Multi-agent routing and ops
Multi-Agent systems coordinate specialized agents through a Router, Supervisor Agent, Worker Agent roles, fallback paths, guardrails and tracing.
In plain terms
One agent can do everything badly. A supervisor can route a task to a research worker, a coding worker or a writing worker. Middleware and Callback hooks run around those steps, Tracing records every Run, and LangSmith helps debug and evaluate the system.
Why it matters
As workflows grow, you need separation of responsibility, safe fallback behavior, quality checks and observability. Without traces, a multi-agent failure is just a confusing final answer.
How it works
Use Agent Orchestration to coordinate the Workflow. A Coordinator Agent or Manager Agent assigns work; a Planner Agent creates plans; a Research Agent gathers information; an Executor Agent performs tasks; a Reviewer Agent checks quality; a Critic Agent finds weaknesses; a Worker Agent executes assigned subtasks. Delegation and Collaboration define how they share work. Add Router logic, Fallback behavior, Recovery Strategy, Scheduling, Monitoring, Logging, Observability, Guardrails, Middleware, Callback handlers, Tracing for every Run, LangSmith for debugging and Evaluation, plus Max Tokens and budget limits. Integration work connects these agents to real APIs and Deployment makes them available to users.
When you use it
Use multi-agent patterns when tasks naturally split by role or skill. Keep one agent when the job is simple.
Common mistakes
- Adding multiple agents before one agent works.
- No fallback path for failed tools or rate limits.
- No tracing, so nobody knows which worker caused the bad answer.
Best practices
- Start with router plus two workers, then grow only after measuring.
- Log every handoff and tool call.
- Evaluate each worker separately and the full workflow end to end.
Try it yourself
Create a Supervisor Agent that routes to a research Worker Agent or summarizer Worker Agent, records the Run in LangSmith-style traces, and uses Fallback behavior on tool failure.