Multi-Agent Systems Architecture: Building Collaborative AI Systems for Enterprise Applications

Introduction to Multi-Agent Systems

Multi-agent systems represent the pinnacle of AI system architecture, enabling collaborative intelligence across multiple autonomous agents. This comprehensive guide explores multi-agent system design, implementation, and enterprise integration.

Multi-Agent System Architecture

Multi-agent systems follow specific architectural patterns:

• Centralized Coordination: Single coordinator manages all agents
• Decentralized Coordination: Agents coordinate through communication
• Hybrid Coordination: Combination of centralized and decentralized approaches
• Hierarchical Coordination: Multi-level agent hierarchies

Enterprise Multi-Agent System

// Enterprise Multi-Agent System
class EnterpriseMultiAgentSystem {
    constructor(config) {
        this.config = config;
        this.agents = new Map();
        this.coordinator = new CoordinatorAgent();
        this.communication = new CommunicationProtocol();
        this.workflow = new WorkflowEngine();
        this.monitoring = new SystemMonitoring();
        this.security = new SecurityManager();
    }

    async addAgent(agentId, agent) {
        try {
            // Security validation
            await this.security.validateAgent(agent);
            
            // Register agent
            this.agents.set(agentId, agent);
            await this.communication.registerAgent(agentId, agent);
            await this.monitoring.registerAgent(agentId, agent);
            
            // Update coordinator
            await this.coordinator.addAgent(agentId, agent);
            
        } catch (error) {
            console.error(`Failed to add agent ${agentId}:`, error);
            throw error;
        }
    }

    async coordinateTask(task) {
        try {
            // Decompose task
            const subtasks = await this.coordinator.decomposeTask(task);
            
            // Assign subtasks to agents
            const assignments = await this.coordinator.assignTasks(subtasks, this.agents);
            
            // Execute subtasks in parallel
            const results = await Promise.all(
                assignments.map(async (assignment) => {
                    const agent = this.agents.get(assignment.agentId);
                    return await agent.execute(assignment.task);
                })
            );
            
            // Combine results
            const finalResult = await this.coordinator.combineResults(results);
            
            return finalResult;
        } catch (error) {
            await this.monitoring.logSystemError(error);
            throw error;
        }
    }
}

Agent Communication Protocols

• Message Passing: Direct agent-to-agent communication
• Event-Driven: Reactive communication based on events
• Publish-Subscribe: Decoupled communication patterns
• Request-Response: Synchronous communication for specific tasks

Recommended Bibliography

• "Multi-Agent Systems" by various authors
• "Distributed AI Systems" by various authors
• "Agent-Oriented Software Engineering" by various authors
• "Collaborative AI Systems" by various authors