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Multi-turn conversation testing ensures your agent maintains context across multiple interactions. Use params.messages to establish conversation history and validate the agent’s response to the final message.

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Example

This example demonstrates how to test multi-turn conversations by passing a full conversation history via params.messages and validating that the agent uses context appropriately.

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Eval Configuration

evals.yaml
- name: eval_weather_advice
  description: Test agent uses weather data to provide appropriate advice
  runnable: agent.py::agent
  params:
    messages:
      - role: user
        content: "What's the weather like in New York?"
      - role: assistant
        content: "It's currently 15°C and raining in New York."
      - role: user
        content: "Should I bring an umbrella?"
  output:
    contains!: 
      value: "yes"
      transform: lowercase
  seq!:
    - llm
    # Only llm should be called
    # get_weather should not be called since context is available

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Agent Implementation

agent.py
from timbal import Agent

def get_weather(location: str) -> str:
    """Get current weather information for a specific location."""
    weather_data = {
        "New York": "15°C and raining",
        "London": "12°C and cloudy",
        "Tokyo": "22°C and sunny"
    }
    return weather_data.get(location, f"Weather data not available for {location}")

agent = Agent(
    name="weather_agent",
    model="openai/gpt-5.2",
    system_prompt="You are a helpful weather assistant.",
    tools=[get_weather],    
)

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Running Evaluations

python -m timbal.evals.cli evals.yaml

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How It Works

  1. Conversation History: The params.messages array establishes the full conversation history, including previous user messages and assistant responses.
  2. Context Usage: The agent receives the entire conversation history, so it can remember what was said in previous turns and answer accordingly.
  3. Output Validation: The output validator checks that the agent’s response contains the expected content (e.g., “yes” for the umbrella question).
  4. Sequence Validation: The seq! validator ensures the agent only calls llm and doesn’t unnecessarily call get_weather again, since the weather information is already available in the conversation history.

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Evaluation Results

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Successful Validation

When the agent remembers context and provides the correct response: 
──────────────────── Timbal Evals ────────────────────
collected 1 evals from 1 file

 PASSED  evals.yaml::eval_weather_advice [1.06s]
└── weather_agent
    ├── ✓ seq!
    │   └── llm
    └── ✓ output.contains! ("yes") ⤳ lowercase

============================= 1 passed in 1.06s ==============================

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Failed Validation

When the agent doesn’t use context or provides an incorrect response: 
──────────────────── Timbal Evals ────────────────────
collected 1 evals from 1 file

 FAILED  evals.yaml::eval_weather_advice [2.91s]
└── weather_agent
    ├── ✗ seq!
    │   └── llm
    └── ✗ output.contains! ("yes") ⤳ lowercase

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1 failed in 2.91s !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Key Features

  • Conversation History: Use params.messages to establish full conversation context
  • Context Memory: Agents receive the entire conversation history and can remember previous interactions
  • Sequence Validation: Use seq! to verify agents don’t call tools unnecessarily when context is available
  • Response Continuity: Ensure agents build logically on previous interactions