Agent Teams

Commander supports persistent agent teams with inbox messaging for long-running, collaborative workflows.

Overview

Agent teams allow multiple agents to work together on complex tasks over extended periods. Each agent has its own inbox and can send/receive messages asynchronously.

Creating a Team

import { AgentTeamManager } from '@commander/core';

const team = new AgentTeamManager('team-1');

// Register agents
const leadId = team.registerAgent({
  id: 'lead',
  name: 'Lead Architect',
  role: 'architect',
  capabilities: ['system-design', 'code-review'],
});

const backendId = team.registerAgent({
  id: 'backend',
  name: 'Backend Specialist',
  role: 'engineer',
  capabilities: ['api-design', 'database'],
});

const frontendId = team.registerAgent({
  id: 'frontend',
  name: 'Frontend Specialist',
  role: 'engineer',
  capabilities: ['ui', 'react'],
});

Agent Communication

Agents communicate via persistent inboxes:

// Send a message to an agent
await team.sendMessage({
  from: leadId,
  to: backendId,
  subject: 'Design API endpoints',
  body: 'Need a REST API for the user module. Design the endpoints.',
  priority: 'high',
});

// Agent reads its inbox
const inbox = await team.getInbox(backendId);
const messages = inbox.getMessages();

// Agent replies
await team.sendMessage({
  from: backendId,
  to: leadId,
  subject: 'Re: Design API endpoints',
  body: 'Proposed endpoints:\nGET /users\nPOST /users\nGET /users/:id',
});

Team Topologies

Lead-Driven

One lead agent coordinates specialists. Best for most development workflows.

Peer-to-Peer

Agents collaborate without a hierarchy. Best for research and analysis.

Swarm

Multiple agents work on the same problem and vote on the solution. Best for critical decisions.

Persistence

Agent teams persist across sessions:

• Messages are stored in the inbox store
• Agent states are checkpointed
• Teams can be resumed after restarts

// Resume a team from a previous session
const existingTeam = await AgentTeamManager.load('team-1');