Multi-agent orchestration: when it makes sense and when it does not

More agents is not better. Coordination patterns that reduce latency and errors in complex flows.

The temptation to split everything into micro-agents is strong. In practice, every handoff between agents introduces latency, context loss, and failure points.

We use multi-agent only when there are clearly separated domains with stable interfaces: an extraction agent, a validation agent, and an action agent. Never more than three in a chain.

For most cases, a single agent with well-designed tools outperforms a poorly coordinated swarm.