Definition
Agent orchestration is the coordination and management of multiple AI agents or agent components to complete complex workflows. An orchestrator decides which agent to activate, routes tasks between agents, manages shared state, handles errors, and ensures the overall workflow progresses toward the goal.
Example
An orchestration layer routes a customer inquiry: first to a classifier agent (determine intent), then to either a billing agent or technical support agent, with a supervisor agent monitoring quality and handling escalations.
Why it matters
Without orchestration, multi-agent systems descend into chaos. The orchestrator is the conductor that keeps every agent playing in sync.