Multi-Agent Orchestration

Overview

OrcBot’s multi-agent orchestration system enables parallel task execution by spawning isolated worker processes. Each worker is a full Agent instance that can execute tasks independently while coordinating with the main agent through IPC (Inter-Process Communication).

Multi-agent orchestration is ideal for parallelizing independent tasks, background research, or long-running operations that shouldn’t block the main agent.

Architecture

Key Components

AgentOrchestrator (src/core/AgentOrchestrator.ts) - Manages worker lifecycle
AgentWorker (src/core/AgentWorker.ts) - Worker process wrapper
WorkerProfileManager (src/core/WorkerProfile.ts) - Worker metadata and persistence
MessageBus - IPC communication channel

Spawning Workers

Using spawn_agent Skill

string

required

Unique identifier for the worker agent

string

default:"worker"

Agent type: worker (isolated process) or peer (network agent)

object

Optional configuration overrides for the worker

Example:

{
  "skillName": "spawn_agent",
  "name": "researcher",
  "type": "worker",
  "config": {
    "modelName": "gpt-4o",
    "maxStepsPerAction": 20
  }
}

Using delegate_task Skill

string

required

Task description to delegate

number

default:"5"

Task priority (1-10)

string

Specific worker name, or omit for auto-assignment

Example:

{
  "skillName": "delegate_task",
  "task": "Research the latest developments in quantum computing and summarize findings",
  "priority": 8,
  "targetAgent": "researcher"
}

Worker Lifecycle

Spawn

Main agent calls spawn_agent with a unique name and optional config.

orcbot push "Spawn a researcher agent for background tasks"

The orchestrator forks a new Node.js process running AgentWorker.ts.

Initialize

Worker loads its own Agent instance with shared or custom configuration.Worker has access to:

All core skills
Shared memory (read-only for safety)
Its own action queue
IPC channel to main agent

Execute

Worker processes tasks from its queue autonomously.

// Worker executes independently
worker.processAction({
  actionId: "research-task-1",
  task: "Find latest AI papers",
  priority: 8
});

Report

Worker sends results back to main agent via IPC.

worker.sendMessage({
  type: "task_complete",
  taskId: "research-task-1",
  result: "Found 5 relevant papers..."
});

Cleanup

Worker terminates after task completion or timeout.The orchestrator cleans up resources and removes the worker profile.

Monitoring Workers

In the TUI

orcbot ui

Navigate to Worker Processes to see:

Worker name and PID
Current status (idle, busy, error)
Task queue depth
Memory usage
Uptime

Using orchestrator_status Skill

{
  "skillName": "orchestrator_status"
}

Response:

{
  "activeWorkers": 2,
  "workers": [
    {
      "name": "researcher",
      "pid": 12345,
      "status": "busy",
      "queueDepth": 3,
      "uptime": "00:05:23"
    },
    {
      "name": "scraper",
      "pid": 12346,
      "status": "idle",
      "queueDepth": 0,
      "uptime": "00:02:15"
    }
  ]
}

Inter-Agent Communication

Sending Messages

string

required

Name of the worker to message

string

required

Message content

number

default:"5"

Message priority

Example:

{
  "skillName": "send_agent_message",
  "targetAgent": "researcher",
  "message": "Prioritize quantum computing papers from 2024",
  "priority": 9
}

Broadcasting

{
  "skillName": "broadcast_to_agents",
  "message": "System maintenance in 5 minutes - wrap up current tasks",
  "excludeAgents": ["critical-worker"]
}

Use Cases

Parallel Research

Spawn multiple researchers to investigate different topics simultaneously.

orcbot push "Spawn 3 researchers to compare React, Vue, and Angular"

Background Monitoring

Delegate long-running monitoring tasks to workers.

orcbot push "Spawn a monitor agent to watch server metrics every 5 minutes"

Data Processing Pipeline

Chain workers for ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) operations.

Worker 1: Scrape data
Worker 2: Transform and validate
Worker 3: Store in database

Multi-User Support

Dedicate workers to handle specific users or channels.

orcbot push "Spawn a customer support agent for VIP users"

Configuration

Worker-Specific Settings

# orcbot.config.yaml
orchestrator:
  maxWorkers: 5
  workerIdleTimeout: 600000  # 10 minutes
  workerMemoryLimit: 512     # MB
  
workerDefaults:
  modelName: gpt-4o-mini      # Use cheaper model for workers
  maxStepsPerAction: 10
  autonomyEnabled: false      # Workers don't need heartbeat

Per-Worker Overrides

{
  "skillName": "spawn_agent",
  "name": "premium-researcher",
  "config": {
    "modelName": "gpt-4o",
    "maxStepsPerAction": 30,
    "memoryContextLimit": 20000
  }
}

Best Practices

Resource limits: Each worker is a full Node.js process. Monitor system resources when spawning many workers.Recommended limits:

5 workers max on 8GB RAM
10 workers max on 16GB RAM
20 workers max on 32GB RAM

Task granularity: Delegate coarse-grained tasks (“research topic X”) rather than fine-grained operations (“search for one keyword”). Workers have initialization overhead.

Do’s

Use workers for independent, parallelizable tasks
Set reasonable timeouts for worker tasks
Monitor worker health in production
Use cheaper models for worker agents
Clean up idle workers to free resources

Don’ts

Don’t spawn workers for trivial tasks (use the main agent)
Don’t share mutable state between workers and main agent
Don’t rely on worker execution order (they’re async)
Don’t spawn workers recursively (workers can’t spawn workers)

Troubleshooting

Worker Not Starting

Symptoms: spawn_agent completes but worker doesn’t appear in orchestrator_status. Causes:

Insufficient system resources
Worker name conflicts
Invalid configuration

Solution:

# Check system resources
orcbot push "Run system_check"

# Verify unique worker names
orcbot push "Show orchestrator status"

# Check worker logs
tail -f ~/.orcbot/logs/workers/researcher.log

Worker Crashes

Symptoms: Worker disappears from orchestrator status mid-task. Causes:

Out of memory
Uncaught exception in worker code
Task timeout exceeded

Solution:

# Check worker logs
cat ~/.orcbot/logs/workers/researcher.log

# Increase memory limit
# In orcbot.config.yaml:
workerMemoryLimit: 1024

# Increase task timeout
maxStepsPerAction: 20

Tasks Not Distributing

Symptoms: All tasks go to one worker instead of distributing. Causes:

Only one worker marked as available
Task routing rules favor specific worker

Solution:

{
  "skillName": "delegate_task",
  "task": "Your task here",
  "targetAgent": null  // Let orchestrator auto-assign
}

Performance Metrics

Worker Pool Efficiency

orcbot push "Show orchestrator metrics"

Key Metrics:

Utilization: Percentage of time workers are busy vs idle
Queue depth: Average number of pending tasks per worker
Throughput: Tasks completed per minute
Latency: Average time from task delegation to completion

Optimizations:

High utilization (greater than 80%): Spawn more workers
Low utilization (less than 20%): Reduce worker count
High queue depth: Increase worker capacity or add workers
High latency: Check for slow tasks or resource bottlenecks

spawn_agent

Create a new worker agent

delegate_task

Assign a task to a worker

orchestrator_status

View active workers and their status

send_agent_message

Send a message to a specific worker

Get Started

Core Concepts

Guides

Advanced

Multi-Agent Orchestration

Overview

Architecture

Key Components

Spawning Workers

Using spawn_agent Skill

Using delegate_task Skill

Worker Lifecycle

Monitoring Workers

In the TUI

Using orchestrator_status Skill

Inter-Agent Communication

Sending Messages

Broadcasting

Use Cases

Parallel Research

Background Monitoring

Data Processing Pipeline

Multi-User Support

Configuration

Worker-Specific Settings

Per-Worker Overrides

Best Practices

Do’s

Don’ts

Troubleshooting

Worker Not Starting

Worker Crashes

Tasks Not Distributing

Performance Metrics

Worker Pool Efficiency

spawn_agent

delegate_task

orchestrator_status

send_agent_message

​Overview

​Architecture

​Key Components

​Spawning Workers

​Using spawn_agent Skill

​Using delegate_task Skill

​Worker Lifecycle

​Monitoring Workers

​In the TUI

​Using orchestrator_status Skill

​Inter-Agent Communication

​Sending Messages

​Broadcasting

​Use Cases

Parallel Research

Background Monitoring

Data Processing Pipeline

Multi-User Support

​Configuration

​Worker-Specific Settings

​Per-Worker Overrides

​Best Practices

​Do’s

​Don’ts

​Troubleshooting

​Worker Not Starting

​Worker Crashes

​Tasks Not Distributing

​Performance Metrics

​Worker Pool Efficiency

​Related Skills

spawn_agent

delegate_task

orchestrator_status

send_agent_message

Overview

Architecture

Key Components

Spawning Workers

Using spawn_agent Skill

Using delegate_task Skill

Worker Lifecycle

Monitoring Workers

In the TUI

Using orchestrator_status Skill

Inter-Agent Communication

Sending Messages

Broadcasting

Use Cases

Configuration

Worker-Specific Settings

Per-Worker Overrides

Best Practices

Do’s

Don’ts

Troubleshooting

Worker Not Starting

Worker Crashes

Tasks Not Distributing

Performance Metrics

Worker Pool Efficiency

Related Skills