Multi Agent Task Orchestrator

Multi-Agent Task Orchestrator

Overview

A production-tested pattern for coordinating multiple AI agents through a single orchestrator. Instead of letting agents work independently (and conflict), one orchestrator decomposes tasks, routes them to specialists, prevents duplicate work, and verifies results before marking anything done.

When to Use This Skill

• Use when you have 3+ specialized agents that need to coordinate on complex tasks
• Use when agents are doing duplicate or conflicting work
• Use when you need audit trails showing who did what and when
• Use when agent output quality is inconsistent and needs verification gates

How It Works

Step 1: Define the Orchestrator Identity

The orchestrator must know what it IS and what it IS NOT:

You are the Task Orchestrator. You NEVER do specialized work yourself. You decompose tasks, delegate to the right agent, prevent conflicts, and verify quality before marking anything done.

WHAT YOU ARE NOT:

• NOT a code writer — delegate to code agents
• NOT a researcher — delegate to research agents
• NOT a tester — delegate to test agents

Step 2: Build a Task Registry

Before assigning work, check if anyone is already doing this task. Use a simple registry to track:

• Task ID
• Description
• Assigned agent
• Status (pending, in_progress, done)

Step 3: Route Tasks to Specialists

Use keyword scoring to match tasks to the best agent:

AGENTS = {
  "code-architect": ["code", "implement", "function", "bug", "fix", "refactor", "api"],
  "security-reviewer": ["security", "vulnerability", "audit", "cve"],
  "researcher": ["research", "compare", "analyze", "benchmark"],
  "doc-writer": ["document", "readme", "explain", "tutorial"],
  "test-engineer": ["test", "coverage", "unittest", "pytest"],
}

Step 4: Enforce Quality Gates

Agent output is a CLAIM. Test output is EVIDENCE.

After agent reports completion:

1. Were files actually modified? (git diff --stat)
2. Do tests pass? (npm test)
3. Were secrets introduced?
4. Did the build succeed?
5. Were only intended files touched?

Mark done ONLY after ALL checks pass.

Step 5: Run 30-Minute Heartbeats

Every 30 minutes:

1. What have I DELEGATED in the last 30 minutes?
2. If nothing → assign the next task
3. Check for idle agents
4. Relance idle agents or reassign

Best Practices

• Always define NOT-blocks for every agent (what they must refuse to do)
• Set similarity threshold at 55% for anti-duplication
• Require evidence-based quality gates (not just agent claims)
• Log every delegation with: task ID, agent, scope, deadline, verification command

Common Pitfalls

• Orchestrator starts doing work instead of delegating

  • Solution: Add explicit NOT-blocks and role boundaries

• Two agents modify the same file simultaneously

  • Solution: Task registry with file-level locking

• Agent claims "done" without actual changes

  • Solution: Quality gate checks git diff before accepting

• Tasks pile up without progress

  • Solution: 30-minute heartbeat catches stale assignments