6 Multi-Agent Orchestration Design Patterns Every Developer Should Know

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A structured guide to six multi-agent AI orchestration design patterns: Sequential Pipeline, Parallel Fan-Out/Fan-In, Hierarchical Delegation, Consensus and Debate, Event-Driven Reactive, and Iterative Refinement Loops. Each pattern is explained with use cases, when to avoid it, and key tradeoffs. The post also covers shared state management (single-writer principle, optimistic vs. pessimistic concurrency), error categories with recovery strategies, and compensation actions for partial failures. A comparison table maps common workflows to recommended patterns, and the overall advice is to start simple and compose patterns only when needed.

15m read timeFrom build5nines.com
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Table of contents
The Cost of Ad-Hoc OrchestrationPattern 1: Sequential PipelinePattern 2: Parallel Fan-Out / Fan-InPattern 3: Hierarchical DelegationPattern 4: Consensus and DebatePattern 5: Event-Driven ReactivePattern 6: Iterative Refinement LoopsComparing the PatternsShared State and Error HandlingStart Simple, Compose as Needed
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