Supervisor-Agent Interaction

Understanding how the supervisor and sub-agents interact is crucial for building effective multi-agent systems. This interaction determines how user messages are routed and how your system maintains context throughout conversations.

How the Supervisor-Agent System Works

The supervisor-agent interaction follows this process:

  1. User sends a message to the system
  2. The supervisor evaluates the message using its prompt
  3. Based on routing logic, the supervisor selects an appropriate agent
  4. The selected agent processes the message using its prompt
  5. The agent's response is sent back to the user
  6. For subsequent messages, the supervisor either maintains the same agent or selects a new one

Why Understanding This Interaction Matters

Understanding this interaction helps you:

  • Create more effective routing logic
  • Design complementary agent prompts
  • Build coherent conversation flows
  • Troubleshoot issues with agent selection
  • Ensure your system provides a seamless user experience

How to Configure Effective Supervisor-Agent Interaction

  1. Ensure your supervisor prompt clearly defines when each agent should be selected
  2. Make sure agent names in the supervisor prompt exactly match your actual agent names
  3. Design agent prompts to handle the specific scenarios they'll be routed to
  4. Create complementary prompts where agents have clear, non-overlapping responsibilities
  5. Test transitions between agents to ensure smooth conversational flow

How Information Flows Between Components

Initial Message Processing

When a user sends a message:

  1. The supervisor receives the message first
  2. The supervisor evaluates the message against its routing criteria
  3. The supervisor selects the most appropriate agent
  4. The selected agent receives the message and generates a response

Subsequent Message Processing

For follow-up messages:

  1. The supervisor reevaluates each new message
  2. The supervisor decides whether to maintain the current agent or switch to a different one
  3. Custom routing logic can override default behavior to maintain conversation continuity
  4. The selected agent generates a response based on its prompt and the conversation history

How to Test the Complete System

  1. Start a test conversation in the preview or test interface
  2. Try inputs that should trigger different agents according to your routing rules
  3. Verify that the correct agent is selected for each input
  4. Test transitions between agents to ensure context is maintained appropriately
  5. Check edge cases and refine your prompts based on the results

How to Monitor and Debug Interaction Issues

  1. Check the conversation logs to see which agent was selected for each message
  2. Review the supervisor's reasoning for its selections (if available)
  3. Verify that your routing conditions don't conflict or create ambiguity
  4. Ensure each agent is prepared to handle the types of requests it receives
  5. Make incremental adjustments to your prompts and test after each change

Common Interaction Patterns

Sequential Agents

In this pattern, agents handle specific stages of a process in sequence:

  • An onboarding agent handles initial setup
  • A qualification agent assesses user needs
  • A specialized agent provides domain-specific assistance

Expertise-Based Routing

In this pattern, agents are selected based on subject matter expertise:

  • Technical questions go to a technical agent
  • Billing questions go to a billing agent
  • General inquiries go to a general information agent

Depth-Based Routing

In this pattern, different agents handle different levels of detail:

  • A general agent handles high-level questions
  • A deep dive agent handles requests for detailed information
  • A specialist agent handles complex edge cases

Next Steps

Now that you understand supervisor-agent interaction, learn about the recommended agent creation workflow to build your system efficiently.