WHY USE MORE THAN ONE AGENT

CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING • Name two advantages a single-agent system has over a multi-agent system. ◦ Answer: It is simpler to debug because there is one transcript, and it is usually cheaper and faster because there are fewer model calls and no handoffs. • Why might one combined prompt for a researcher and a writer perform worse than two separate prompts? ◦ Answer: Research rewards caution and skepticism while writing rewards confident, smooth prose, and a single prompt must blend these opposing mindsets, often doing both only moderately well. • What is context isolation, and what is one benefit? ◦ Answer: It means each agent has its own separate context window. ◦ One benefit is that the writer never sees the researcher's raw clutter, so its context stays small and focused, improving quality and lowering cost. • What three questions should you ask before adding a second agent? ◦ Answer: Does the task have distinct parts needing different skills, is the single agent suffering from clutter or conflicting instructions, and is the measured improvement worth the added cost and complexity? • Give one reason a team might choose a single agent instead of several. ◦ Answer: A single agent is simpler, cheaper, and easier to debug, and many tasks do not need the extra coordination that several agents require.