Architectures where multiple specialized agents coordinate (peer-to-peer or via an orchestrator) to solve tasks neither could alone.
Multi-agent systems split work across roles (planner, coder, critic, researcher). Orchestration patterns include hierarchical supervisor and peer-to-peer dialogue (e.g. AutoGen).
When it helps
Adds value for tasks that genuinely decompose (parallel research, critic loops). For linear tasks, a single well-prompted agent often wins.