Multi-Agent Orchestration

Purpose: Coordinate multiple specialized agents to solve tasks no single agent can handle reliably. Scope: Topologies, handoff protocols, framework selection, failure modes, anti-patterns.

When to Use This Skill

• Task spans multiple specialties (research + code + review) and a single agent loop loses focus
• Need explicit role separation for auditability or compliance
• Long-horizon tasks where one agent's context budget is insufficient
• Cross-organization agent communication (A2A protocol)

When NOT to Use Multi-Agent

• Single-domain task -- a well-prompted single agent is cheaper and more reliable
• Latency-sensitive (<1s) -- handoffs add round-trips
• Tasks solvable by tool calls alone -- prefer tool-use-and-function-calling