Architecture Overview

The Multi-Agent Framework uses a sophisticated event-driven architecture to coordinate multiple AI agents working collaboratively on software development tasks.

Table of Contents

• Core Concepts
• System Architecture
• Agent Communication
• Event-Driven Design
• File Integration
• State Management
• Extensibility

Core Concepts

Multi-Agent System

MAF orchestrates specialized AI agents, each with specific expertise:

• Each agent focuses on a specific domain (frontend, backend, database, etc.)
• Agents work independently but coordinate through events
• The orchestrator agent manages task distribution and workflow

Event-Driven Architecture

• Agents communicate asynchronously via events
• Events carry task assignments, completions, and updates
• Loose coupling allows agents to work in parallel

Intelligent Integration

• Smart file placement reduces code duplication
• Cross-agent validation ensures compatibility
• Automatic conflict resolution

System Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                        User Interface                        │
│                    (CLI / API / WebUI)                      │
└───────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────┘
                            │
┌───────────────────────────▼─────────────────────────────────┐
│                    Orchestrator Agent                        │
│              (Task Planning & Distribution)                  │
└───────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────┘
                            │
┌───────────────────────────▼─────────────────────────────────┐
│                      Event Bus System                        │
│                  (Publish / Subscribe)                       │
└──┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬─────────────────┘
   │    │    │    │    │    │    │    │    │
┌──▼─┐┌─▼─┐┌─▼─┐┌─▼─┐┌─▼─┐┌─▼─┐┌─▼─┐┌─▼─┐┌─▼──┐
│FE  ││BE ││DB ││QA ││Sec││Dev││Doc││UX ││... │
│Agt ││Agt││Agt││Agt││Agt││Ops││Agt││UI ││    │
└────┘└───┘└───┘└───┘└───┘└───┘└───┘└───┘└────┘
   │    │    │    │    │    │    │    │    │
┌──▼────▼────▼────▼────▼────▼────▼────▼────▼─────────────────┐
│                    File Integration Layer                    │
│                 (Smart Code Consolidation)                   │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Component Descriptions

CLI/API Layer

• Handles user interactions
• Triggers framework operations
• Displays progress and results

Orchestrator Agent

• Breaks down high-level requests into tasks
• Assigns tasks to appropriate agents
• Monitors progress and handles failures
• Ensures task dependencies are met

Event Bus

• Central communication hub
• Supports both in-memory and Kafka backends
• Handles event routing and delivery
• Maintains event history for debugging

Specialized Agents

• Frontend (FE): UI components, styling, user interactions
• Backend (BE): API endpoints, business logic, integrations
• Database (DB): Schema design, queries, migrations
• QA: Testing, code review, quality assurance
• Security (Sec): Vulnerability scanning, security implementations
• DevOps: CI/CD, Docker, deployment configurations
• Documentation (Doc): API docs, READMEs, guides
• UX/UI: Design systems, mockups, accessibility
• Each agent:
  • Receives tasks via events
  • Processes tasks using configured LLMs
  • Publishes results back to event bus
  • Handles domain-specific logic

File Integration Layer

• Consolidates agent outputs
• Prevents file conflicts
• Maintains code quality
• Handles merge operations

Agent Communication

Event Types

class EventType(Enum):
    TASK_CREATED = "task_created"
    TASK_ASSIGNED = "task_assigned" 
    TASK_STARTED = "task_started"
    TASK_COMPLETED = "task_completed"
    TASK_FAILED = "task_failed"
    CODE_GENERATED = "code_generated"
    REVIEW_REQUESTED = "review_requested"
    INTEGRATION_NEEDED = "integration_needed"

Message Format

{
  "event_type": "task_created",
  "source_agent": "orchestrator",
  "target_agent": "frontend_agent",
  "timestamp": "2024-01-01T12:00:00Z",
  "task_id": "task_123",
  "payload": {
    "task_description": "Create user login form",
    "requirements": [...],
    "dependencies": [...]
  }
}

Communication Flow

1. Task Creation

   • User triggers a feature request
   • Orchestrator creates and publishes tasks

2. Task Assignment

   • Agents subscribe to relevant events
   • Tasks are claimed by appropriate agents

3. Task Execution

   • Agents process tasks independently
   • Progress updates published to event bus

4. Result Integration

   • Completed code published as events
   • Integration layer consolidates outputs

Event-Driven Design

Benefits

1. Scalability

   • Agents work in parallel
   • Easy to add/remove agents
   • No bottlenecks from synchronous calls

2. Resilience

   • Failed tasks can be retried
   • System continues despite agent failures
   • Event history enables recovery

3. Flexibility

   • Loose coupling between agents
   • Easy to modify agent behavior
   • Support for different LLM providers

Event Bus Implementation

# Simplified event bus interface
class EventBus:
    async def publish(self, event: Event) -> None:
        """Publish event to all subscribers"""
        
    async def subscribe(self, event_types: List[EventType], 
                       callback: Callable) -> None:
        """Subscribe to specific event types"""
        
    async def get_history(self, filters: Dict) -> List[Event]:
        """Retrieve event history"""

File Integration

Smart Integration Process

1. Analysis Phase

   • Detect file types and structure
   • Identify integration points
   • Check for conflicts

2. Merge Strategy

   • Import consolidation
   • Function deduplication
   • Style normalization

3. Validation

   • Syntax checking
   • Import verification
   • Test compatibility

Example Integration

# Agent 1 output
def login_user(username, password):
    # Basic implementation
    pass

# Agent 2 output  
def login_user(username, password):
    # Enhanced implementation
    pass

# Integrated result
def login_user(username: str, password: str) -> Dict[str, Any]:
    """
    Unified login function combining both implementations
    """
    # Best of both implementations
    pass

State Management

Framework State

{
  "project_info": {
    "name": "my-app",
    "type": "nextjs",
    "root_path": "/path/to/project"
  },
  "active_tasks": {
    "task_123": {
      "status": "in_progress",
      "assigned_to": "frontend_agent",
      "started_at": "2024-01-01T12:00:00Z"
    }
  },
  "agent_states": {
    "frontend_agent": "active",
    "backend_agent": "idle"
  }
}

Persistence

• State saved to .maf/state.json
• Event history in .maf/message_queues/
• Logs in .maf_logs/

Extensibility

Adding Custom Agents

1. Create Agent Class

from multi_agent_framework.agents import EventDrivenBaseAgent

class CustomAgent(EventDrivenBaseAgent):
    def __init__(self, config):
        super().__init__("custom_agent", config)
        
    async def process_task(self, task):
        # Custom processing logic
        pass

2. Register Agent

# In agent factory
agent_registry["custom_agent"] = CustomAgent

3. Configure in Project

{
  "enabled_agents": ["orchestrator", "custom_agent"]
}

Custom Event Types

# Define new event type
class CustomEventType(Enum):
    CUSTOM_ACTION = "custom_action"

# Use in agent
await self.event_bus.publish(Event(
    event_type=CustomEventType.CUSTOM_ACTION,
    payload={"data": "value"}
))

Performance Considerations

Optimization Strategies

• Event batching for high-throughput scenarios
• Caching of frequently accessed data
• Parallel task processing
• Efficient file I/O operations

Monitoring

• Event processing metrics
• Agent response times
• Task completion rates
• Resource utilization

Security

API Key Management

• Keys stored in environment variables
• Never logged or transmitted
• Per-agent key configuration

Code Validation

• Generated code scanned for issues
• Dependency verification
• Security best practices enforced

Next Steps

• Explore Agent Reference for detailed agent capabilities
• Learn about Configuration options
• Read Event Bus documentation for advanced usage
• See Custom Agents guide for extensibility