Multi-agent orchestration is one of the most challenging parts of Agent Harness design — when more than one agent exists in a system, their communication and collaboration patterns must be defined. The industry has identified four general orchestration patterns. Sequential Pipeline: Agent A's output is Agent B's input, processed sequentially until the final deliverable is produced. Suitable for production lines with clear dependency chains, like FIIT.AI's 4-agent morning flow. Routing Dispatch: an Orchestrator Agent receives tasks and distributes to different Specialist Agents based on task type. Suitable for customer service systems (intent recognition → dispatch → processing → feedback). Broadcast Aggregation: the Orchestrator sends the same task to multiple agents simultaneously, collecting all replies for aggregation/voting. Suitable for scenarios requiring multiple perspectives, like code review (multiple agents review independently → merge results). Mesh Collaboration: agents discover and communicate freely without a central coordinator, similar to microservice architecture. Suitable for large systems with many agents and dynamic collaboration relationships.
In the Agent Harness course, the choice of orchestration pattern directly determines system complexity, fault tolerance, and scalability. The core recommendation: start with sequential pipeline — the easiest to understand and debug. Upgrade to routing dispatch when the business needs multiple unrelated agents handling the same task. Only introduce broadcast aggregation or mesh collaboration when system scale exceeds 5 agents and collaboration relationships become complex. The course also identifies a common architectural pitfall: introducing complex orchestration patterns too early in the design phase. The right approach is evolutionary — first get two agents collaborating sequentially, then add routing logic as needed.