-User Interaction in Real-World Domains'
license: CC-BY-4.0
license_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
license_note: 'paper is CC BY 4.0 (verified on arXiv abs page 2026-11-11; icon by-4.0.png, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/); note is our own summary'
source: https://iinventedlight.com/library/notes/2406-12045-tau-bench.md
source_license: 'CC BY 4.0'
attribution: 'Summary by iinventedlight (AI-assisted). Source: Shunyu Yao, Noah Shinn, Pedram Razavi, Karthik Narasimhan, τ-bench: A Benchmark for Tool-Agent-User Interaction in Real-World Domains (CC BY 4.0).'
author: 'iinventedlight (AI-assisted)'
date: 2026-11-11
status: published
approved_by: "Cole Withington, 2026-11-11 20:58 PT, Grok Bot chat widget t1717s7407: \"Publish all 100 including the LLMs Encode Clinical Knowledge note\""
checked_on: 2026-11-11
as_of: 2026-11-11
confidence: medium
untested: 'Not reproduced. Abs page and HTML key sections read 2026-11-11. Named code URLs checked; code not run.'
category: arxiv
topic_area: 'ai-research: evals'
tags: arxiv, evals, agents, tools
arxiv_id: 2406.12045
alias: 2406.12045-tau-bench
sources:
  - id: S1
    title: 'τ-bench: A Benchmark for Tool-Agent-User Interaction in Real-World Domains'
    publisher: arXiv
    authors: 'Shunyu Yao, Noah Shinn, Pedram Razavi, Karthik Narasimhan'
    url: https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.12045
    version_read: 'v1 (17 Jun 2024)'
    accessed: 2026-11-11
    license: 'CC BY 4.0'
---
# τ-bench: A Benchmark for Tool-Agent-User Interaction in Real-World Domains

## Summary
τ-bench (tau-bench) is a benchmark for tool-using language agents in dynamic conversations with a simulated user, using domain-specific APIs and policy guidelines. The authors evaluate success by comparing the final database state with an annotated goal state, and they propose a pass^k metric for reliability across multiple trials. They report that even state-of-the-art function-calling agents such as gpt-4o succeed on less than 50% of the tasks, and that pass^8 is under 25% in retail. [S1]

## Claims
- id: C1
  claim: 'τ-bench emulates dynamic conversations between a simulated user and a tool-using agent.'
  source: S1
  evidence: "dynamic conversations between a user (simulated by language models)"
- id: C2
  claim: 'They report that even gpt-4o-style function calling agents succeed on less than 50% of the tasks.'
  source: S1
  evidence: "even state-of-the-art function calling agents (like gpt-4o) succeed on <50% of the tasks"
- id: C3
  claim: 'Code and data are pointed to a public GitHub repository.'
  source: S1
  evidence: "Code and data: https://github.com/sierra-research/tau-bench"

## Verification
- Code available: Paper: https://github.com/sierra-research/tau-bench, which returned HTTP 200 on 2026-11-11. Not run.
- Reproduced: not reproduced (2026-11-11). Code not run.
- Related work: Live notes 2305-15334-gorilla and 2402-01030-codeact. This is the paper-verification note for τ-bench itself.
- Limits: The headline reliability numbers are from the v1 paper (17 Jun 2024) and a specific retail split. Later models or prompts may change pass^k.
- License: CC BY 4.0 on the abs page (2026-11-11; icon by-4.0.png; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Submitted 17 Jun 2024 (v1). Sources: [S1] https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.12045, v1 (17 Jun 2024). checked_on: 2026-11-11.

## When to apply
Use when asking whether a tool-using agent follows domain rules consistently across trials, not only whether it can call an API once.

## Facts
- id: F1
  claim: 'τ-bench tests tool-using agents in multi-turn conversations with a simulated user and domain policy guidelines.'
  confidence: medium
  date: 2026-11-11
  sources: [S1]
  license: CC BY 4.0
- id: F2
  claim: 'The authors propose a pass^k metric for reliability over multiple trials.'
  confidence: medium
  date: 2026-11-11
  sources: [S1]
  license: CC BY 4.0
- id: F3
  claim: 'They report success under 50% for state-of-the-art function-calling agents, and pass^8 under 25% in retail.'
  confidence: medium
  date: 2026-11-11
  sources: [S1]
  license: CC BY 4.0

## Sources
- [S1] arXiv 2406.12045, https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.12045. License: CC BY 4.0. v1 (17 Jun 2024). Accessed 2026-11-11.

License: this note is CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Summary by iinventedlight (AI-assisted). Paper is CC BY 4.0.

---

Agents: [/agents.md](/agents.md) | [/.well-known/agent-library.json](/.well-known/agent-library.json).