Compose

MANDATORY PREPARATION

Invoke /agent-workflow — it contains workflow principles, anti-patterns, and the Context Gathering Protocol. Follow the protocol before proceeding — if no workflow context exists yet, you MUST run /teach-maestro first. Consult the agent-architecture reference in the agent-workflow skill for topology patterns and when multi-agent is justified.

Design a multi-agent system. But first — are you sure you need one?

Step 1: Pre-Composition Check

Answer these before proceeding:

1. Has a single agent been tried and failed? (If no, try single agent first)
2. What specific limitation requires multiple agents? (If you can't name it, you don't need multi-agent)
3. Is the cost/latency increase justified? (Multi-agent = 2-10x cost and latency)

If you can't articulate a specific limitation, use /amplify on the single agent instead.

Step 2: Design the Topology

Choose the right architecture pattern (consult the agent-architecture reference in the agent-workflow skill):

For each agent in the system, define:

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## Agent: [Name]
Role: [One sentence]
Responsibilities: [What it does]
Boundaries: [What it does NOT do]
Tools: [List of tools this agent has access to]
Input: [What it receives]
Output: [What it produces]

Step 3: Design Handoffs

For each agent-to-agent connection:

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## Handoff: [Agent A] → [Agent B]
Trigger: [When does A hand off to B?]
Payload: [What data is passed?]
Expected response: [What does A expect back?]
Timeout: [How long to wait?]
Failure handling: [What if B fails?]

Step 4: Design the Supervisor

Every multi-agent system needs a supervisor:

• Monitors agent health and performance
• Routes tasks to appropriate agents
• Handles failures and escalation
• Enforces global constraints (budget, time, quality)

Composition Checklist

• Each agent has a clear, non-overlapping role
• Handoff protocols are defined for every connection
• A supervisor pattern is in place
• Cost/latency budget accounts for all agents
• Failure modes are handled at every handoff point
• The system can be understood by reading the topology diagram

Recommended Next Step

After composition, run /fortify to add error handling at every handoff, then /evaluate to test the multi-agent system end-to-end.

NEVER:

• Build multi-agent for a problem a single agent can handle
• Create agents with overlapping responsibilities
• Skip the supervisor (autonomous swarms are unpredictable)
• Pass full context between all agents (pass only what's needed)
• Compose without defining handoff protocols