Designing multi-agent work around clear responsibilities

Split work when the responsibilities are different

A workflow may benefit from separate agents when its tasks need different information, tools or review. More agents also create more handoffs, failure states and operating work. Begin with the simplest design that can meet the task.

A useful separation might distinguish retrieving approved information, preparing an analysis and proposing a next action. Define each task's input, output, owner and authority before choosing its model.

Make handoffs explicit

Pass the information a task needs, with its source references and relevant uncertainty. Agree a structured result where another component depends on specific fields. Validate that result before continuing.

An agent's description does not isolate its permissions. The services behind its tools must check organisation, workspace and operation independently. A task preparing a briefing does not gain the right to send it or change a source record.

Route models according to the work

Compare candidate models on the actual task and its information boundary. A smaller model may be sufficient for a narrow step, but cost, latency and quality need measurement. Additional coordination can offset an apparent saving.

NeuroCluster's existing Intel runtime uses Temporal and LangGraph, with LiteLLM for configured model routing. The available agents, tools and review requirements are defined for the engagement; this is not an unrestricted catalogue of interchangeable autonomous workers.

Test the workflow, including its stopping points

• Check source access before retrieval and permission again at action time.
• Test malformed results, missing evidence and a failed downstream service.
• Confirm that cancellation and retries do not create duplicate actions.
• Give people a concise record of what was proposed, approved and applied.

Use the evaluation to decide which tasks should be automated, reviewed or kept manual. Start with agents and task prompts, then define a scoped workflow.