Collaboration Channel

A collaboration channel is the mechanism through which agents in a multi-agent system work together, characterized by four attributes: actors (which agents are involved), type (cooperation, competition, or coopetition), structure (centralized, decentralized, or hierarchical), and strategy (rule-based, role-based, or model-based).

Different channels within the same system may have different characteristics. Two agents might compete in one channel while cooperating in another. The channel abstraction allows systems to support multiple simultaneous collaboration modes.

The key insight: collaboration isn’t a monolithic property of a system (it’s a set of configurable pathways between agents, each with its own design choices.

Related: 05-molecule—mas-collaboration-framework, 05-atom—agentic-ai