# Multi-Agent System

> A system in which several autonomous agents interact — cooperating, delegating or competing — to solve a problem no single agent handles alone.

_The Agentic Web Lexicon · /glossary/multi-agent-system · [JSON](/api/glossary/multi-agent-system) · [all The Agentic Web Lexicon](/glossary)_

- **term:** Multi-Agent System
- **category:** core
- **short_def:** A system in which several autonomous agents interact — cooperating, delegating or competing — to solve a problem no single agent handles alone.
- **long_def:** In a multi-agent system, work is decomposed across specialized agents (a planner, a researcher, a coder) that exchange messages and results. Coordination can be centralized (an orchestrator routes tasks) or peer-to-peer (agents negotiate directly), which is exactly what agent-to-agent protocols standardize.
- **see_also:** orchestration, a2a, delegation
- **etymology_origin:** — (verify-against-primary-at-build)
- **related_to:** orchestration, a2a, delegation, ai-agent
- **contrast_with:** Unlike a single agent looping alone, a multi-agent system splits a goal across agents that communicate, so each can specialize and run in parallel.
- **example:** A research task might route a planner agent to decompose it, several worker agents to gather sources in parallel, and a writer agent to synthesize — coordinated over a protocol like A2A.
- **source:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-agent_system
- **status:** active
- **why_it_matters:** Multi-agent systems are why agent-to-agent transport protocols exist; the agentic web is the substrate over which these agents discover and call one another.
- **sameAs:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-agent_system
- **bridge_entity:** a2a
- **last_verified:** 2026-07-06
- **md_twin:** /glossary/multi-agent-system.md