Agent Swarm Orchestrator

This skill provides guidance for designing multi-agent systems where multiple AI agents coordinate to accomplish complex tasks through distributed execution and emergent behavior.

Core Competencies

• Swarm Architecture: Agent topologies, communication patterns
• Task Distribution: Work allocation, load balancing
• Coordination Protocols: Consensus, voting, delegation
• Emergent Behavior: Collective intelligence from simple rules

Multi-Agent Fundamentals

Why Multi-Agent Systems

Single Agent:                    Multi-Agent Swarm:
┌─────────────────┐             ┌─────────────────────────────┐
│                 │             │  ┌───┐ ┌───┐ ┌───┐ ┌───┐   │
│   One Agent     │             │  │ A │ │ A │ │ A │ │ A │   │
│   Sequential    │     vs      │  └───┘ └───┘ └───┘ └───┘   │
│   Single POV    │             │  Parallel, Diverse POV     │
│                 │             │  Specialization possible    │
└─────────────────┘             └─────────────────────────────┘

Benefits:
- Parallelism: Multiple agents work simultaneously
- Specialization: Agents can have different capabilities
- Resilience: System continues if one agent fails
- Diverse perspectives: Multiple approaches to problems

Agent Roles

Role	Responsibility	Characteristics
Orchestrator	Coordinate swarm	Global view, task assignment
Worker	Execute tasks	Specialized skills, focused
Supervisor	Quality control	Review, approve, redirect
Specialist	Domain expertise	Deep knowledge, narrow scope
Scout	Exploration	Information gathering, research

Swarm Topologies

Hierarchical

                    ┌──────────────┐
                    │ Orchestrator │
                    └──────┬───────┘
                           │
          ┌────────────────┼────────────────┐
          │                │                │
    ┌─────┴─────┐    ┌─────┴─────┐    ┌─────┴─────┐
    │Supervisor │    │Supervisor │    │Supervisor │
    └─────┬─────┘    └─────┬─────┘    └─────┬─────┘
          │                │                │
    ┌─────┼─────┐    ┌─────┼─────┐    ┌─────┼─────┐
    │     │     │    │     │     │    │     │     │
   ┌┴┐   ┌┴┐   ┌┴┐  ┌┴┐   ┌┴┐   ┌┴┐  ┌┴┐   ┌┴┐   ┌┴┐
   │W│   │W│   │W│  │W│   │W│   │W│  │W│   │W│   │W│
   └─┘   └─┘   └─┘  └─┘   └─┘   └─┘  └─┘   └─┘   └─┘
         Workers

Best for: Clear task decomposition, quality control needed

Peer-to-Peer

        ┌───┐───────────────┌───┐
        │ A │               │ A │
        └───┘               └───┘
          │ \             / │
          │   \         /   │
          │     \     /     │
          │       \ /       │
        ┌───┐     ╳       ┌───┐
        │ A │   /   \     │ A │
        └───┘ /       \   └───┘
            /           \
        ┌───┐           ┌───┐
        │ A │───────────│ A │
        └───┘           └───┘

Best for: Collaborative problem-solving, no single point of failure

Blackboard

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     Blackboard                       │
│  ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ ┌───────────────┐ │
│  │ Problem     │ │ Partial     │ │ Solutions     │ │
│  │ State       │ │ Results     │ │               │ │
│  └─────────────┘ └─────────────┘ └───────────────┘ │
└───────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┘
                        │
    ┌───────────────────┼───────────────────┐
    │         Read/Write│                   │
    ▼                   ▼                   ▼
┌───────┐          ┌───────┐          ┌───────┐
│Agent A│          │Agent B│          │Agent C│
│Analyst│          │Builder│          │Critic │
└───────┘          └───────┘          └───────┘

Best for: Complex problems, agents contribute asynchronously

Agent Implementation

Base Agent Structure

from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
from dataclasses import dataclass, field
from typing import Any, Optional, List
from enum import Enum
import asyncio

class AgentStatus(Enum):
    IDLE = "idle"
    WORKING = "working"
    WAITING = "waiting"
    COMPLETED = "completed"
    FAILED = "failed"

@dataclass
class AgentMessage:
    sender_id: str
    recipient_id: str  # Or "broadcast"
    message_type: str
    content: Any
    timestamp: float = field(default_factory=lambda: time.time())
    correlation_id: Optional[str] = None

@dataclass
class Task:
    id: str
    description: str
    priority: int = 0
    dependencies: List[str] = field(default_factory=list)
    assigned_to: Optional[str] = None
    status: str = "pending"
    result: Any = None


class BaseAgent(ABC):
    """Base class for swarm agents"""

    def __init__(self, agent_id: str, capabilities: List[str]):
        self.id = agent_id
        self.capabilities = capabilities
        self.status = AgentStatus.IDLE
        self.message_queue: asyncio.Queue = asyncio.Queue()
        self.current_task: Optional[Task] = None

    @abstractmethod
    async def process_task(self, task: Task) -> Any:
        """Process assigned task - implement in subclass"""
        pass

    @abstractmethod
    def can_handle(self, task: Task) -> bool:
        """Check if agent can handle this task type"""
        pass

    async def receive_message(self, message: AgentMessage):
        """Add message to queue for processing"""
        await self.message_queue.put(message)

    async def run(self):
        """Main agent loop"""
        while True:
            # Check for messages
            try:
                message = await asyncio.wait_for(
                    self.message_queue.get(),
                    timeout=0.1
                )
                await self._handle_message(message)
            except asyncio.TimeoutError:
                pass

            # Work on current task
            if self.current_task and self.status == AgentStatus.WORKING:
                await self._work_on_task()

    async def _handle_message(self, message: AgentMessage):
        """Handle incoming message"""
        if message.message_type == "assign_task":
            self.current_task = message.content
            self.status = AgentStatus.WORKING
        elif message.message_type == "cancel_task":
            self.current_task = None
            self.status = AgentStatus.IDLE
        elif message.message_type == "status_request":
            await self._send_status(message.sender_id)

    async def _work_on_task(self):
        """Execute current task"""
        try:
            result = await self.process_task(self.current_task)
            self.current_task.result = result
            self.current_task.status = "completed"
            self.status = AgentStatus.COMPLETED
        except Exception as e:
            self.current_task.status = "failed"
            self.status = AgentStatus.FAILED

Specialized Agents

class ResearchAgent(BaseAgent):
    """Agent specialized for information gathering"""

    def __init__(self, agent_id: str):
        super().__init__(agent_id, ["research", "search", "analyze"])
        self.search_tools = []

    def can_handle(self, task: Task) -> bool:
        return any(cap in task.description.lower()
                   for cap in ["research", "find", "search", "investigate"])

    async def process_task(self, task: Task) -> dict:
        # Research implementation
        results = await self._search(task.description)
        analysis = await self._analyze(results)
        return {
            "sources": results,
            "analysis": analysis,
            "confidence": self._calculate_confidence(results)
        }


class CodeAgent(BaseAgent):
    """Agent specialized for code generation"""

    def __init__(self, agent_id: str):
        super().__init__(agent_id, ["code", "implement", "debug"])

    def can_handle(self, task: Task) -> bool:
        return any(cap in task.description.lower()
                   for cap in ["implement", "code", "write", "fix", "debug"])

    async def process_task(self, task: Task) -> dict:
        # Code generation implementation
        code = await self._generate_code(task.description)
        tests = await self._generate_tests(code)
        return {
            "code": code,
            "tests": tests,
            "language": self._detect_language(code)
        }


class ReviewAgent(BaseAgent):
    """Agent specialized for quality review"""

    def __init__(self, agent_id: str):
        super().__init__(agent_id, ["review", "critique", "approve"])

    def can_handle(self, task: Task) -> bool:
        return "review" in task.description.lower()

    async def process_task(self, task: Task) -> dict:
        artifact = task.content  # What to review
        issues = await self._find_issues(artifact)
        suggestions = await self._generate_suggestions(issues)
        return {
            "approved": len(issues) == 0,
            "issues": issues,
            "suggestions": suggestions
        }

Orchestration Patterns

Task-Based Orchestration

class SwarmOrchestrator:
    """Coordinate agent swarm for task completion"""

    def __init__(self):
        self.agents: dict[str, BaseAgent] = {}
        self.task_queue: asyncio.PriorityQueue = asyncio.PriorityQueue()
        self.completed_tasks: dict[str, Task] = {}
        self.message_bus = MessageBus()

    def register_agent(self, agent: BaseAgent):
        """Add agent to swarm"""
        self.agents[agent.id] = agent

    async def submit_task(self, task: Task):
        """Submit task for processing"""
        # Calculate effective priority (lower = higher priority)
        priority = -task.priority  # Negate for min-heap behavior
        await self.task_queue.put((priority, task))

    async def run(self):
        """Main orchestration loop"""
        while True:
            # Get highest priority task
            _, task = await self.task_queue.get()

            # Check dependencies
            if not self._dependencies_met(task):
                # Re-queue with lower priority
                await self.task_queue.put((1, task))
                continue

            # Find suitable agent
            agent = await self._find_available_agent(task)
            if agent:
                await self._assign_task(agent, task)
            else:
                # No agent available, re-queue
                await asyncio.sleep(0.1)
                await self.task_queue.put((0, task))

    def _dependencies_met(self, task: Task) -> bool:
        """Check if all dependencies are completed"""
        for dep_id in task.dependencies:
            if dep_id not in self.completed_tasks:
                return False
            if self.completed_tasks[dep_id].status != "completed":
                return False
        return True

    async def _find_available_agent(self, task: Task) -> Optional[BaseAgent]:
        """Find an idle agent that can handle the task"""
        for agent in self.agents.values():
            if agent.status == AgentStatus.IDLE and agent.can_handle(task):
                return agent
        return None

    async def _assign_task(self, agent: BaseAgent, task: Task):
        """Assign task to agent"""
        task.assigned_to = agent.id
        task.status = "assigned"

        message = AgentMessage(
            sender_id="orchestrator",
            recipient_id=agent.id,
            message_type="assign_task",
            content=task
        )
        await agent.receive_message(message)

Workflow Orchestration

from dataclasses import dataclass
from typing import Callable, List

@dataclass
class WorkflowStep:
    name: str
    agent_type: str
    input_transform: Callable[[dict], dict] = lambda x: x
    required_approval: bool = False

class WorkflowOrchestrator:
    """Execute multi-step workflows with agent swarm"""

    def __init__(self, swarm: SwarmOrchestrator):
        self.swarm = swarm
        self.workflows: dict[str, List[WorkflowStep]] = {}

    def register_workflow(self, name: str, steps: List[WorkflowStep]):
        """Register a multi-step workflow"""
        self.workflows[name] = steps

    async def execute_workflow(
        self,
        workflow_name: str,
        initial_input: dict
    ) -> dict:
        """Execute workflow through agent swarm"""
        steps = self.workflows[workflow_name]
        current_data = initial_input
        results = []

        for i, step in enumerate(steps):
            # Transform input for this step
            step_input = step.input_transform(current_data)

            # Create task
            task = Task(
                id=f"{workflow_name}_{i}_{step.name}",
                description=f"Execute {step.name}",
                context=step_input
            )

            # Submit and wait for completion
            await self.swarm.submit_task(task)
            result = await self._wait_for_completion(task.id)

            # Handle approval if required
            if step.required_approval:
                approved = await self._request_approval(step, result)
                if not approved:
                    return {"status": "rejected", "step": step.name}

            results.append(result)
            current_data = {**current_data, **result}

        return {
            "status": "completed",
            "results": results,
            "final_output": current_data
        }

Inter-Agent Communication

Message Patterns

class MessageBus:
    """Central message routing for swarm communication"""

    def __init__(self):
        self.subscribers: dict[str, List[BaseAgent]] = {}
        self.message_history: List[AgentMessage] = []

    def subscribe(self, topic: str, agent: BaseAgent):
        """Subscribe agent to topic"""
        if topic not in self.subscribers:
            self.subscribers[topic] = []
        self.subscribers[topic].append(agent)

    async def publish(self, topic: str, message: AgentMessage):
        """Publish message to topic subscribers"""
        self.message_history.append(message)

        for agent in self.subscribers.get(topic, []):
            if agent.id != message.sender_id:  # Don't send to self
                await agent.receive_message(message)

    async def send_direct(self, message: AgentMessage):
        """Send message to specific agent"""
        # Route to recipient
        pass

    async def broadcast(self, message: AgentMessage):
        """Broadcast to all agents"""
        for topic_subscribers in self.subscribers.values():
            for agent in topic_subscribers:
                if agent.id != message.sender_id:
                    await agent.receive_message(message)

Consensus Protocol

class ConsensusProtocol:
    """Achieve consensus among agents"""

    def __init__(self, agents: List[BaseAgent], threshold: float = 0.66):
        self.agents = agents
        self.threshold = threshold

    async def vote(self, proposal: Any) -> dict:
        """Collect votes from agents"""
        votes = {}

        for agent in self.agents:
            message = AgentMessage(
                sender_id="consensus",
                recipient_id=agent.id,
                message_type="vote_request",
                content=proposal
            )
            response = await self._request_vote(agent, message)
            votes[agent.id] = response

        return self._tally_votes(votes)

    def _tally_votes(self, votes: dict) -> dict:
        """Calculate consensus result"""
        approve_count = sum(1 for v in votes.values() if v.get("approve"))
        total = len(votes)

        consensus_reached = (approve_count / total) >= self.threshold

        return {
            "consensus_reached": consensus_reached,
            "approve_count": approve_count,
            "reject_count": total - approve_count,
            "threshold": self.threshold,
            "votes": votes
        }

Emergent Behavior

Stigmergy Pattern

Indirect coordination through environment modification:

class SharedWorkspace:
    """Shared environment for stigmergic coordination"""

    def __init__(self):
        self.artifacts: dict[str, Any] = {}
        self.pheromones: dict[str, float] = {}  # Strength indicators
        self.decay_rate = 0.1

    def deposit(self, key: str, artifact: Any, strength: float = 1.0):
        """Add artifact to shared space"""
        self.artifacts[key] = artifact
        self.pheromones[key] = strength

    def sense(self, pattern: str) -> List[tuple[str, Any, float]]:
        """Find artifacts matching pattern"""
        matches = []
        for key, artifact in self.artifacts.items():
            if pattern in key:
                strength = self.pheromones.get(key, 0)
                matches.append((key, artifact, strength))
        return sorted(matches, key=lambda x: -x[2])  # Highest strength first

    def decay(self):
        """Reduce pheromone strengths over time"""
        for key in self.pheromones:
            self.pheromones[key] *= (1 - self.decay_rate)
            if self.pheromones[key] < 0.01:
                del self.pheromones[key]
                del self.artifacts[key]

    def reinforce(self, key: str, amount: float = 0.1):
        """Strengthen pheromone trail"""
        if key in self.pheromones:
            self.pheromones[key] = min(1.0, self.pheromones[key] + amount)

Ant Colony Optimization

class AntColonyTaskAllocator:
    """Allocate tasks using ant colony optimization"""

    def __init__(self, agents: List[BaseAgent], tasks: List[Task]):
        self.agents = agents
        self.tasks = tasks
        self.pheromones = {}  # (agent_id, task_id) -> strength
        self.alpha = 1.0  # Pheromone importance
        self.beta = 2.0   # Heuristic importance
        self.evaporation = 0.1

    def _calculate_probability(
        self,
        agent: BaseAgent,
        task: Task
    ) -> float:
        """Calculate probability of assigning task to agent"""
        key = (agent.id, task.id)

        # Pheromone component
        pheromone = self.pheromones.get(key, 0.1)

        # Heuristic: agent capability match
        heuristic = 1.0 if agent.can_handle(task) else 0.1

        return (pheromone ** self.alpha) * (heuristic ** self.beta)

    def allocate(self) -> dict[str, str]:
        """Generate task allocation"""
        allocation = {}
        available_tasks = set(t.id for t in self.tasks)

        for agent in self.agents:
            if not available_tasks:
                break

            # Calculate probabilities for available tasks
            probs = {}
            for task in self.tasks:
                if task.id in available_tasks:
                    probs[task.id] = self._calculate_probability(agent, task)

            # Normalize and select
            total = sum(probs.values())
            if total > 0:
                selected = self._weighted_choice(probs, total)
                allocation[agent.id] = selected
                available_tasks.remove(selected)

        return allocation

    def update_pheromones(self, allocation: dict, quality: dict):
        """Update pheromones based on solution quality"""
        # Evaporation
        for key in self.pheromones:
            self.pheromones[key] *= (1 - self.evaporation)

        # Deposit based on quality
        for agent_id, task_id in allocation.items():
            key = (agent_id, task_id)
            deposit = quality.get(task_id, 0.1)
            self.pheromones[key] = self.pheromones.get(key, 0) + deposit

Best Practices

Design Guidelines

1. Keep agents simple: Complex behavior emerges from simple rules
2. Define clear interfaces: Message formats, task structures
3. Plan for failure: Agents will fail; system should continue
4. Monitor collective behavior: Individual agents may be fine but swarm stuck
5. Version coordination protocols: Agents may run different versions

Anti-Patterns to Avoid

• God orchestrator: One agent that does everything
• Chatty agents: Too much inter-agent communication
• Tight coupling: Agents depending on specific other agents
• Missing deadlines: No timeouts on task completion
• State explosion: Agents maintaining too much state

References

• references/swarm-topologies.md - Detailed topology patterns
• references/coordination-protocols.md - Consensus and voting algorithms
• references/emergent-patterns.md - Stigmergy and self-organization