---
title: Communication Evaluation
description: Test how an agent talks — tone, formality, verbosity, and technical level.
---

**Communication evaluation** tests whether an agent adapts its communication style to the audience and maintains consistent tone, formality, verbosity, and technical level.

## What it tests

- Does the agent use the right tone for the context?
- Is the formality level appropriate for the audience?
- Is verbosity calibrated (not too terse, not too wordy)?
- Does the technical level match the user's expertise?

## Scorer: `communication_style`

The `communication_style` scorer evaluates the agent's output against expected communication parameters:

```go
testcase.ScorerConfig{
    Name: "communication_style",
    Config: map[string]any{
        "expected_tone":      "professional",
        "formality_min":      0.6,
        "formality_max":      0.9,
        "verbosity_min":      0.3,
        "verbosity_max":      0.6,
        "technical_level_min": 0.7,
    },
}
```

## Scenario: `comms_adaptation`

The `comms_adaptation` scenario generator creates test cases that require the agent to adapt its communication style to different audiences:

```go
Case{
    ScenarioType: testcase.ScenarioCommsAdaptation,
    Input:        "Explain how database indexing works",
    Context: map[string]any{
        "audience":        "junior developer",
        "expected_tone":   "friendly",
        "technical_level": 0.4,
    },
}
```

## Communication parameters

| Parameter | Range | Description |
|-----------|-------|-------------|
| `Tone` | string | Descriptive label: `"professional"`, `"friendly"`, `"casual"` |
| `Formality` | 0.0 - 1.0 | Casual to formal spectrum |
| `Verbosity` | 0.0 - 1.0 | Terse to verbose spectrum |
| `TechnicalLevel` | 0.0 - 1.0 | Layperson to expert spectrum |

## Dimension score

```go
result.DimensionScores["communication"] // 0.0 to 1.0
```

## Use cases

- Verify a customer support agent uses friendly, low-tech language with end users
- Test that a technical lead communicates concisely with expert-level detail
- Ensure an agent adapts formality when switching between internal and external communications