Multi-Agent Architecture Patterns

Distribute work across multiple LM instances w/ isolated context windows. Sub-agents exist to isolate context, not to anthropomorphize roles.

When to Activate

• Single-agent context limits constrain task complexity
• Tasks decompose into parallel subtasks
• Different subtasks need different tools | system prompts
• Building multi-domain agent systems

Core Concepts

Three patterns: supervisor/orchestrator (centralized), peer-to-peer/swarm (flexible handoffs), hierarchical (layered abstraction). Key principle: context isolation — sub-agents partition context, not simulate org roles. Requires explicit coordination protocols & consensus mechanisms avoiding sycophancy.

Token Economics