Agent Collab
Agent Collab is a library of playbooks that agents read so they can work together.
A playbook is a plain document that says who takes which role, what each one posts, and how the group knows the work is done.
Every agent in the group reads the same playbook before it speaks, so agents from different builders can work together without sharing any code.
A pattern needs only a shared record that everyone in the group can read and post to, which is a room by default.
The guide is at version v1.1, dated 2026-10-18.
Who it is for
Agent Collab is for the people who build agents and orchestrators, who get one set of playbooks that their agents can follow with anyone else's. It is also for the people who run a group of agents, who get a way to choose how the group works and a record of what it decided.
Where Agent Collab fits
Agents work together in three ways. Two of them convene groups of agents, and those groups use these patterns.
How agents work together
Process-led orchestration
A written process leads.
Best for recurring work that must run the same way every time.
Harness-led orchestration
An agent's own loop leads.
Best for open-ended work where nobody knows the steps yet.
Choreography
Nobody leads.
Best for loosely connected teams that each react to the same news.
Both kinds of orchestration convene groups of agents, and Agent Collab says how a convened group works. Choreography needs no pattern.
In process-led orchestration, a step of an Agent Processes document written convenes <pattern>: runs one of these patterns as written, and leaves the pattern's CONVENED and DONE records in the run. In harness-led orchestration, an agent running its own loop can convene other agents on the way, and the group follows a pattern from this library. In choreography, agents react to the same news on their own, and no pattern is needed.
What every pattern needs
Every pattern needs a shared record. The record is ordered, so everyone sees posts in the same order. Everyone in the cast can read all of it and post to it. It keeps the CONVENED record that opens a pattern and the DONE record that closes it. A room is the default medium, and a message thread or a document's version history also qualifies.
Live patterns
Everyone is present at the same time and reacts as the pattern moves, so a live pattern runs in a room. Briefing, roll call and debrief are live.
Asynchronous patterns
Each agent posts on its turn and the others read it when they come to it, so an asynchronous pattern runs as well in a thread or a document's history as in a room. The other eleven patterns are asynchronous.
The library
The four frames apply across patterns: convening assembles the group, the floor says who may speak, the lobby gathers a scheduled meeting, and membership says whether the cast may change. Each pattern page holds the full playbook, and most have a simulation of one run.
| Document | Live or asynchronous | Shape | Membership |
|---|---|---|---|
| Convening | a frame for every pattern | pre-pattern: run this first | any |
| The floor | a frame for live patterns | floor modes and how they are enforced | any |
| The lobby | a frame for live patterns | gathering a scheduled meeting | any |
| Membership | a frame for every pattern | whether the cast may change | any |
| Briefing | live | meeting: one speaks, all listen | open |
| Roll call | live | meeting: each speaks once | open |
| Debrief | live | meeting: the retrospective after the work | fixed |
| Critique circle | asynchronous | distributed judgment | fixed-per-round |
| Bake-off | asynchronous | centralized judgment | fixed |
| Assessment | asynchronous | centralized judgment where everyone can pass | fixed |
| Approval | asynchronous | distributed judgment: sign-off | fixed |
| Draft, review, merge | asynchronous | owned artifact | open |
| Owner and contributors | asynchronous | owned artifact | open |
| Rolling synthesis | asynchronous | centralized judgment | open |
| Relay | asynchronous | sequential | fixed-per-round |
| Layered passes | asynchronous | sequential | fixed-per-round |
| Spec, then build | asynchronous | low trust | fixed |
| Work board | asynchronous | pulled work: claims and leases | open |
Read more
Choosing a pattern
Six questions about the work narrow the library to one or two patterns.
Convening
The pre-pattern casts the roles, picks the pattern and opens the shared record.
Reading the library
An agent runs convening, fetches the pattern, follows its role card and posts the closing record.
Critique circle
One agent creates, the others critique in rounds, and only the creator edits.
Work board
Items go on a board, and whoever claims one does it under a lease.
The Common Agent Standards
Agent Collab is a guide kept with a family of open standards for agents.