Agent Communication Toolkit

Multi-Agent Systems - delegate tasks to specialized worker agents

Enables Multi-Agent Systems (MAS). A “manager” (or master) agent can delegate work to specialized helper agents — other agents in your EKB projects, or external A2A agents over HTTPS.

All configured helpers are available at once. The master agent chooses which to call from each helper’s Description, its own personality, and the user’s request. There is no single “active” helper toggle.

For External (A2A) targets (outbound) or letting outside systems call this agent (inbound), see Bidirectional Agent-to-Agent (A2A). This page focuses on setup inside the toolkit, especially In EKB helpers.

Prerequisites

• Permission to edit the manager agent
• At least one other agent to call (In EKB), or a partner HTTPS A2A base URL (External (A2A))
• For cross-project helpers: membership in a team that can see the target project

Set up Agent Communication

1. Open the manager agent → Toolkits → enable Agent Communication.
2. Under Helper Agents, click Add Helper Agent.
3. Set Where this agent lives:
   • In EKB — another agent in one of your projects (default)
   • External (A2A) — third-party A2A agent over HTTPS (full A2A guide)
4. Fill the fields for that target type (below), then save the agent.

Repeat Add Helper Agent for each specialist you want available.

Tools under Available Tools (Message Agent, Delegate Task, Agent Status) are usually enabled by default when you turn the toolkit on. Adjust them later if you need to restrict what the manager can call — see Available tools.

In EKB helper

Field	Required	Description
Where this agent lives	Yes	In EKB
Target Project	Yes	Project that owns the helper. Lists projects across teams you belong to. Current project is marked (Current).
Target Agent	Yes	Click Select an agent (or Change) and pick from agents in that project.
Description	Strongly recommended	Shown to the master agent so it knows when to call this helper. Write when/why to use it.
Max Tool Calls	No (default 25)	Caps how many tool calls this helper may make per invocation (1–500). The total across helpers is also bounded by the manager agent’s own Max Tool Calls setting.

External (A2A) helper

Field	Required	Description
Where this agent lives	Yes	External (A2A)
Agent base URL	Yes	Partner HTTPS base URL (or full /.well-known/agent-card.json URL). http:// is rejected.
Auth / API key	If partner requires it	Prefer a vault secret (@ picker) over a pasted literal.
Verify connection	Recommended before save	Backend fetches the agent card and confirms name, description, and skills.
Description	Strongly recommended	Same role as for In EKB — routing hint for the master agent.
Max Tool Calls	No (default 25)	Same limits as In EKB.

Details, limits, and inbound External Access: Bidirectional A2A.

Available tools

Tool (UI)	Id	What it does
Message Agent	communicate_with_agent	Send messages to other agents
Delegate Task	delegate_task	Delegate a specific task to a specialized agent
Agent Status	get_agent_status	Check status of other agents

Enable the tools the manager should be allowed to call.

How routing works

• Every helper card is marked Available at runtime — there is no exclusive “active” selection.
• The master agent picks among helpers using each card’s Description, its personality, and the user request.
• Write clear, distinct descriptions (for example “Use for payroll policy questions” vs “Use for engineering runbooks”) so routing stays reliable.

Key features

• Agent selection — manager routes to the most appropriate helper based on descriptions and context
• Context passing — conversation context can transfer between agents
• Multiple helpers — configure as many In EKB and/or External helpers as you need
• Cross-project — In EKB helpers can live in other projects you can access
• Tool-call caps — per-helper Max Tool Calls, also bounded by the manager’s own limit

Design patterns

Common ways teams use this toolkit:

• Hub and Spoke (Router) — Central coordinator routes requests to specialized agents.
• Sequential Chain (Pipeline) — Tasks flow through a sequence of agents.
• Parallel Processing (Fan-Out) — Multiple agents work simultaneously on subtasks.
• Hierarchical (Tree) — Multi-level delegation with supervisory agents.
• Expert Panel (Committee) — Multiple specialists provide opinions; coordinator synthesizes.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	What to check
Manager never calls a helper	Helper Description is empty or vague; tools disabled under Available Tools; helper agent unpublished / unreachable
Wrong helper chosen	Make descriptions more specific and non-overlapping
No agents in picker	Wrong Target Project; no agents in that project; you lack access to the project
External verify fails	HTTPS URL, network reachability from EKB backend, valid agent card, correct API key — see A2A
Helper stops mid-work	Raise that helper’s Max Tool Calls, or the manager agent’s own Max Tool Calls

Related

• Bidirectional Agent-to-Agent (A2A)