Multi-Agent Architecture Patterns

Multi-agent architectures distribute work across multiple language model instances, each with its own context window. When designed well, this distribution enables capabilities beyond single-agent limits. When designed poorly, it introduces coordination overhead that negates benefits. The critical insight is that sub-agents exist primarily to isolate context, not to anthropomorphize role division.

When to Activate

Activate this skill when:

• Single-agent context limits constrain task complexity
• Tasks decompose naturally into parallel subtasks
• Different subtasks require different tool sets or system prompts
• Building systems that must handle multiple domains simultaneously
• Scaling agent capabilities beyond single-context limits
• Designing production agent systems with multiple specialized components

Do not activate this skill for adjacent work owned by other skills:

• Deciding task-model fit, pipeline shape, or project-level cost before topology is known: project-development.
• Designing hosted sandboxes, warm pools, remote sessions, or background runtime infrastructure: hosted-agents.
• Sharing orchestrator state through KV-cache compaction in controlled runtimes: latent-briefing.
• Designing the tools each agent exposes: tool-design.