{ "schema": "aiblocks-page/1", "id": "agency-engineering-multi-agent-systems-architect", "type": "agent", "name": "Multi-agent system architect", "summary": "Design a team of AI agents that holds up in real use, with each agent's job, limits, failure plan and the points where a person signs off.", "headline": "Multi-agent system architect", "subhead": "Describe the job you want a team of AI agents to do and the tools and data they could touch. It designs who does what, what each agent may access, what happens when one fails and where a person must approve. You get a design to review before anyone builds it.", "job": { "id": "set-up-ai", "name": "Set up AI to work for you" }, "level": "intermediate", "thinking": "high", "tested": true, "updated": "2026-11-03", "first_published": "2026-10-26", "inputs": [ { "type": "question", "required": true, "label": "Question", "what": "the problem, decision or piece of work you want help with, and what a good outcome looks like" }, { "type": "source_text", "required": false, "label": "Source text", "what": "a long source in full: an article, a video or talk transcript, or notes from a book, with its title, author and link" } ], "outputs": [ { "type": "plan", "required": true, "label": "Plan", "what": "a dated plan: what to do, in what order, with a decision rule for each step" } ], "you_give": [ "The job the agent team must do, in plain words, and what a good result looks like.", "The agents or roles you have in mind, if any (optional)", "The tools and data each step may need, such as email, a database or web search.", "Which actions cannot be undone, such as sending email, paying or deleting data.", "How much work it must handle and how fast, such as 50 requests a day (optional)", "The AI tools or framework you use, if you know (optional)" ], "you_get": [ "A pipeline map that names the shape and why it fits.", "A contract for each agent with what it receives, makes, may use and is not responsible for.", "A permission table showing which agent can use which tool and data.", "A failure table with a recovery path for each step, ending with a person.", "A list of approval points, and a log and test plan to check it before launch." ], "use_when": [ "You plan to chain several AI agents, such as research, write and review, and want to know where it could break.", "Your agent demo works but gives odd results on messy real input.", "You have to decide which agents may send email, edit data or spend money, and which need a person's approval.", "An agent team gave a wrong answer and you cannot tell which agent caused it." ], "skip_when": [ "You use one AI with one prompt and no handoffs. Use the Prompt engineer.", "You want a team of agents to build software for you. Use the AI agent team planner.", "You need deep design of agent identity, signed permissions and tamper-proof logs. Use the AI agent identity designer.", "You want to plan a tool server so your AI can use an app. Use the MCP server planner.", "You want it to run, test or monitor your agents. It writes the design. Your developers build and test it." ], "output_sample": { "input": [ "The job the agent team must do and what a good result looks like", "The tools and data each step may need", "Actions that cannot be undone", "The agents or roles you have in mind, and your framework (optional)" ], "prerequisites": [ "A developer to build and test the design. This agent only plans." ], "output": [ { "name": "Pipeline map", "contains": "The chosen shape, why it fits, and how the agents connect." }, { "name": "Agent contracts", "contains": "For each agent, what it receives, makes, may use and must not do." }, { "name": "Permission table", "contains": "Which agent may use which tool or data, and what is read-only or denied." }, { "name": "Context plan", "contains": "What passes between agents, what stays word for word and what happens if it does not fit." }, { "name": "Failure and recovery table", "contains": "Each way a step can fail, how you would spot it and the recovery path." }, { "name": "Approval points", "contains": "The actions a person must approve, and what happens if no one answers." }, { "name": "Logs, tests and cost", "contains": "What to record per call, the tests to pass before launch and a cost cap per run." }, { "name": "Gaps and checks", "contains": "Missing facts and open choices, with who should decide each." } ] }, "output_shape": "SCOPE\n Job | Constraints | Irreversible actions | Assumptions \n\nPIPELINE MAP\n | | to to \n\nAGENT CONTRACTS\n | Receives | Makes | Not responsible for | Tools | Context limit \n\nPERMISSION TABLE\n | | \n\nCONTEXT PLAN\n | | | \n\nFAILURE AND RECOVERY TABLE\n | | | \n\nAPPROVAL POINTS\n | | \n\nLOGS, TESTS AND COST\n | | \n\nGAPS AND CHECKS\n | | ", "how_to_use": [ "Download the pack and add it to your AI as a skill. If you cannot, paste SKILL.md into a new chat, then paste references/source-agent.md.", "Write the job, the steps you imagine, the tools and data each step needs, and the actions that cannot be undone. No code access is needed.", "Type \"Design this agent team. Draw the pipeline first. List how each step can fail. Mark every assumption.\"", "Read the failure table first. For each step ask \"what happens if this returns nothing or nonsense?\" and fix any gap.", "Check the permission table. If an agent has a tool it does not need, remove it.", "Give the design to a developer. They build it and run the test cases. The AI does not run any agent." ], "checks": [ "The result addresses your actual task and cites the evidence used.", "Examples, role-play experience and targets are kept separate from verified results.", "Claims of tests, memory, tool access or completed actions match what actually happened." ], "next": [], "source": { "by": "Michael Sitarzewski and Agency Agents contributors", "repo": "msitarzewski/agency-agents", "url": "https://github.com/msitarzewski/agency-agents/blob/b37b5bb33b78f2c1d6567d98e25ca818e3259219/engineering/engineering-multi-agent-systems-architect.md", "licence": "MIT", "original_name": "Multi-Agent Systems Architect", "commit": "b37b5bb33b78f2c1d6567d98e25ca818e3259219" }, "credits": [ { "title": "Multi-Agent Systems Architect", "by": "Michael Sitarzewski and Agency Agents contributors", "url": "https://github.com/msitarzewski/agency-agents/blob/b37b5bb33b78f2c1d6567d98e25ca818e3259219/engineering/engineering-multi-agent-systems-architect.md", "used": "Original agent profile, preserved in references/source-agent.md; AI Blocks adds setup and review instructions." } ], "files": [ "LICENSE", "references/source-agent.md", "SETUP.md", "source.json" ], "links": { "page": "https://useaiblocks.com/agents/agency-engineering-multi-agent-systems-architect", "markdown": "https://useaiblocks.com/agents/agency-engineering-multi-agent-systems-architect.md", "json": "https://useaiblocks.com/agents/agency-engineering-multi-agent-systems-architect.json", "instructions": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/agency-engineering-multi-agent-systems-architect/SKILL.md", "download": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/agency-engineering-multi-agent-systems-architect.zip", "api_item": "https://useaiblocks.com/api/v1/items/agency-engineering-multi-agent-systems-architect", "api_document": "https://useaiblocks.com/api/v1/documents/agent/agency-engineering-multi-agent-systems-architect", "mcp": "https://useaiblocks.com/mcp" } }