Each agent has a role — commander, analyst or comms — and messages travel along the edges defined by the team's coordination topology. A star (hierarchical) keeps every message one hop from the commander; a ring (consensus) passes messages peer-to-peer; a full mesh lets any agent talk to any other directly.
edges: star = N-1, ring = N, mesh = N(N-1)/2
latency(msg) = dist/speed + conflict · L_arbitration
- Agents — team size; more agents means more coordination surface.
- Topology — which edges exist, i.e. who is allowed to message whom directly.
- Message rate — how often a new message is generated and routed.
- Conflict probability — chance a message needs arbitration; conflicted messages are rerouted through the commander (gold node) before delivery, adding latency.
The pulsing purple node is the shared task/goal all agents work toward. Gold = commander, blue = analyst, green = comms. Bright packets are messages in flight; a flash at the commander marks an arbitration.