Communication Between Agents › Practical Considerations

As you design communication between your agents, keep these principles in mind:

Keep Messages Small: Large messages slow down communication and increase the chance of errors. If you need to share a big dataset, send a reference (like a file path or database query) rather than the data itself.

Be Explicit: Don't assume the receiving agent has context. Include enough information in each message for it to be understood independently.

Version Your Protocols: As your system evolves, message formats might change. Include version numbers so agents can handle different formats gracefully.

Log Everything: Communication logs are invaluable for debugging. When something goes wrong, being able to trace the message flow helps you find the problem quickly.

Design for Failure: Assume messages will get lost, delayed, or corrupted. Build in timeouts, retries, and error handling from the start.

Test Communication Separately: Before building complex multi-agent workflows, test that your agents can reliably exchange simple messages. Get the communication layer working first, then add sophisticated behaviors.