The 20 Orchestration Patterns
Sequential Handoff ← Pipeline pattern (distributed systems)
Parallel Coordination ← Parallel processing (microservices)
Hub-and-Spoke ← Service bus pattern (enterprise architecture)
Peer-to-Peer Negotiation ← P2P pattern (distributed systems)
Hierarchical ← Manager/worker pattern (multi-agent systems)
Auction Pattern ← Auction protocols (multi-agent systems research)
Conditional Handoff ← Routing pattern (workflow engines)
Fallback Chain ← Circuit breaker pattern (resilient systems)
Collaborative Decision ← Consensus protocols (distributed systems)
Context Handoff ← Session transfer (CRM/support systems)
Escalation Pattern ← Support escalation (customer service)
Fan-Out/Fan-In ← Scatter-gather (microservices)
Request-Response ← Synchronous communication (APIs)
Event-Driven ← Pub/sub pattern (event-driven architecture)
Saga Pattern ← Distributed transactions (microservices)
Retry with Backoff ← Resilience pattern (distributed systems)
Time-Based Routing ← Business hours routing (workflow)
Load Balancing ← Distribution pattern (infrastructure)
Priority Queue ← Queue management (systems design)
Round-Robin ← Fair distribution (load balancing)
Every single one has decades of research and real-world use.
You're just adapting them for AI agents with accessibility + human-centered design.
Where these pattern came from
Multi-agent orchestration is not new.
The patterns you’re about to learn come from 50+ years of computer science, distributed systems, workflow design, customer service operations, and multi-agent AI research.
What is new is how you apply them to:
- autonomous agents
- LLM coordination
- multimodal user experiences
- safety & accessibility
- human-centered design
This toolkit translates classic engineering patterns into design-ready, human-facing agent architectures.
I took these existing patterns from:
- Distributed systems
- Workflow orchestration
- Microservices
- Multi-agent systems (academic)
- Customer service operations
And adapted them for AI agent coordination with:
- Frontstage visibility (what should humans see?Control points (where can humans intervene?)
- Accessibility considerations (how does accessibility travel through?)
- Failure handling (when should backstage failures surface?)
So they're not NEW patterns.
They're EXISTING patterns from computer science and business processes...
...reframed for AI agents with human-centered design principles.
1. Distributed Systems Architecture Patterns
These patterns have existed for decades in distributed computing:
Sequential Processing:
- Service A → Service B → Service C
- Used in data pipelines, ETL processes
- AI equivalent: Shopping agent → Payment agent → Delivery agent
Parallel Processing:
- Multiple services work simultaneously
- Used in microservices
- AI equivalent: Flight agent + Hotel agent search at same time
Hub-and-Spoke:
- Central coordinator delegates to specialists
- Used in service buses, API gateways
- AI equivalent: Travel planner coordinates specialist agents
Peer-to-Peer:
- Services communicate directly
- Used in blockchain, distributed databases
- AI equivalent: Your AI negotiates directly with merchant's AI
2. Workflow Orchestration Patterns
From business process management (BPM) and workflow engines:
Conditional Routing:
- If X then Service A, if Y then Service B
- Used in workflow automation
- AI equivalent: Product question → Product agent; Billing → Billing agent
Fallback Chain:
- Try Service A, if fails try Service B
- Used in resilient systems
- AI equivalent: Primary API → Alternative API → Notify human
3. Microservices Orchestration Patterns
From modern software architecture:
Saga Pattern:
- Coordinated transactions across services
- Used in e-commerce (order → payment → shipping)
- AI equivalent: Multi-step agent transactions with rollback capability
Event-Driven:
- Services react to events
- Used in real-time systems
- AI equivalent: Agent B listens for Agent A completion event
4. Multi-Agent Systems (Academic Research)
From AI research literature:
Auction/Bidding:
- Agents compete to fulfill request
- Used in resource allocation
- AI equivalent: Insurance agents bid for your business
Collaborative Decision:
- Agents vote or reach consensus
- Used in distributed AI systems
- AI equivalent: Medical diagnosis agents from different specialties
Hierarchical:
- Manager delegates to workers
- Used in robotics, game AI
- AI equivalent: Supervisor agent manages specialist workers
5. Customer Service Patterns
From call center and support systems:
Escalation:
- Start with tier 1, escalate to tier 2, tier 3
- Used in customer support
- AI equivalent: General bot → Specialist bot → Human agent
Context Handoff:
- Agent A transfers with full context to Agent B
- Used in CRM systems
- AI equivalent: Chat history travels with handoff
Here are the specific orchestration patterns you can use, with guidance on when to use each one, what humans should see, and how to maintain accessibility through the coordination.
You're taking proven patterns and making them:
Accessible (literally - for disabled users)
Transparent (humans can understand what's happening)
Controllable (humans have intervention points)
Practical (here's when to use pattern X vs pattern Y)
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