multi-agent-patterns

Provide guidence for parallel, sequential and debate execution strategies.

Sequential Analysis:

Command → Agent 1 → Agent 2 → Agent 3 → Synthesized Result

Parallel Analysis:

         ┌─ Agent 1 ─┐
Command ─┼─ Agent 2 ─┼─ Synthesized Result
         └─ Agent 3 ─┘

Debate Pattern:

Command → Agent 1 ─┐
       → Agent 2 ─┼─ Debate → Consensus → Result
       → Agent 3 ─┘

Processes

Sequential Execution Process

1. Load Plan: Read plan file and create TodoWrite with all tasks

2. Execute Task with Subagent: For each task, dispatch a fresh subagent:

   • Subagent reads the specific task from the plan

   • Implements exactly what the task specifies

   • Writes tests following project conventions

   • Verifies implementation works

   • Commits the work

   • Reports back with summary

3. Review Subagent's Work: Dispatch a code-reviewer subagent:

   • Reviews what was implemented against the plan

   • Returns: Strengths, Issues (Critical/Important/Minor), Assessment

   • Quality gate: Must pass before proceeding

4. Apply Review Feedback:

   • Fix Critical issues immediately (dispatch fix subagent)

   • Fix Important issues before next task

   • Note Minor issues for later

5. Mark Complete, Next Task: Update TodoWrite and proceed to next task

6. Final Review: After all tasks, dispatch final reviewer for overall assessment

7. Complete Development: Use finishing-a-development-branch skill to verify and close

Parallel Execution Process

1. Load and Review Plan: Read plan, identify concerns, create TodoWrite

2. Execute Batch: Execute first 3 tasks (default batch size):

   • Mark each as in_progress

   • Follow each step exactly

   • Run verifications as specified

   • Mark as completed

3. Report: Show what was implemented and verification output

4. Continue: Apply feedback if needed, execute next batch

5. Complete Development: Final verification and close

Parallel Investigation Process

For multiple unrelated failures (different files, subsystems, bugs):

1. Identify Independent Domains: Group failures by what is broken

2. Create Focused Agent Tasks: Each agent gets specific scope, clear goal, constraints

3. Dispatch in Parallel: All agents run concurrently

4. Review and Integrate: Verify fixes do not conflict, run full suite

Quality Gates

Quality gates are enforced at key checkpoints:

Checkpoint	Gate Type	Action on Failure
After each task (sequential)	Code review	Fix issues before next task
After batch (parallel)	Human review	Apply feedback, continue
Final review	Comprehensive review	Address all findings
Before merge	Full test suite	All tests must pass

Issue Severity Handling:

• Critical: Fix immediately, do not proceed until resolved

• Important: Fix before next task or batch

• Minor: Note for later, do not block progress

Why Multi-Agent Architectures

Problem	Solution
Context Bottleneck	Partition work across multiple context windows
Sequential Bottleneck	Parallelize independent subtasks across agents
Generalist Overhead	Specialize agents with lean, focused context

Architecture Patterns

Pattern	When to Use	Trade-offs
Supervisor/Orchestrator	Clear task decomposition, need human oversight	Central bottleneck, "telephone game" risk
Peer-to-Peer/Swarm	Flexible exploration, emergent requirements	Coordination complexity, divergence risk
Hierarchical	Large projects with layered abstraction	Overhead between layers, alignment challenges

Example of Implementation

Supervisor Pattern:
User Request → Supervisor → [Specialist A, B, C] → Aggregation → Output

Key Insight: Sub-agents exist to isolate context, not to anthropomorphize roles